High step-up DC-DC converter for fuel cell generation system

Due to the electrochemical reaction, fuel cell has the power quality of low voltage as well as high current. However, the fuel cell stack with high output voltage is difficult to fabricate and its volume is overlarge. Besides, the output voltage of the fuel cell is varied easily with respect to the variation of loads. In order to satisfy the requirement of high-voltage demand, a high-efficiency DC-DC converter with superior voltage gain is one of the essential mechanisms in fuel cell applications. In this study, a newly-designed DC-DC converter utilized in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is constructed on the basis of voltage-clamped and soft-switching techniques for alleviating the switching and conduction losses to further increase the conversion efficiency. The effectiveness of the proposed converter used for the PEMFC system is verified by experimental results.