Real-time adaptive parameter estimation for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting /republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksIn this paper, we propose real-time adaptive parameter estimation methods for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) to facilitate the modeling and the subsequent control synthesis. Specifically, the electrochemical model of this fuel cell is in a nonlinearly parametric formulation. Hence, most of existing parameter estimation techniques for PEMFC mainly rely on the optimization approaches, requiring heavy computational costs or even offline implementation. In comparison to those methods, real-time adaptive parameter estimation methods for nonlinearly parametric system are developed in this paper. First, the nonlinearly parametric function is linearized by using the Taylor series expansion. Then, adaptive parameter estimation methods are proposed for estimating the constant or time-varying parameters of PEMFC. Different from the well-recognized adaptive parameter estimation methods, the proposed adaptive laws are driven by the extracted estimation errors, so that exponential convergence of the parameter estimation error can be guaranteed, without using any predictors or observers. Finally, practical experiments in a H-100 PEMFC system are conducted, which illustrate satisfactory performances of the presented parameter estimation methods under different operation scenariosPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Theoretical analysis and experimental validation of single-phase direct vs. cascade voltage control in Islanded microgrids

The increasing number of distributed generation units has led to the development of microgrids, to which the distributed generators are commonly interfaced by means of a voltage-source inverter (VSI). When the microgrid is operating independently of the power system, i.e., in islanded mode, two levels of control can be distinguished for these VSIs: power control and voltage control (frequency and amplitude). The set-point values for the voltage controller are obtained from the power controller. This paper investigates theoretically and experimentally the benefits of using several PID control structures for the voltage control. Theoretical insights into the dynamics of such a system emphasize the benefits of measuring current signals for control purposes and adding voltage measurements to the output of the controllers. Direct voltage control and cascade voltage control are compared both with and without forward compensation of the grid voltage. Simulation and experimental results are given showing that such PID-type controllers on a digital signal processor are simple yet effective strategies for an accurate voltage control in islanded microgrids

Adaptive Neural Network-Based Control of a Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid

In this paper, the behavior of a grid-connected hybrid ac/dc microgrid has been investigated. Different renewable energy sources - photovoltaics modules and a wind turbine generator - have been considered together with a solid oxide fuel cell and a battery energy storage system. The main contribution of this paper is the design and the validation of an innovative online-trained artificial neural network-based control system for a hybrid microgrid. Adaptive neural networks are used to track the maximum power point of renewable energy generators and to control the power exchanged between the front-end converter and the electrical grid. Moreover, a fuzzy logic-based power management system is proposed in order to minimize the energy purchased from the electrical grid. The operation of the hybrid microgrid has been tested in the MATLAB/Simulink environment under different operating conditions. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness, the high robustness and the self-adaptation ability of the proposed control system

Comprehensive summary of solid oxide fuel cell control : a state-of-the-art review

Hydrogen energy is a promising renewable resource for the sustainable development of society. As a key member of the fuel cell (FC) family, the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has attracted a lot of attention because of characteristics such as having various sources as fuel and high energy conversion efficiency, and being pollution-free. SOFC is a highly coupled, nonlinear, and multivariable complex system, and thus it is very important to design an appropriate control strategy for an SOFC system to ensure its safe, reliable, and efficient operation. This paper undertakes a comprehensive review and detailed summary of the state-of-the-art control approaches of SOFC. These approaches are divided into eight categories of control: proportional integral differential (PID), adaptive (APC), robust, model predictive (MPC), fuzzy logic (FLC), fault-tolerant (FTC), intelligent and observer-based. The SOFC control approaches are carefully evaluated in terms of objective, design, application/scenario, robustness, complexity, and accuracy. Finally, five perspectives are proposed for future research directions

Decentralized Power Management and Transient Control in Hybrid Fuel Cell Ultra-Capacitor System

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are considered suitable for alternative energy solutions due to advantages such as high efficiency, fuel flexibility, tolerance to impurities, and potential for combined cycle operations. One of the main operating constraints of SOFCs is fuel starvation, which can occur under fluctuating power demands. It leads to voltage loss and detrimental effects on cell integrity and longevity. In addition, reformer based SOFCs require sufficient steam for fuel reforming to avoid carbon deposition and catalyst degradation. Steam to carbon ratio (STCR) is an index indicating availability of the steam in the reformer. This work takes a holistic approach to address the aforementioned concerns in SOFCs, in an attempt to enhance applicability and adaptability of such systems. To this end, we revisit prior investigation on the invariant properties of SOFC systems, that led to prediction of fuel utilization U and STCR in the absence of intrusive and expensive sensing. This work provides further insight into the reasons behind certain SOFC variables being invariant with respect to operating conditions. The work extends the idea of invariant properties to different fuel and reformer types. In SOFCs, transient control is essential for U, especially if the fuel cell is to be operated in a dynamic load-following mode at high fuel utilization. In this research, we formulate a generalized abstraction of this transient control problem. We show that a multi-variable systems approach can be adopted to address this issue in both time and frequency domains, which leads to input shaping. Simulations show the effectiveness of the approach through good disturbance rejection. The work further integrates the aforementioned transient control research with system level control design for SOFC systems hybridized with storage elements. As opposed to earlier works where centralized robust controllers were of interest, here, separate controllers for the fuel cell and storage have been the primary emphasis. Thus, the proposed approach acts as a bridge between existing centralized controls for single fuel cells to decentralized control for power networks consisting of multiple elements. As a first attempt, decentralized control is demonstrated in a SOFC ultra-capacitor hybrid system. The challenge of this approach lies in the absence of direct and explicit communication between individual controllers. The controllers are designed based on a simple, yet effective principle of conservation of energy. Simulations as well as experimental results are presented to demonstrate the validity of these designs

