A New Utility-Scale Power Converter for Large Fuel Cell Power Plants with Individual Stack Power Control Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • In this paper a new utility scale power converter for large fuel cell power plants with individual stack power control is presented. The proposed converter topology allows for multiple fuel cell stacks to be referenced to ground, connected via high frequency isolation to a single multilevel inverter interface to utility. The topology incorporates a unique power sharing converter that enables each fuel cell output power to be individually adjustable. It is shown that four 250-kW fuel cells are operated at various power levels, ranging from 20% to 100% power sharing and connected to a single 3-level NPC inverter interfaced to the electric utility. Altogether, this new fuel cell - power sharing converter (FC-PSC) design will increase power sharing capabilities, output power, efficiency, thermal balancing, system versatility, and significantly lower power conditioning costs for utility fuel cell power systems. Experimental results from scaled-down laboratory prototype are shown to validate FC-PSC operation. 2012 IEEE.

name of conference

  • 2012 Twenty-Seventh Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC)

published proceedings

  • 2012 TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL IEEE APPLIED POWER ELECTRONICS CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION (APEC)

author list (cited authors)

  • Hawke, J. T., Krishnamoorthy, H. S., & Enjeti, P. N.

citation count

  • 15

complete list of authors

  • Hawke, JT||Krishnamoorthy, HS||Enjeti, PN

publication date

  • February 2012