MPPT of PEM Fuel Cell Using PI-PD Controller Based on Golden Jackal Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

Subversive environmental impacts and limited amounts of conventional forms of energy necessitate the utilization of renewable energies (REs). Unfortunately, REs such as solar and wind energies are intermittent, so they should be stored in other forms to be used during their absence. One of the finest storage techniques for REs is based on hydrogen generation via an electrolyzer during abundance, then electricity generation by fuel cell (FC) during their absence. With reference to the advantages of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC), this is preferred over other kinds of FCs. The output power of the PEM-FC is not constant, since it depends on hydrogen pressure, cell temperature, and electric load. Therefore, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) system should be utilized with PEM-FC. The techniques previously utilized have some disadvantages, such as slowness of response and largeness of each oscillation, overshoot and undershoot, so this article addresses an innovative MPPT for PEM-FC using a consecutive controller made up of proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-derivative (PD) controllers whose gains are tuned via the golden jackal optimization algorithm (GJOA). Simulation results when applying the GJOA-PI-PD controller for MPPT of PEM-FC reveal its advantages over other approaches according to quickness of response, smallness of oscillations, and tininess of overshoot and undershoot. The overshoot resulting using the GJOA-PI-PD controller for MPPT of PEM-FC is smaller than that of perturb and observe, GJOA-PID, and GJOA-FOPID controllers by 98.26%, 86.30%, and 89.07%, respectively. Additionally, the fitness function resulting when using the GJOA-PI-PD controller for MPPT of PEM-FC is smaller than that of the aforementioned approaches by 93.95%, 87.17%, and 87.97%, respectively.

Keywords

• PEM fuel cell
• MPPT
• PI-PD controller
• bioinspired algorithms
• metaheuristic optimizers