Voltage-based droop control of converter-interfaced distributed generation units in microgrids

Sinds de laatste jaren is er in het elektrisch energienet een enorme toevloed aan kleine decentrale generatoren, vaak op basis van hernieuwbare energiebronnen. De distributienetten werden echter niet gebouwd om injectie van energie toe te laten. Hierdoor komen steeds meer problemen in de distributienetten voor, zoals bijvoorbeeld overspanningen tijdens zonnige periodes. Dit bemoeilijkt de verdere integratie van hernieuwbare energiebronnen. In deze context werd het microgrid concept voorgesteld om een gecoordineerde koppeling van decentrale generatoren in het net mogelijk te maken. Microgrids zijn kleine subnetten die lokaal hun elementen, zoals de generatoren en de lasten regelen om bepaalde doeleinden te bereiken. Ze kunnen bijvoorbeeld de spanningsregeling in hun net verzorgen of als een geheel meespelen in de energiemarkten. Een karakteristiek van microgrids is dat ze onafhankelijk van het net kunnen werken, in het zogenaamde eilandbedrijf. In eilandbedrijf moeten het verbruik en de opwekking op ieder tijdstip op elkaar afgesteld zijn. Aangezien microgrids erg verschillende eigenschappen hebben van het gewone elektrisch net, zijn hier specifieke regelstrategieen voor vereist. In deze doctoraatsverhandeling wordt een dergelijke regelstrategie uitgewerkt, de zogenaamde spanningsgebaseerde droop (proportionele) regeling. Het spanningsniveau wordt als de niet-conventionele parameter gebruikt om het microgrid te regelen

Estrategias conmutadas de control : Aplicación en sistemas de conversión de energías renovables y su integración a redes eléctricas

En esta tesis se analizan y proponen estrategias de control flexibles y robustas para el control de sistemas de conversión de energía renovables en el contexto de la generación distribuida. Se trabaja principalmente con la conversión de energía eólica y solar fotovoltaica, como así también con un sistema de almacenamiento y recuperación de energía. Se hace hincapié en el control de la potencia de la micro fuente, de forma tal de poder brindar las características requeridas para su conexión a redes de generación distribuida o micro redes. El análisis de estos sistemas de potencia está fuera de los alcances de este trabajo. En el caso de la energía fotovoltaica se realizan propuestas para la maximización de la extracción del recurso y el control activo de la potencia entregada por la micro fuente. Se realiza el análisis de estabilidad para los convertidores dc/dc más utilizados en este tipo de aplicaciones. También se extienden estos conceptos al control del convertidor electrónico de micro fuentes basadas en pilas de combustible. En el caso del control del sistema de almacenamiento y recuperación de energía, se propone una estrategia capaz de iniciar el sistema, funcionar intercambiando potencia con la red, realizar la protección del dispositivo de almacenamiento y apagado del sistema de forma automática. Se realiza el análisis de estabilidad de todos los modos de funcionamiento y la combinación de estos modos para lograr una operación global estable. En el caso de la energía eólica se investiga la operación de la turbina en todo el rango de velocidades de viento, como así también la extensión de la región de operación para realizar un control activo de la potencia de salida. El control activo de la potencia de salida de la turbina permite la incorporación de nuevos modos de funcionamiento como la generación de potencia con reserva para la contribución a la estabilidad de frecuencia. El control de las interfaces electrónicas se aborda en el marco del control por modo deslizante, mientras que para el control de turbinas eólicas se realizan propuestas en el marco de control robusto ($H_\infty$) y el control de parámetros lineales variantes (LPV). Para los sistemas fotovoltaico, con pila de combustible y de almacenamiento de energía se presentan resultados de simulación y experimentales. Para el caso de las turbinas eólicas, se presentan resultados de simulación con un modelo de alto orden (FAST) desarrollado por el Laboratorio de Energías Renovables de Estados Unidos (NREL). Los resultados obtenidos permitieron verificar la viabilidad y desempeño de las estrategias propuestas predichas por el análisis teórico.Facultad de Ingenierí