High-quality integration of fuel cells energy into electric grids

Abstract

This paper investigates different converter topologies, and their control, that can be used as an interface between fuel cells and the DC bus in a power system. As an example, the integration of fuel cells energy to the DC bus in a DC zonal electric distribution system (DC ZEDS) will be focused on. The DC ZEDS example is reasonable as high-quality power supply is interesting the most for the US navy. Among the two topologies presented, one is new and its performance is compared to that of the conventional boost converter. The proposed topology utilizes a modified boost converter to enhance the integration of sustainable energy sources into the system. It gives continuous output current and some other advantages over the conventional one. However, it is more complex. A comparative study of the techniques presented in this paper will be conducted from performance as well as cost points of view. A prototype system has been designed and simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK to validate the proposed technique. Moreover, it has been examined experimentally to verify the results and conclusions deduced out of the study. Both simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed technique and its validity as a DC-DC converter for fuel cells integration to DC ZEDS and its outperformance over conventional DC-DC boost converters.