Progress in Self-Commutated Inverters for Fuel Cells and Batteries

Work has continued on development of large self- commutated inverters1 for commercial fuel cell applications resulting in successful on-line demonstration with a 1 MW fuel cell pilot plant. Predicted performance was achieved with excellent operating characteristics including delivery of leading or lagging vars within the inverter rating. These results are presented herein. In addition, work was initiated under sponsorship of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to adapt this technology to utility energy storage with advanced batteries now under development and intended for use starting in the late 1980's. Reversible operation without polarity switching has been demonstrated.