A comprehensive review on power conditioning units and control techniques in fuel cell hybrid systems

Abstract

A fuel cell (FC) is one of the most viable solutions to the current energy crisis and environmental pollution problem. It can be applied in power generation, portable power supply, as well as in hybrid vehicles. Due to the versatile nature of this energy source and non-dependency over the environmental conditions, FCs can be a significant source of alternative energy source in the future. Researchers are working on power conversion topologies and control strategies development for FC application for the past decade. However, the latest summary of the progress in this sector is not available in the literature. This article is aimed at discussing the various control techniques and energy management systems reported in the literature. The configurations are categorized according to their nature, application area, and performance. Different energy management strategies used in fuel cell-based systems are considered here for the qualitative analysis. The essential characteristics such as the advantages, disadvantages, and improvement opportunities of various energy management strategies of fuel cell vehicles are discussed from the control system point of view. Finally, the recent trends in the development of fuel cell hybrid energy management systems are presented to improve the performance based on the above qualitative analysis. This article will help the researchers in this field to know the current status, future trend and the future research directions in fuel cell research for power generation.

Keywords

• Fuel cell
• Hybrid system
• Control theory
• Energy management strategy