Fuel cell based traction drive with supercapacitor power boost control

A fuel cell based traction drive and its control are presented. Dual cascaded voltage source inverter and supercapacitor bank allow to increase performances and efficiency. The proposed control allows to optimize the power flow from the two sources in whatever operating condition. Because the supercapacitor system cannot be normally recharged completely in case of asymmetric duty cycle of the vehicle, a novel modulation strategy for the energy stabilization of the supercapacitor is also proposed. It allows to recharge the supercapacitor during regenerative breakings but also in the normal run and stop of the drive without any additional power converter. The validity of the proposed control has been confirmed by the experimental implementation.