A NEW CONTROL METHOD OF Z-SOURCE CONVERTER WITH PEM

FUEL CELL IN PSCAD/EMTDC ENVIRONMENT

MARINA O. CURI 1, BRUNO W. FRANÇA 1,2, MAURÍCIO AREDES 1

1. LEMT – Laboratório de Eletrônica de Potência e Média Tensão, Programa de Engenharia Elétrica, COPPE/UFRJ
Centro de Tecnologia, Bloco I, sala I-156, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
CEP: 21.949-900 Caixa Postal 68504

2. Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca – CEFET/RJ

Avenida Maracanã, 229 - Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
CEP: 20271-110
E-mails: marina@lemt.ufrj.br, bruno@lemt.ufrj.br, aredes@lemt.ufrj.br

Abstract⎯This paper proposes a generalized model of
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with Z-
source converter design in PSCAD/EMTDC simulator.
The fuel cell model considers the chemical and electrical
parameters, and it is composed by five inputs and one
electrical output. In the other words, the user needs to
filled up five parameters of fuel cell to obtain the dc
voltage output, which feeds Z-source converter. Although
the Z-Source concept can be applied to all power
conversion (dc to ac, ac to dc, ac to ac and dc to dc), this
paper analyses its capability to dc-ac power conversion
and boosting voltage, this is an extremely attractive
quality particularly for fuel cell power which has low
output voltage. A new Z-Source voltage control is also
proposed based on anti-wind up control technique.
Simulations results of PEM fuel cell/Z-source converter
impedance input consists of two inductors and two capacitors
interconnected in X. Theses capacitors and inductors provide
the capacity to boost and regulate the inverter voltage
through energy storage techniques.
This paper presents a new control method for fuel cell
with Z-source converter based using alpha beta reference
frame [4]. In order to complain with the Z-source dynamic
the controller uses anti-windup technique [5].
II. THE SYSTEM PROPOSED
The Fig 1 shows the PEM fuel cell/Z-source converter
system coupled with passive filter (RC).
Z Source 3-phase
L1 inverter

system are presented and polarization curves as well.

PEM C1 C2
AC Load
Keywords⎯ anti-windup, alpha beta reference frame FUEL CELL V_ZSource

PEMFC, PSCAD/ EMTDC, Z-source converter. STACK

.

L2
I. INTRODUCTION
Fig 1 Block diagram of PEMFC/Z-source converter system.
The concerns about greenhouse effects gas and the
increase of Earth temperature have been considered the
Hydrogen one of the best fuel alternative to power In the following items will be present each part of system
generation. Besides, the fuel cells constitute a clean way, of Fig 1.
silent, and efficient of energy generation and of heat [2].
Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks in fuel cell A. PEM Fuel Cell Stack
operation. It cannot accept current in reverse direction, has
bad performance with ripple current, low output voltage that A fuel cell is composed by electrodes (anode and cathode)
varies with age and current, responds slowly to step load and electrolyte, which is an ion conduction polymer. The
changes and is limited in overload capabilities. For these electrochemistry reactions occur in the electrodes, where is
reasons, choppers are often necessary to boost and regulate produced electrical current by extern circuit, while the ions
the output voltage [3]. Furthermore, the addition of an are transported through the electrolyte.
inverter is necessary in case of conversion of DC power to At the anode side of the cell, a fuel (Hydrogen gas) is
AC applications, increasing the number of switches used and supplied under certain pressure. The gas relies two electrons
its control complexity. and two protons, as shown at the semi-reaction (1).
In this way, Z-Source inverter is a topology that can solve
some of these problems aforementioned. It employs a unique H → 2 H + 2e
+ −
E = 0V
0 (1)
2 (g ) 0
impedance network to couple the converter. This unique

978-1-4577-1646-1/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE 645

 The two electrons and the two protons released move Switches used in the inverter are an ant parallel
from anode to cathode. At the cathode side the protons react combination of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGTB) and
with oxidant (air or pure Oxygen) to form water, as shown at diode.
the semi-reaction (2). a. Voltage gain of Z-source inverter

1 O ( ) + 2e + 2H → H O( ) E = 1.229V
− + 0 (2) As described in [6]and [7] the voltage gain of Z-source
2 2 g 2 l 0 inverter can be expressed as:

Therefore, summing the (1) and (2) semi-reactions. The ^

V 0
global oxi-reduction reaction is given by (3). = MB = G (4)
V 2
dc

H ( ) + 1 O ( ) → H O( ) + energy E =1.229V 0 (3)

2 g
2 2g 2 l 0
^
V
Where V 0 is the output peak phase voltage dc is the input
The Fig 2represents the PEM fuel cell stack interface dc voltage, M is the modulation index, and B is the boost
composed by five inputs, such as: numbers of fuel cells, factor, which is determined by:
operation temperature (K), active area (cm2), cathode input
pressure (atm absolute) and Hydrogen input pressure (atm 1
absolute) and by one output, the stack voltage. The B =
PSCAD/EMTDC simulator is able to calculate 2T (5)
1− 0

sobrepotencial losses in order to obtain the actual stack T

output voltage. The fuel cell model also considers the
chemical and electrical parameters, but the detailed design
guide and formulas will be presented in a near future paper.
Where T0 is the shoot through period and T is the
switching cycle period, or (T0/T) = D0 is the shoot through
duty ratio. To achieve the maximum voltage gain it should
maximize B for any modulation index, consequently, from
(5)to make the shoot through duty ratio as large as possible.

