A Stand Alone Robust PV-FC-Eletrolyzer Utilization Scheme

A stand-alone efficient robust photovoltaic (PV)- Electrolyzer Scheme using a PV-Array, a DC-DC buck-boost converter, an Electrolyzer, a hydrogen tank, and an additional Fuel Cell (FC) stack feeding an standalone autonomous load is investigated and validated for efficient energy utilization, voltage stabilization and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of the PV array under different insolation and temperature variations. The DC-DC Converter by controlled to ensure stable regulated operation. The PV generated power is used to electrolyze water to Hydrogen H2 and Oxygen O2, where hydrogen is stored in a suitably sized tank to be used later for the PEM-Proton Exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The PEMFC also acts as supplementary energy storage and load balancer to supply dynamic variable load whose value can vary from a minimum of 300W to a maximum of 1Kw. The Hydrogen H2 flow to the FC depends on the dynamic load variations. The controller is fully regulated for efficient energy utilization as well as voltage regulation. The validated scheme components are modeled using Matlab/Simulink and fully integrated, to assess the unified system dynamic performance under varying conditions.