Design, Modelling and Simulation of a Fuel Cell Power Conditioning System

Abstract

In this paper we present work carried out in order to stabilize the output voltage ( V ) of a 1 kW Horizon fuel cell (FC). The work involves the design, modeling and simulation of a power conditioning system (PCS). In the process to stabilize the voltage, it is required to also reduce the input current ripple and to improve the system response to load changes. We present here preliminary results that show that the system works, with the voltage smoothed, the input current ripple reduced and the response time increased.This work also covers a comparative evaluation of the dynamic behavior of three converter topologies employed in power conditioning: boost converter, sepic converter and interleaved boost converter. The simulation results for the three topologies show that the output voltage of the fuel cell (FC) was stabilized. Furthermore, the results indicate that the interleaved boost converter is a better topology compared to the boost and sepic topologies in terms of our work.

Electrochemical Capacitors

“…The advantages of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) include its high efficiency, reaching up to 45%, high energy density out of small dimensions (up to 2 W/cm 2 ), silent operation, low-temperature operation, fast start-up, and system robustness [47,48]. The most important advantage of the PEMFC is the minimum pollutants, where the hydrogen fuel used in FC has no adverse effects on the environment [49,50]. In spite of the FC advantages, the FC has some disadvantages like its slow response to the load variation, its unstable output voltage, its short lifetime because of the increase in current ripple, and its relatively high cost.…”

Simulation modeling and experimental validation of solar photovoltaic PMBLDC motor water pumping system

“…Buck-Boost converter is a device used for extracting the maximum amount of power. It always compares the output available at the PV panel with the load requirements and figure outs best voltage for load [18][19][20][21].…”

“…The payback period of the solar photovoltaic water pumping system is generally 12 years and the expected life of the system is 25 years. The simulation of the solar PV water pumping system consists of the number of subsystems like PV panel, MPPT, motor, and pump [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Brushed DC motor or AC induction motors are mostly used in solar water pumping but brushes of brushed DC motor needs to be replaced frequently, and for induction motor inverter is needed as it runs on AC supply whereas PV panels output is DC only [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

Energy Management of a DC Microgrid Composed of Photovoltaic/Fuel Cell/Battery/Supercapacitor Systems

“…The advantages of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) include its high efficiency, reaching up to 45%, high energy density out of small dimensions (up to 2 W/cm 2 ), silent operation, low-temperature operation, fast start-up, and system robustness [47,48]. The most important advantage of the PEMFC is the minimum pollutants, where the hydrogen fuel used in FC has no adverse effects on the environment [49,50]. In spite of the FC advantages, the FC has some disadvantages like its slow response to the load variation, its unstable output voltage, its short lifetime because of the increase in current ripple, and its relatively high cost.…”