Fuel Cell/Battery Hybrid Electric System for UAV

Hybrid electric systems composed of fuel cells and batteries have become solutions for UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles) with electric propulsion due to the fact that they combine the high energy density of fuel cells with the high-power density of batteries. As a rule, a dc-to-dc converter is placed between the fuel cell and the battery, most often a boost converter, which has the role of balancing the power flow between the two sources and increasing the peak power at the output of the hybrid electrical system. In this paper, such a hybrid system on board of an UAV is modeled and analyzed. The system presents a power management based on fuzzy logic, which is responsible for the distribution of the power required by the UAV between the two sources (fuel cell and batteries). The results of the numerical simulation show the ability of the hybrid system to allow the UAV an electric propulsion. The work focuses on the description of the configuration, modeling, and control of the hybrid electric system for a certain electric load requirement.