Increasing PEM fuel cell performance via fuzzy-logic controlled cascaded DC-DC boost converter

The voltage level produced by Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC), which is one of the clean energy sources, is low for many industrial applications. For this reason, for many industrial applications such as electric vehicles, it is necessary to use a boost type DC-DC power electronic circuit at the output of PEM FC. In this case, in addition to the PEM FC performance, the dynamic performance and efficiency of the DC-DC converter to be used affect the performance and efficiency of the total system. In this study, a single-switch cascaded DC-DC boost converter, which has both higher voltage gain and more efficiency compared to conventional cascade converter and other boost type converters, is proposed for PEM FC. Since the proposed single-switch cascaded DC-DC boost converter includes only one controlled-switch, it is efficient as well as smaller in size and less costly compared to the other types. In addition, the proposed single-switch cascaded DC-DC boost converter is tested with the traditional PID and fuzzy-logic control methods to observe the dynamic performance of PEM FC. When the fuzzy logic controller is compared with the PID controller, it is clearly seen that it gives 21% more successful results as per rise time, 71% settling time, 97% overshoot, and 26% RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) error rate. As a result, when the proposed single-switch cascaded DC-DC boost converter is regulated via fuzzy control method, a more efficient PEM FC system which has better dynamic performance can be designed.