Isaac Scientific Publishing

International Journal of Power and Energy Research

Mitigation of Input Ripple Current in Single Phase Fuel Cell Power Systems

Download PDF (794.4 KB) PP. 159 - 171 Pub. Date: October 12, 2017

DOI: 10.22606/ijper.2017.13003

Author(s)

  • Soumya Sinha*
    University of Houston, Texas, United States
  • Wajiha Shireen
    University of Houston, Texas, United States
  • Sumit Pramanick
    University of Houston, Texas, United States

Abstract

Fuel cells serve as clean, renewable and an efficient source of electrical energy. The power conditioning system associated with their applications consists of a DC-DC Converter stage and a DC-AC inverter stage. In a single-phase fuel cell system, the single-phase inverter introduces a secondharmonic component in the current drawn from the fuel cell source. This low-frequency current ripplehas been found to be detrimental to the performance, lifespan, and efficiency of the fuel cell, if notadequately controlled. The paper presents a single loop current control method for the DC-DCconverter stage that reduces the input current ripple drawn from the source in the single-phase fuelcell system. Simulations are carried out using MATLAB; the results compared with the conventionalmethod. To validate the proposed approach, experimental results from a laboratory prototype arepresented. The proposed method uses a Digital Signal Processor for control system monitoring andcontrol.

Keywords

Fuel cell, second harmonic current ripple, DC-DC boost converter, power electronics, single phase inverter.

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