Performance investigation of linear and nonlinear controls for a fuel cell/supercapacitor hybrid power plant

Phatiphat Thounthong*, Pietro Tricoli, Bernard Davat

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, linear proportional–integral (PI) and nonlinear flatness-based controllers for dc link stabilization for fuel cell/supercapacitor hybrid power plants are compared. For high power applications, 4-phase parallel boost converters are implemented with a switching interleaving technique for a fuel cell (FC) converter, and 4-phase parallel bidirectional converters are implemented with a switching interleaving technique for a supercapacitor converter in the laboratory. As controls, mathematical models (reduced-order models) of the FC converter and the supercapacitor converter are given. The prototype small-scale power plant studied is composed of a PEMFC system (the Nexa Ballard FC power generator: 1.2 kW, 46 A) and a supercapacitor module (100 F, 32 V, based on Maxwell Technologies Company). Simulation (by Matlab/Simulink) and experimental results demonstrate that the nonlinear differential flatness-based control provides improved dc bus stabilization relative to a classical linear PI control method.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)454-464
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems
Volume54
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

Keywords

  • Converters
  • Fuel cells
  • Nonlinear control
  • Supercapacitor
  • Voltage control

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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