b. The new control method of Z-source voltage

Differently from [6] and [7], here the control of Z-Source

voltage is made using alpha beta reference frame [4].
According to these theory, the measured and reference ac
output voltages are transformed in terms of αβ-variables,
which reduce the control algorithm calculations, as expressed
in (6), and are compared, The error between them is sent to
PI controller, whose output is transformed in three phase
coordinates by inverse Clarke Transform to generate
reference signal. The PWM generation block output with
Fig 2 PEM fuel cell global interface system. shoot through signal are used to trigger the inverter switches
(Fig 3).
B. Z-Source Converter
⎡ 1 1 ⎤ ⎡V ⎤
⎡V ⎤ 2 ⎢1 − 2 − 2 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
a
In a traditional voltage source inverter, the two switches (6)
⎢V ⎥ =
α
of the same leg can never be gated on the same time, because V
3 ⎢0 3 − 3 ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
b

doing so would cause a short circuit, destroying, in this way, ⎣ ⎦

2 ⎦ ⎢⎣ V ⎥⎦
β

the inverter. Besides this, the maximum output voltage can ⎣ 2 c

never exceed the dc voltage bus.

In a traditional current source inverter the ac output
voltage has to be greater than the original dc voltage that
feeds the dc inductor. At least, one of the upper devices and
one of the lower devices has to be gated on and maintained
on at any time. Otherwise, an open circuit of the dc inductor
would occur and destroy the devices [1]. These limitations
mentioned of the voltage source inverter and of the current
source inverter can be overcome by Z-Source inverter.
In Fig 1, a two port network that consists of a split- Fig 3 Switch triggering with PWM and shoot-through.
inductor L1 and L2 and capacitors C1 and C2 connected in X
shape is employed to provide an impedance source (Z- The Fig 4 describes the reference voltage calculation
Source) coupling the inverter to the PEM fuel cell stack. The which is used to compare with Z-source network link dc
capacitor and inductor design are present in [9]and [10]. voltage. The error between them is sent to PI controller with

646
anti windup, whose output is the shoot through signal (Fig
5). The shoot through state provides the unique buck-boost
feature to the inverter.
The fuel cell stack model was based on technical
specifications from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies
datasheet (TABLE 1).
Fig 7shows the polarization curves designed by fuel cell
stack model in PSCAD/EMTDC.

70
60

Stack voltage (V)

50
Fig 4 RMS reference voltage.
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
3000

2500

Stack power (W)

Fig 5 Shoot through signal generation. 2000

1500
The PI controller with anti-windup from Fig 5 is 1000
maximized in Fig 6. When control variable (shoot through)
500
reaches the actuator limits the integral term winds-up and the
error continues to be integrated, the feedback loop is broken 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
and the system runs as an open loop. This feature is used to Stack current (A)
improve the controller dynamic. Fig 7 Fuel cell stack model polarization curves.
There are several methods to avoid windup phenomenon.
TABLE 2 represents the Z-source converter, filter and
In this article is used back-calculation and tracking
diode full bridge rectifier parameters adopted to simulate fuel
technique, which work as follows: When the output saturates,
cell stack/Z-source converter system.
the integral term is recomputed so that its new value gives an
output at the saturation limit. As shown in Fig 6the system
has an extra feedback path that is generated by measuring as TABLE 2: Z-source converter, filter and diode full bridge
the difference between actuator output and input (controller rectifier parameters.
output), generating an error signal es, which is fed to the ^
integrator input through 1/Tt gain, whose adopted value is V0 _ reference (V) 311 (peak)

T =
t
T i , according to [5]. Z-Source
C1=C2=7. L1=L2=
4μF 1mH
Switching frequency
10
(kHz)
M 0.75
Zload (Ω) 16.1
Diode full-bridge Vd0= 297.1V
rectifier Rload=29.4Ω
Filter resistance (Ω)
5
Cutting frequency
1
(kHz)
30
Filter capacitance (µF)

0.4
Vabref
Vab
0.3

0.2

Fig 6 PI controller with anti-windup.

Load voltage (kV)

0.1

III. SIMULATIONSRESULTS 0

TABLE 1: Fuel cells stack parameters. -0.1

-0.2
Stack power (W) 3000
T (K) 338.15 -0.3

pH2 (atm) 1.5 -0.4

p_cathode (atm) 2.2 0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48
Time (s)
0.49 0.5 0.51 0.52 0.53

A_active (cm2) 180

Numbers of cells 72 Fig 8 Reference and measured output voltage waveforms without
RC filter.

