| Abstract |
Due to the fact that the environmental issues have become more serious recently, interest in renewableenergy systems, such as, fuel-cells (FCs) has increased steadfastly. Among many types of FCs, protonexchange membrane FC (PEMFC) is one of the most promising power sources due to its advantages,such as, low operation temperature, high power density and low emission. However, using onlyPEMFC for electric vehicle may not be feasible to satisfy the peak demand changes especially duringaccelerations and braking. So, hybridizing PEMFC and an energy storage system (ESS) decreases theFC cost and improves its performance and life. Battery (B) appears to be the most powerful candidateto hybridize with PEMFC for vehicular applications. Therefore, the performance of PEMFC/Bhybridization is limited considerably by the performance of the converter. Thus, a suitable dc-dcconverter topology is required. Various isolated and nonisolated converter topologies for FCapplications have been proposed in literature. The objective of this study is to design and simulate afuel cell - interleaved boost dc-dc converter (FC-IBC) for hybrid power systems in electric vehicleapplication, in order to decrease the FC current ripple. Therefore Energetic efficiency can also beimproved. A control strategy capable of determining the desired FC power and keeps the dc voltagearound its nominal value by supplying propulsion power and recuperating braking energy is designedand tested with an urbane electric vehicle model. |
