Series-Capacitor Boost Converter as Power Conditioner for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

This article deals with the development of a power electronics system for a fuel cell based electric vehicle. The main task of the power electronics converter is to regulate the output voltage of the fuel cell stack which typically has low and current dependent output voltage. The proposed power electronics system is based on a recently proposed series-capacitor boost converter. This converter has several advantages, such as reduced input current ripple, reduced average current through inductors and high voltage conversion ratio. The analysis of the converter, and the derivation of the dynamic model along with steady state equations are presented. An experimental prototype was also built to corroborate the claimed benefits of the power electronics converter. This work shows that the proposed converter is a compelling solution in applications where high gain converter ratio and low input current ripple is required.