Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)

IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1

CONTROL AND GRID SYNCHRONIZATION

OF FUEL CELL BASED INVERTER USING
MATLAB
Pritesh U. Patel and Hardik D. Pandya
Electrical Engineering Department
Sarvajanic College of Engineering and Technology
Surat, India.
e-mail: pritesh2151994@gmail.com, hardik.pandya@scet.ac.in

Abstract— Renewable power generation is gaining more
important for stand-alone as well as in the form of grid connected
distributed generation due to increasing the electrical power
demand and requirement of pollution control. Fuel-cell-based
power generation is also gaining popularity in residential
applications as well as distributed power generation due to its
cleanliness, portability, and suitability for electricity and heat
generation compared to conventional energy source and some of
the non-conventional sources as well. This paper is presented the
modeling controlling and synchronization of fuel cell based
distributed system. The detailed dynamic modeling of proton
exchange membrane fuel cell based DG plant is described. The
control strategy is designed for operating the FC based system in
both grid connected mode and islanded mode to better work of the
system. The design of PEMFC and control system is designed and
simulated using MATLAB/Simulink software.
Index Terms - PEM fuel cell; Distributed Generation; Grid
synchronization; Islanded mode.
I. INTRODUCTION
In renewable energy sources for distributed generation
photovoltaic, wind and fuel cell are used. The photovoltaic and
wind power plant has some limitation that there output power
depends on climatic condition. They also require large amount
of land area which is the main problem today’s world. Fuel cell
distributed system can solve the all problems of solar and wind
plants. Fuel cell system can be placed at any site for grid
reinforcement of grid as well as standalone system in emergency
power supply [1].
Basically fuel cell is the static energy conversion device
which convert the chemical energy to electrical energy. Fuel cell
has the advantage of high efficiency, zero or low production of
pollutant gases, flexibility of modular structure. Moreover it
produce the water and heat as a byproduct. The overall system
efficiencies as high as 80% [2]. There are various types of fuel
cell are available, compared with the other types of fuel cell a
proton exchange membrane fuel cell shows best results with its
advantages like low temperature, high power density, fast
response and zero emission [3-5].
The control of a Distributed Power Generation System
(DPGS) has been discussed in [6]. Different implementation of
control strategies like dq and stationary and natural frame
control structures were presented, and their major characteristics
were pointed out. The modeling and simulation of single stage
power conversion using power electronics interface between
fuel cell and load/grid is proposed in [7-9], which has advantages
of less component, low losses. A hybrid power generation
system based on decoupled hybrid PV/Fuel Cell/Battery power
system that supplies the local load grid is presented in [10]. The
battery responds quickly to load transients leaving the fuel cell
to respond slowly with steady-state. The battery also
compensates the peaking part of the demand allowing a
reasonable sizing of the fuel cell. The operation of 50kW PEM
fuel cell system as distributed generation is proposed in [11].
The models for the three-phase inverter are simulated for PEM
fuel cell model are performed for its operation both in grid
connected and islanded mode.
In this paper, the dynamic mathematical model of PEMFC
system is designed and pulse with modulation control strategy
has been modeled and simulated. For controlling the system in
grid connected mode as well as islanded mode pulse width
modulation technic has been modeled and simulated. Different
load conditions are applied to this system. The simulation results
shows that the control strategy potentially suitable for both grid
connected and islanded mode of operation. The overall system
is designed in MATLAB/Simulink environment.
The paper is organized as follow: in section II discussion
about system configuration, in which the design of fuel cell its
control system for islanded and grid connected mode of
operation is discussed. In section III the results of the system for
different load condition. In section IV conclusions of the system
discussed with some remark and future work.
II. SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
A. System Description
The general structure of FC based inverter system is shown
in Fig. 1. The system consist of single stage configuration of FC
based power supply system. FC is directly connected to the
inverter DC link. The inverter system is design for 50kW/415V
line voltage. For that it require 750V at DC link to get the desire
output of inverter voltage. Fuel cell output is changes with
different load current, so for controlling the inverter for different
load condition.
SPWM technic is carried out. The inverter frequency is
10kHz, according to that LCL filter is designed of inverter side

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 Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)
IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1

inductor Lfi is 1.5 mH, grid side inductor Lfg 0.15 mH, filter
capacitor Cf is 46μF. The system is designed such that the grid
is connect only when the load current crosses certain predefine
limits.
The equivalent circuit model of the PEMFC in which an
electrical capacitor can be considered as the layer of charge
on/near the electrode electrolyte interface, which is a store of
electrical charge and energy shown in Fig. 3
The output stack voltage V is the potential difference
between the anode and cathode is calculated by

𝑉𝑓𝑐 = 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡 − 𝑉𝑎𝑐𝑡 − 𝑉𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑖𝑐 − 𝑉𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐 (4)

