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Ingenious golden section search MPPT algorithm for PEM fuel cell power system

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Abstract

Among several types of fuel cells available in the market, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is characterized by low operating temperature, high efficiency and long lifetime. These advantages have prompted the PEM fuel cell to enter into several applications such as vehicle power sources, portable power and backup power applications. However, the PEM fuel cell faces several challenges due to the dependency of the output power on the operating condition like cell temperature and membrane water content. Under changing operating conditions, there is only one unique operating point for the fuel cell system with maximum output. Therefore, for better operation and optimal exploitation, the extraction of maximum power from PEM fuel cell is indispensable. This paper deals with the development golden section search (GSS)-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for PEMFC power system. To our knowledge, this paper is a first, if modest, attempt to develop a fuel cell MPPT controller based on golden section algorithm. The proposed GSS-based MPPT has been implemented and validated on fuel cell power system composed of 7 kW PEMFC supplying a resistive load via a DC/DC boost converter controlled using the proposed MPPT. Simulation results obtained using MATLAB/Simulink show that the proposed GSS MPPT outperforms the variable step size incremental conductance one in all test cases including cell temperature and membrane water content variations in terms of static as well as dynamic performances regarding all used metrics reducing by the way the response time by 34.33%, the overshoot and ripple by around 100% and with neglect oscillation around MPP improving as a consequence the fuel cell efficiency.

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Abbreviations

ANN:

Artificial neural networks

DC:

Direct current

ESC:

Extremum seeking control

ES:

Eagle strategy

FO-HPF:

Fractional-order high-pass filter

FOINC:

Fractional-order incremental conductance

FC:

Fuel cell

FLC:

Fuzzy logic controller

IPSO:

Improved particle swarm optimization

IC:

Incremental conductance

IO-I:

Integer order integrator

LPF:

Low-pass filter

MFC:

Microbial fuel cell

MPP:

Maximum power point

MPPT:

Maximum power point tracking

PSO:

Particle swarm optimization

PSOTVAC:

Particle swarm optimization with time-varying acceleration coefficients

P&O:

Perturbation and observation

PID:

Proportional integral derivative

PEM:

Proton exchange membrane

QPSO:

Quantum particle swarm optimization

RBFN:

Radial basis function network

SMC:

Sliding mode control

STA:

Supertwisting algorithm

VEPSO:

Vector evaluated particle swarm optimization

VOA:

Voltage overshoot avoidance

μ act :

Activation voltage

C :

Capacitance

\(C_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }}\) :

Concentration of dissolved oxygen

μ con :

Concentration voltage

I :

Current

α :

Duty cycle

F :

Faraday’s constant

I FC :

Fuel cell current

υ FC :

Fuel cell voltage

\(P_{{{\text{H}}_{2} }}\) :

Hydrogen pressure

L :

Inductance

ΔI L :

Inductor current ripple

I max :

Maximum current density

δ :

Membrane active area

R M :

Membrane resistance

φ :

Membrane water content

E nernst :

Nernst voltage

\(\kappa\) :

Number of electrons

μ ohm :

Ohmic voltage

Δυ 0 :

Output voltage ripple

\(P_{{{\text{O}}_{2} }}\) :

Oxygen pressure

λ i=1–4 :

Parametric coefficients

P :

Power

R c :

Contact resistance

f s :

Switching frequency

T :

Temperature

\(\ell\) :

Thickness of membrane

R :

Universal gas constant

dI :

Current variation

dP :

Power variation

dV :

Voltage variation

V :

Voltage

Γ:

The interval length

Γ1 :

The length of the larger segment

Γ2 :

The length of the smaller segment

ξ :

The golden ration

ρ :

The golden section ratio

ε :

The current precision

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Acknowledgements

The Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research via DGRSDT supported this research (Research PRFU Project A01L07UN190120180005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electrical Engineering Department, Mohamed Boudiaf University, 28000, Msila, Algeria

    Hamza Bahri

  2. Mechatronics Laboratory, Optics and Precision Mechanics Institute, Ferhat Abbas University, 19000, Sétif, Algeria

    Hamza Bahri & Abdelghani Harrag

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  1. Hamza Bahri
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Correspondence to Abdelghani Harrag.

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Bahri, H., Harrag, A. Ingenious golden section search MPPT algorithm for PEM fuel cell power system. Neural Comput & Applic 33, 8275–8298 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-020-05581-4

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