Robust control of four-phase interleaved boost converter by considering the performance of PEM fuel cell current

Hydrogen associated with Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) as the prime candidate energy is becoming attention in transportation. However, the cost and the service lifespan are the main reasons that limit PEMFC wide application. In this paper, the super-twisting sliding mode (STSM) controller is designed for a four-phase interleaved boost converter (IBC) coupled with a PEMFC. The proposed controller can enhance the robustness of the output voltage while reducing the PEMFC current overshoot as much as possible for protection under a certain limitation of the PEMFC current ripple. The stability of the proposed controller is proved by the Lyapunov theorem. A typical proportional-integral (PI) controller based on ac small-signal model is designed for further comparison and discussion. The effectiveness of the STSM controller is further evaluated through experimental results obtained with a 1 kW fuel cell system based on a real-time hardware-in-the-loop system.