Analog Current Control Techniques for Power Control in PEM Fuel-Cell Hybrid Systems: A Critical Review and a Practical Application

This paper presents a prototype of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell hybrid system, with a bus connection set by a dc battery bank and all the power electronics and control needed to manage the system. The system power control is based on analog current control. To choose the topology of the controller, a critical review of all the topologies of analog current controllers for dc/dc converters has been done. This review was necessary because there is no literature found that shows a similar compilation. In the experimental part, the proper functioning of the controlled hybrid system is reflected on one hand and the way to solve the known problem of starvation on the other hand. A very important aspect of the system is its scalability. It can be developed in parallel to implement a whole system that handles power levels higher than the rate power of each single fuel-cell system.