647
 In order to validate the new control technique of Z-Source
-3
x 10
4
^ PF = 100%
voltage, the voltage reference ( V 0 _ = 220 V rms) was
reference 2
compared with the output measured voltage (Fig 8). Note
there are high frequency harmonic components in the 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
-3
measured voltage (green); this is due to the absence of RC x 10

Load power (MVA)

4
PF = 95%
filter.
To solve the problem aforementioned it was inserted a RC 2

filter, whose resistance and capacitance values are presented 0

in the TABLE 2. Fig 9represents the output voltages 4
0
x 10
-3 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2

waveforms with RC filter. PF = 85%

2
Vab
0.3 Vabref
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
0.2 Ti ( )
Fig 11 Load power with three different PF.
0.1
Load voltage (kV)

The figures following represent the voltages and currents

waveforms of some kinds of loads, whose parameters values
0

-0.1 are presented in TABLE 3. It can be noted that the currents

-0.2
and voltage loads are balanced; also there are some ripple
factor in voltages waveforms.
-0.3

0.2
0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48 0.49 0.5 0.51 0.52 0.53 Van
Time (s) Vbn

Load voltage (kV)

0.1 Vcn

Fig 9 Reference and measured output voltages waveforms. 0

-0.1
0.4
-0.2
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
0.35 0.02
iLa
Z source link dc voltage (kV)

iLb
Load current (kA)

0.3 0.01 iLc

0.25 0

0.2 -0.01

-0.02
0.15 0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
Time (s)

0.1
Fig 12 Load voltage and current waveforms – PF= 100 %.
0.05

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Time (s)
0.2
Vcn
Fig 10 Z source network link dc voltage. Vbn
Load voltage (kV)

0.1 Van

The next figures are referred to the proposed system 0

analyzes under different power factors (PF): 100%, 95% and -0.1

85 %. The TABLE 3 shows the adopted power factor, -0.2

0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48

different loads types with respective total harmonic distortion 0.02

iLa

(THD) results. iLb

Load current (kA)

0.01 iLc

TABLE 3: Power factors and different loads types. -0.01

-0.02
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
Time (s)
PF R (Ω) L (mH) C (µF) THD (%) Fig 13 Load current and voltage waveforms – PF=95 % inductive.
1.0 10.9
16.1 - -
Resistive
0.95 11.6
0.2
Van
15.3 13.2 - Vbn
inductive
Load voltage (kV)

0.1 Vcn

0.85 12.4
13. 22.5 - 0
inductive
0.95 10.7
-0.1

15.3 2.6 663.1

capacitive -0.2
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48

0.85 10.5
13.7 2.6 354.1 0.015
iLa
capacitive 0.01 iLb
Load current (kA)

iLc
0.005

-0.005

-0.01

-0.015
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
Time (s)

Fig 14 Load current and voltage waveforms – PF=95 % capacitive.

648
 0.2 0.4
Van Vab
Vbn 0.3 Vabref
Load voltage (kV)

0.1 Vcn

Inverter output voltage (kV)

0.2
0
0.1

-0.1 0

-0.2 -0.1
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
-0.2
0.015
iLa
0.01 iLb -0.3
Load current (kA)

iLc
0.005 -0.4
0.43 0.44 0.45 0.46 0.47 0.48 0.49 0.5 0.51 0.52 0.53
0 Time (s)

-0.005

-0.01
Fig 19 Inverter output voltage (diode full-bridge rectifier).
-0.015
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
Time (s)
IV. CONCLUSION
Fig 15 Load current and voltage waveforms – PF=85 % inductive.
The Z-source capability to dc-ac power conversion and
boosting voltage is an extremely attractive quality
0.2
Van particularly for fuel cell power conditioning, considering that
a fuel cell module has low output voltage.
Vbn
Load voltage (kV)

0.1 Vcn

0 The new control proposed using alpha beta reference

-0.1 frame was efficiently to achieve the Z-source converter
-0.2
output voltage in desired value (311 V peak). Besides, the
αβ-variables reduce the control algorithm complexity.
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455 0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48

0.015

Furthermore, the PI controller with anti-windup improves

iLa
0.01 iLb
Load current (kA)

iLc
0.005

0
the system dynamic through the back-calculation and
-0.005 tracking technique.
-0.01
The PEMFC/Z-source converter system is appropriated to
-0.015
0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445 0.45 0.455
Time (s)
0.46 0.465 0.47 0.475 0.48
couple with any type of loads (resistive, RL, RLC, diode full
Fig 16 Load current and voltage waveforms – PF=85 % capacitive. bridge). It is also noted in simulations results that currents
and voltages are balanced.
Simulations have been performed to analyze the system In order to validate the model proposed, the next steps are
behavior with a diode full-bridge rectifier whose output experimental analyzes of PEMFC/Z-source converter system
voltage Vd0 (TABLE 2) was calculated as it is described [8]. with the same parameters of simulations tests.
Fig 17 and Fig 18 are referred about the resistive load power,
voltage and current load, respectively of the proposed system ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
with diode full bridge rectifier.
The authors wish to extend special thanks to Conselho
Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
-3
x 10
3

2.5 (CNPq) for the financial support.

2

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Load power (MVA)

1.5

0.5
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0
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0.2 2005.
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