High efficiency power electronic converter for fuel cell system application

This paper discusses the efficiency of two power electronic converters connected in cascade in aim to generate the maximum power from the fuel cell and regulate the load voltage under different working conditions and load variations. The first converter is an interleaved boost proposed to minimize the fuel cell voltage ripples and determine the optimum duty cycle to generate the maximum of power. Thereafter, the control of this converter is performed through a Maximum Power Point Tracking approach. To meet the load requirements in terms of voltage regulation, a buck boost converter controlled with a Proportional Integral controller is proposed. This configuration allows generating the optimal power and regulating the load voltage at the same time. The both converters are simulated under Matlab-Simulink to validate the robustness and the efficiency of this new design. Obtained results show the robustness of the new design approach and efficiency improvement of the system.