Traction power converter for PEM fuel cell multi-stack generator used in urban transportation

This paper presents the study, based on technical specifications, of a power converter structure candidate to fuel cell multi-stack association for urban transport applications. This study is carried out in the frame of the French SPACT-80 research project. The converter topology is based on a DC-DC 3-phase IGBT interleaved boost converter which should meet the following relevant criteria: high efficiency, redundancy, minimisation of fuel cell current ripple, compactness, fault handling and strategies for degraded working modes. The degraded working modes which are considered are one fuel cell stack or converter phase out of work, and DC bus voltage fluctuation. The originality of this paper consists in the power converter design and the backup strategies. Converter operation and performances are studied by numerical simulation.