Designing a Backstepping Integral Terminal Sliding Mode Controller for PEMFC System Employing a DC-DC Boost Converter

This paper presents a backstepping integral terminal sliding mode control (BITSMC) system tailored to manage the DC-DC boost converter’s output voltage, solving the issue of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) low voltage output which seamlessly integrates the attributes of both integral terminal sliding mode control (ITSMC) and backstepping control (BC) by effectively mitigating the limitations associated with these individual controllers. The controller is crafted using a representative model of the DC-DC boost converter, primarily aimed at precisely following a predetermined reference output voltage. The stability of the tracked voltage is confirmed through control Lyapunov analysis. To evaluate its effectiveness, extensive simulations are conducted on a Matlab/Simulink platform by considering various operating conditions and that is compared with an existing ITSMC. The comparative analysis underscores the superiority of the suggested controller in the areas of quicker reference tracing and mitigation of issues such as overshoot, undershoot, and settling time.