Design and implementation of partial feedback linearizing controller for grid-connected fuel cell systems

This paper presents an approach to design a nonlinear controller for grid-connected fuel cell (FC) systems in order to provide ancillary services to low or medium voltage power networks. In this paper, these ancillary services mainly refer to the delivery of both active and reactive power from the FC to the grid under different operating conditions. The controller is designed based on the dynamical model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) which is developed from the electrical equivalent circuit of a grid-connected PEMFC through a voltage source converter (VSC). Partial feedback linearization technique is then employed to obtain the control laws with an aim of regulating respective currents related to both active and reactive power through the switching action of VSCs. The stability of the internal dynamics of the PEMFC system is also analyzed in this paper as the proposed control scheme cannot be implemented for unstable internal dynamics. A rate limiter is used with the proposed partial feedback linearizing controller to ensure the suitability under the worst-case conditions as well as to prevent the over-modulation in the rate of change of power references. The applicability and performance of the proposed controller is justified on a simple system as well as on a 12-bus balanced test distribution system and the CIGRE low voltage test distribution network under different grid events. The simulation results show the superiority of the proposed controller as compared to the vector controller.