A single-stage fuel cell energy system based on a buck-boost inverter with a backup energy storage unit

Minsoo Jang, Mihai Ciobotaru, Vassilios G. Agelidis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An energy system powered by a low-voltage fuel cell (FC) is conditioned to generate higher - voltage regulated ac voltage. The power conditioning system typically requires two power stages: a boost stage and an inversion stage. In this paper, the buck - boost inverter topology that achieves both boosting and inversion functions in a single stage is used as a building block to develop a single-phase FC-based energy system that offers high conversion efficiency, low-cost and compactness. The proposed system incorporates a backup energy storage unit to support the slow dynamics of the FC. The single-phase buck - boost inverter is voltage-mode controlled and the backup unit is current-mode controlled. The low-frequency current ripple is supplied by the backup unit that minimizes the detrimental effects of such ripple being drawn directly from the FC itself. Experimental results from a 1-kW prototype operating at 20kHz are presented to validate the analysis and performance of the proposed system.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2825-2834
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Transactions on Power Electronics
Volume27
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Buck-boost inverter
  • fuel cell
  • fuel cell power conditioning system

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