No load voltage across PEMFC is calculate by nerst equation

1 ln 𝑃𝑜2
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡 = [∆𝐺 − ∆𝑆(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑟𝑒𝑓 ) + 𝑅𝑇 (ln 𝑃𝐻2 + )]
2𝐹 2
(5)
Fig. 1 Fuel cell based Inverter system
𝑉𝑎𝑐𝑡 is the activation over potential, caused by the activation
B. Model of PEM Fuel Cell of the anode and the cathode is calculate by
The basic component of fuel cell are shown in fig. 2, which
cell consists of an anode and cathode, and an electrolyte 𝑉𝑎𝑐𝑡 = 𝜉1 + 𝜉2 𝑇 + 𝜉3 𝑇[ln(𝐶𝑂2 )] + 𝜉4 𝑇[ln(𝐼𝑓𝑐 )] (6)
membrane. The overall electrochemical reactions for PEM fuel 𝑃𝑂2
cell supplied with a hydrogen gas at anode and an oxygen gas at 𝐶𝑂2 = (7)
5.08×106 exp(−498/𝑇)
cathode are as follows:
𝑉𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑖𝑐 is the Ohmic over potential which takes into account
the resistances during conduction of the protons through the
solid electrolyte and the electrons through their path is given by

𝑉𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑖𝑐 = 𝑖𝑅𝑜ℎ𝑚𝑖𝑐 = 𝑖(𝑅𝑀 + 𝑅𝐶 ) (8)

𝑟 𝑙
𝑅𝑀 = 𝑀 (9)
𝐴
𝑖𝑓𝑐 𝑖𝑓𝑐
181.6[1 + 0.03 ( ) + 0.062(𝑇/303)2 ( )2.5 ]
𝐴 𝐴
𝑟𝑀 =
𝑖𝑓𝑐
𝜆 − 0.634 − 3( )𝑒𝑥𝑝[4.18{(𝑇 − 303)/𝑇}]
𝐴
(10)
Concentration losses are caused by mass transportation,
which, in turn, affects the concentration of the hydrogen and
Fig. 2 Basic structure of Fuel Cell oxygen at high current density is given by
At anode reaction
𝐽
2𝐻2 → 4𝐻 + + 4𝑒 − (1) 𝑉𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐 = 𝐵 ln(1 − ) (11)
At the cathode: 𝐽𝑚𝑎𝑥
𝑂2 + 4𝐻 + + 4𝑒 − → 2𝐻2 𝑂 (2)
Overall reaction C. Inverter control strategy
2𝐻2 + 𝑂2 → 2𝐻2 𝑂 + 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 + ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 (3) For converting the DC power to AC power three phase 2
level Voltage Source Inverter are most commonly used.

Fig. 3 Equivalent FC circuit model Fig. 4 Inverter circuit model

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 Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)
IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1

The minimum dc bus voltage of VSI should be greater than 2) Grid connected mode
twice the peak of the phase voltage of the system. The dc bus
The block diagram of the control strategy for single-stage
voltage is calculated as
Transformerless grid connected FC system is shown in Fig. 6.
2√2𝑉𝐿 The control strategy consists mainly of two cascaded loops:
𝑉𝐷𝐶 = (12)
voltage control loop, which controls the dc-link voltage, and a
√3𝑚
current control loop, which regulates the grid current. The
Where m is the modulation index and is considered as 0.8 to voltage controls loop is normally an outer loop, to control the
1, and VL is the ac line output voltage of VSI. Thus, Vdc is active power as well as dc-link voltage. The DC link- reference
obtained as 750 V for VL of 415 V. voltage is calculated by eq. The error between VPV and Vref is
D. Control design given to the PI controller, that gives the Id* for inner current
loop. The output of the voltage controller is received as input for
Fig. 4 shows the control scheme of the fuel cell based
the inner faster current controller. This inner current control loop
Inverter. Control system is designed based on single stage
produced the necessary voltage and frequency references for the
system in which FC is directly connected to the DC link of the
PWM block.
inverter. The system is works on two mode of operation: Grid
connected mode and Islanded mode. The system is designed
such that it operates standalone in load is within limit, but when
load increased to certain limit grid is connect by using circuit
breaker and operated on grid connected mode of operation. This
system gives this type of operational flexibility.

1) Islanded mode operation

When the fuel cell system is sufficient enough to supply the
load then the system is operated on the islanded mode of
operation. The Fig. 5 shows the black diagram of this system.

