Ingenious golden section search MPPT algorithm for PEM fuel cell power system

Among several types of fuel cells available in the market, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is characterized by low operating temperature, high efficiency and long lifetime. These advantages have prompted the PEM fuel cell to enter into several applications such as vehicle power sources, portable power and backup power applications. However, the PEM fuel cell faces several challenges due to the dependency of the output power on the operating condition like cell temperature and membrane water content. Under changing operating conditions, there is only one unique operating point for the fuel cell system with maximum output. Therefore, for better operation and optimal exploitation, the extraction of maximum power from PEM fuel cell is indispensable. This paper deals with the development golden section search (GSS)-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for PEMFC power system. To our knowledge, this paper is a first, if modest, attempt to develop a fuel cell MPPT controller based on golden section algorithm. The proposed GSS-based MPPT has been implemented and validated on fuel cell power system composed of 7 kW PEMFC supplying a resistive load via a DC/DC boost converter controlled using the proposed MPPT. Simulation results obtained using MATLAB/Simulink show that the proposed GSS MPPT outperforms the variable step size incremental conductance one in all test cases including cell temperature and membrane water content variations in terms of static as well as dynamic performances regarding all used metrics reducing by the way the response time by 34.33%, the overshoot and ripple by around 100% and with neglect oscillation around MPP improving as a consequence the fuel cell efficiency.