Power Converter Design for Fuel Cell Applications

Renewable, readily available and reduced emissions are the maj or driving elements for adopting fuel cell as clean and substitute power source today. Nonetheless, the high costs of the fuel cell systems make it hard to analyse its behaviour for different applications and real-time testing. In the field of renewable energy, fuel cell technology and power converter play a vital role. Hence, a highly efficient power converter is an essential requirement for such type of application. To address this issue, the paper proposes a fuel cell model and a power converter design with PI controller ensuring a constant output voltage at different loading conditions as well as varying operating temperatures. The modelling of fuel cell is carried out in Python. The fuel cell model is verified for A vista SR-12 500W fuel cell stack parameters. Fuel cell behaviour is studied through the proposed Python model, being the open-source software and its combination with MATLAB for designing DC-DC converter makes it easy to collaboratively work over both the platforms. Thus, the study encourages the ongoing energy transformation by promoting fuel cells: the green and clean source of energy.