MPPT Control of an Interleaved Boost Converter for a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Applications

In this paper, we present the simulation and the control of a multiphasic power electronic boost converter for the optimal use of electrical power produced by a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell. Usually, boost converter is used to step up the output voltage of the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell. The Interleaved configuration allows the reduction of the current and voltage ripples of the fuel cell. In this paper, the control of the interleaved boost converter is performed through a pulse width modulation based on maximum power point tracking algorithm. The paper discusses the performances of such configuration based on Perturb and Observe methods and their effects on the fuel cell performances. The Modelling and simulation results of the model implemented on Matlab Simulink are presented and discussed. The results show the robustness of proposed maximum power point tracking control system to follow the maximum power point of the fuel cell.