abstract

• A fuel cell system produces a low DC voltage with wide variations; therefore, a DC-DC converter is required to step up and regulate the output voltage. This voltage can be used as an input for an inverter to obtain an AC voltage. In this work, an interface is proposed to connect a fuel cell system to an inverter. This interface consists of a DC-DC switching regulator using a three-stage cascade boost converter and an average current-mode controller. The proposed converter provides a high step-up conversion voltage ratio. The switching regulator is tested using a power module, which uses polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. This module delivers an output voltage between 26 V to 42 V. Experimental results verify the well-known benefits of current-mode control. The proposed control scheme can be easily implemented using a minimum number of IC elements; therefore, it is cost effective for a practical application.

authors

• Diaz-Saldierna L.H.
• Leyva-Ramos J.
• Morales Saldaña Jorge Alberto
• Ortiz-Lopez M.G.

publication date

• 2011-01-01

published in

• IET Conference Publications  Proceedings

keywords

• Cascade converter; Current-mode control; Fuel cell; Switching regulator Ac voltage; Cascade boost converters; Control schemes; Conversion voltage; Current mode; Current-mode control; DC voltage; Fuel cell module; Fuel cell system; IS costs; Output voltages; Power module; Switching regulator; DC power transmission; Electric converters; Fuel cells; Fuel systems; Rotary converters; DC-DC converters

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1049/cp.2011.0175

start page

• 192

end page

volume

• 2011

issue

• 579 CP