Advanced Robustness Control of DC–DC Converter for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Applications

The fuel cell output power depends highly on the random load profile, and power converters play a key role in the fuel cell power system. Robust control design of the converter can help to design online control and optimize the diagnostic method for fuel-cell-based applications. In this article, an advanced control algorithm of the dc–dc converter for the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is realized through a robustness algorithm based on flatness control and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC). Flatness control can track the power demand, and ADRC can help to estimate the total required power in real time. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is verified through a two-phase interleaved boost converter (TIBC), and results indicate that the steady-state error of TIBC's output voltage can be decreased. Besides, the proposed control scheme is not sensitive to system parameter variations, and it can balance the power among each phase accurately. Moreover, the flatness–ADRC control can guarantee the smooth output of the converter when load disturbance occurs. The simulation and experimental results all indicate that strong robustness can be obtained when compared with the conventional proportional integral control method. The simple architecture of the controller makes it easier to be implemented in real-time online applications.

[1]  Fei Gao,et al.  High-order Sliding Mode Control of DC-DC Converter for PEM Fuel Cell Applications , 2018, 2018 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting (IAS).

[2]  Hebertt Sira-Ramirez,et al.  On the Robust Control of Buck-Converter DC-Motor Combinations , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[3]  Fei Gao,et al.  Robust Voltage Control of Floating Interleaved Boost Converter for Fuel Cell Systems , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

[4]  Xin Zhao,et al.  Adaptive fuzzy logic control of boost converter fed by stand-alone PEM fuel cell stack , 2017, 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific).

[5]  Ramon Silva-Ortigoza,et al.  DC/DC Buck Power Converter as a Smooth Starter for a DC Motor Based on a Hierarchical Control , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[6]  Phatiphat Thounthong,et al.  A New Control Law Based on the Differential Flatness Principle for Multiphase Interleaved DC–DC Converter , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[7]  Serge Pierfederici,et al.  Flatness-Based Control of Three-Phase Inverter With Output $LC$ Filter , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[8]  Amari Mansour,et al.  Analysis, modeling and implementation of an interleaved boost DC-DC converter for fuel cell used in electric vehicle , 2017 .

[9]  Hao Ying,et al.  Fuzzy Gain-Scheduling Proportional–Integral Control for Improving Engine Power and Speed Behavior in a Hybrid Electric Vehicle , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[10]  Zhiqiang Gao,et al.  Scaling and bandwidth-parameterization based controller tuning , 2003, Proceedings of the 2003 American Control Conference, 2003..

[11]  Fei Gao,et al.  Multidimensional Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Modeling for Embedded Applications , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.

[12]  P. K. Jain,et al.  A New Control Approach Based on the Differential Flatness Theory for an AC/DC Converter Used in Electric Vehicles , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[13]  Jean-Philippe Martin,et al.  Reliability Improvement Approach Based on Flatness Control of Parallel-Connected Inverters , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[14]  Kevin Tomsovic,et al.  Two-Level Control of Doubly Fed Induction Generator Using Flatness-Based Approach , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems.

[15]  A. Fezzani,et al.  Speed sensorless flatness-based control of PMSM using a second order sliding mode observer , 2013, 2013 Eighth International Conference and Exhibition on Ecological Vehicles and Renewable Energies (EVER).

[16]  Phatiphat Thounthong,et al.  Control of a Three-Level Boost Converter Based on a Differential Flatness Approach for Fuel Cell Vehicle Applications , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[17]  Fei Gao,et al.  PEM Fuel Cell Stack Modeling for Real-Time Emulation in Hardware-in-the-Loop Applications , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.

[18]  Z. Gajic,et al.  A Simple Sliding Mode Controller of a Fifth-Order Nonlinear PEM Fuel Cell Model , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion.

[19]  Liangcai Xu,et al.  Robust Control of a Interleaved Boost Converter Which Feeds a Constant Power Load for Electric Vehicles , 2019, 2019 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo (ITEC).

[20]  S. Rowshanzamir,et al.  Review of the proton exchange membranes for fuel cell applications , 2010 .

[21]  Kaustubh Pathak,et al.  A Differentially Flat Open-Chain Space Robot with Arbitrarily Oriented Joint Axes and Two Momentum Wheels at the Base , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

[22]  A. Levant.  Sliding order and sliding accuracy in sliding mode control , 1993 .

[23]  Abdellatif Miraoui,et al.  Sliding-Mode Control of an Ultrahigh-Speed Centrifugal Compressor for the Air Management of Fuel-Cell Systems for Automotive Applications , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[24]  Philippe Martin,et al.  A Lie-Backlund approach to equivalence and flatness of nonlinear systems , 1999, IEEE Trans. Autom. Control..

[25]  M. Becherif,et al.  Dual loop controllers using PI, sliding mode and flatness controls applied to low voltage converters for fuel cell applications , 2016 .

[26]  Fei Gao,et al.  Numerical stiffness study of multi-physical solid oxide fuel cell model for real-time simulation applications , 2018, Applied Energy.

[27]  Farid Khoucha,et al.  GA-based robust LQR controller for interleaved boost DC–DC converter improving fuel cell voltage regulation , 2017 .

[28]  S. Pierfederici,et al.  Approximate novel loss formulae estimation for optimization of power controller of DC/DC converter , 2010, IECON 2010 - 36th Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[29]  Jung-Ho Wee,et al.  Applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems , 2007 .

[30]  Mehdi Savaghebi,et al.  An Enhanced State Observer for DC-Link Voltage Control of Three-Phase AC/DC Converters , 2018, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[31]  Leopoldo Gil-Antonio,et al.  Trajectory Tracking Control for a Boost Converter Based on the Differential Flatness Property , 2019, IEEE Access.