Optimum fuel cell utilization with multilevel DC-DC converters

Burak Ozpineci, Leon M. Tolbert, Gui Jia Su, Zhong Du

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Static characteristics of fuel cells show more than a 30% difference in the output voltage between no-load to full-load conditions. This inevitable decrease, which is caused by internal losses, reduces the utilization factor of the fuel cells at low loads. Additionally, the converters fed by these fuel cells have to be derated to accommodate higher input voltages at low currents. To increase the utilization of fuel cells and to avoid derating of semiconductors, this paper proposes a level reduction control using a multilevel DC-DC converter. Level reduction is done by inhibiting a certain number of fuel cells when the load current decreases. The inhibited fuel cells can be used in other applications such as charging batteries to further increase their utilization and the efficiency of the system.

Original languageEnglish
Pages1572-1576
Number of pages5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004
Event19th Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition - APEC 2004 - Anaheim, CA., United States
Duration: Feb 22 2004Feb 26 2004

Conference

Conference19th Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition - APEC 2004
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAnaheim, CA.
Period02/22/0402/26/04

Keywords

  • DC-DC power conversion
  • Fuel cells
  • Interconnected power systems
  • Multilevel systems
  • Power distribution

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Optimum fuel cell utilization with multilevel DC-DC converters'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this