Real-Time Implementation of a New MPPT Control Method for a DC-DC Boost Converter Used in a PEM Fuel Cell Power System

• Published in: Actuators Vol. 9; no. 4; p. 105
• Main Authors: Derbeli, Mohamed, Barambones, Oscar, Silaa, Mohammed Yousri, Napole, Cristian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01-12-2020
• Subjects: DC-DC boost converter; HO-PCL; MPPT; PEM fuel cells; RCE
• ISSN: 2076-0825; 2076-0825
• DOI: 10.3390/act9040105

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells demonstrate potential as a comprehensive and general alternative to fossil fuel. They are also considered to be the energy source of the twenty-first century. However, fuel cell systems have non-linear output characteristics because of their input variations, which causes a significant loss in the overall system output. Thus, aiming to optimize their outputs, fuel cells are usually coupled with a controlled electronic actuator (DC-DC boost converter) that offers highly regulated output voltage. High-order sliding mode (HOSM) control has been effectively used for power electronic converters due to its high tracking accuracy, design simplicity, and robustness. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method based on a combination of reference current estimator (RCE) and high-order prescribed convergence law (HO-PCL) for a PEM fuel cell power system. The proposed MPPT method is implemented practically on a hardware 360W FC-42/HLC evaluation kit. The obtained experimental results demonstrate the success of the proposed method in extracting the maximum power from the fuel cell with high tracking performance.