Fig. 6 control scheme for Grid Connected Mode

Park’s transformation is used to get the d-axis (Id) and q-axis
(Iq) current component from the three phase current (ia, ib, and
ic). For unity power factor condition, Iq* is set equal to zero.
Controllers generate desired reference voltage (Vd * and Vq*)
in terms of dc quantity. Using Inverse Park’s transformation the
three sinusoidal reference signals va*, vb*, and vc* from the
Fig. 5 Control scheme for Islanded Mode Vd* and Vq* are obtained. These three signals are given to the
PWM generator generates switching signals for the PWM
In this mode control operation the controller must be
inverter. The synchronization between the inverter and grid is
regulated the output voltage at the reference bus voltage and the
achieved by a three phase, Phase Locked Loop (PLL). Phase
frequency at the grid frequency. The reference values can be get
angle from the PLL is also given to the transformation block. PI
by taking as a grid voltage magnitude and phase angle as
controllers are used in this control structure since all the control
reference and the reference frequency of grid can take from PLL.
variables are transformed to DC values in the dq frame.
The voltage and phase angle are regulated by using PI regulators.
The modulating signal for SPWM control strategy generated by III. SIMULATION RESULTS
To observe the two mode of operation of FC based inverter
𝑚1 = 𝑉𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 + ∅) (13)
and load variation control system has been simulate in
2𝜋
𝑚2 = 𝑉𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 − + ∅) (14) MATLAB/Simulink model parameter shows in the table 1.
3
𝑚3 = 𝑉𝑚 sin(2𝜋𝑓𝑡 −
4𝜋
+ ∅) (15) 50kW fuel cell is designed and modeled. Fig. 7 shows the
3 result of VI and PI characteristics of fuel cell. FC current is
changed manually 0 to its maximum value of 270 A. from the
Where, Vm = Regulated Voltage magnitude; VI characteristics the FC voltage is decreasing with increasing
f = Frequency from PLL; the load current. The PI characteristics shows that fuel cell can
∅ = Regulated phase angle; supply high power but the voltage is decreased.

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Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)
IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1

Table 1 system parameter

Parameters Value
Power 50KW
Vdc 750 V
Voltage (L-L) 415 V
Inverter side Filter inductance (Lf) 1.5 mH
Load side Filter inductance (Lfg) 0.15 mH
Filter capacitance (Cf) 46 µF (c)
Damping resistance (Rd) 0.6 Ω
Frequency 50 Hz
Career Frequency 10KHz

(d)

(a)

(e)
Fig. 8 (a) Load Current for Fuel Cell
(b) Fuel Cell Voltage
(c) Fuel Cell Power
(b) (d) O2 Pressure with varying Load current
Fig. 7 (a) V-I characteristics of 50 kW fuel cell (e) H2 Pressure with varying Load current
(b) P-I characteristics of 50 kW fuel cell Fig. 8 show the different load conditions, at starting load
requirement is 40kW which is within the FC system capacity so
grid is not connected. At time 0.5 sec load is change 40kW to
80kW, the system is designed such that the FC system supplies
40kW active and 20 kVAR and grid supplies the remaining
power. It also shows that control system has fast response and
robust for deferent condition.

(a)

(a)
(b)

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 Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)
IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1

(b) (b)

(c) (c)

(d)
Fig. 10 (a) Load Current for different Mode
(d)
(b) Inverter Current for different Mode
Fig. 9 (a) Active and Reactive Power of Load
(c) Grid Current for different Mode
(b) Active and Reactive Power of Inverter
(d) Fuel Cell Current for different Mode
(c) Active and Reactive Power of Grid
(d) Active and Reactive Power of Fuel Cell

Fig. 9(a) shows the Active and Reactive power demand by the
load in different conditions. Fig. (b) shows the active and
reactive power of FC inverter which shows that inverter supplies
40kW only. If load increase above the 40kW grid is supplies that
power which shows in Fig. (c). fig. (d) shows the fuel cell output
power which supplies 40kW power.

(a)

(a)
(b)

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 Proceedings of the 2nd International conference on Electronics, Communication and Aerospace Technology (ICECA 2018)
IEEE Conference Record # 42487; IEEE Xplore ISBN:978-1-5386-0965-1
(c)
(d)
Fig. 11 (a) Inverter and Grid Voltage at starting of system
(b) Inverter and Grid Voltage at Inverter to Grid
transfer
(c) Inverter and Grid Voltage at Grid to Inverter
transfer
(d) Fuel Cell Voltage
Table 2 THD Analysis of Voltage and Current
Inverter output voltage before Filter THD 79.97 %
Inverter output Current before Filter THD 3.56 %
Inverter output Voltage at Islanded Mode THD 0.71 %
Inverter output Current at Islanded Mode THD 0.13 %
Inverter output Current at Grid connected Mode
1.34 %
THD
Grid output Current at Grid connected Mode
1.43 %
THD
Fig. 11(a) the voltage of inverter which are compare with the
grid voltage shows that system takes 3 cycle to synchronize the
inverter voltage to grid voltage. In Fig. (b) shows the voltage at
the transfer the islanding mode to grid connected mode which is
very low disturbance in voltage waveform. Fig (c) shows the
voltage at the transfer of grid connected mode to islanded mode.
Fig. d shows the fuel cell voltage at all mode of operation wich
is almost constant.
Table 2 shows the THD analysis of voltage and current at the
inverter output side without filter and with filter for both grid
connected and islanded mode and at the point if common
coupling. Which shows that all values are within a limit of
electrical THD standards.
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CONCLUSIONS
A 50kW FC integration to the grid is implemented by 2 level
inverter based single stage FC system. Traditionally FC used
only for to supply Active Power, but by the Control method FC
with inverter to supply or absorb Reactive demand depending on
whether system is heavily loaded or lightly loaded.
The system is designed for two mode, grid connected as well
as islanded mode of operation. Different load conditions are
applied to this system. The simulation results shows that the
control strategy potentially suitable for both grid connected and
islanded mode of operation.
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