PEM fuel cell stack Hardware-In-the-Loop emulation using DC/DC converter design

A model based PEM (Proton exchange membrane) fuel cell emulator with a DC/DC power converter design is presented in this paper. The presented multi-physical fuel cell stack model approaches three major domains: electrical, fluidic and thermal Where a fuel cell dynamic phenomena analysis is performed and discussed through those different physical domains. Analysis are performed on the dynamics of those three levels of emulation and a DC/DC converter is designed for the fuel cell electrical emulation purpose. An appropriate control strategy for the converter is also discussed. The emulator experimental results are validated with a commercial Ballard NEXA 1.2 kW fuel cell stack. Such an emulator is of great interest for Hardware-In-the-Loop (HiL) applications to be used for real time hardware validation of fuel cell systems.