1

Sliding Mode Control Design of Current

Fed Full Bridge DC to DC converter
for Fuel Cell Applications
Woonki Na, Member, IEEE and Hoon Lee

Abstract- Since a fuel cell system has a low voltage output, it between proton and electron, which stores electrical charge
requires a boost DC/DC converter for the most of vehicle and and energy. By defining that R a is a sum of the activation
stationary power applications. In this paper, a robust sliding resistance Ract and concentration resistance Rcon,, the voltage
mode controller for the current fed full bridge DC/DC drop across Ra, will be Va as shown in Fig. 1. Then, the first
converter for PEM fuel cell systems is presented. The details order dynamics of the fuel cell equivalent circuit can be
of the sliding mode controller for the converter are derived presented as (1)[1].
and designed with a dynamic PEMFC model. The proposed dVa Va i fc
sliding mode controller for converter with the PEMFC model + = (1)
is tested through Matlab/Simulink simulation. The results dt Ra C fc C fc
show the robust dynamics of the sliding mode controller with
respect to load changes and the fuel cell voltage variation.

Key Words: Sliding Mode Control, PEM fuel cell and

Current Fed Full Bridge Boost Converter.

I. INTRODUCTION

A Proton Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell(PEMFC) can

produce only about 22V~31V[1], and hence a boost
converter with high boost ratio is required to achieve
Fig. 1. The fuel cell equivalent circuit.

high DC link voltage (350V~500V) for AC 60Hz, 240V From (1), the fuel cell time constant can be introduced as
outputs. In this case, the isolated DC/DC boost converter with τ = Ra C fc , which changes based on the fuel cell
a high frequency transformer having high step up ratio can be
a good option since the nonisolated DC/DC boost converter characteristics and loads. The fuel cell equivalent circuit
may be difficult to accomplish such high step up ratio by only model is illustrated in Fig. 1.
changing the duty ratio[2,3]. In this paper, a current fed full With using multiple fuel cells connected in series, a higher
bridge boost converter is chosen to design its sliding mode output voltage can be achieved. Typically, a single cell
controller for the fuel cell application. Since the boost produces voltage between 0 and 1 volt based on the
converter must cope with their nonlinearity, the wide input polarization I-V curve, which expresses the relationship
voltage ranges from the fuel cell, frequent load changes, and between stack voltage and load current [1]. Fig.2 shows that
uncertainty in systems parameters in any operating point, a their relationship is nonlinear and mainly depends on current
robust controller for this converter is designed to ensure density, cell temperature, reactant partial pressure, and
stability and robustness with respect to the uncertainties in the membrane humidity [1].
fuel cell applications. In this paper, a dynamic PEMFC model
is introduced to incorporate the boost converter in the section
II. And in section III, IV, the state space converter model and
sliding mode control algorithm is developed. Section V shows
the simulation results.

II. DYNAMIC PEMFC MODEL

For the modeling of the fuel cell, a first-order dynamic
model based on the effect of the double layer charging Fig. 2. Polarization curve. (Ballard Mark V PEMFC at 70o C)[1]
capacitance with an activation overvoltage term is considered
[1]. In a fuel cell operation, the electric field is created on the The output stack voltage Vst [1] is defined as a function of
electrode-electrolyte interface due to the chemical reaction
the stack current, reactant partial pressures, fuel cell
temperature, and membrane humidity:
Woonki Na is with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at
Bradley University, Peoria, IL 61625, (e-mail:[email protected]). Hoon Lee
is with Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, IL([email protected]).
V st = E − Vactivation − Vohmic − Vconcentration (2)

U.S. Government work not protected by U.S. copyright

 2

In the above equation,

⎡ ⎡ 1 ⎤
RT ⎛⎜ PH 2 PO2 ⎞⎤ is the thermodynamic potential 0 − (1 − u ) ⎡1⎤
E = N o ⋅ ⎢Vo + ln ⎟⎥ ⎡ x1 ⎤ ⎢ a ⋅ L ⎥ ⎡ x1 ⎤ + ⎢ ⎥V
⎢ 2 F ⎜ PH 2O c ⎟⎥ ⎢ x ⎥ = ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ L fc
⎣ ⎝ ⎠⎦ ⎣ 2 ⎦ ⎢(1 − u ) 1 −
1
⎥ ⎣ x2 ⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 ⎥⎦
of the cell or reversible voltage based on the Nernst equation ⎣ a ⋅C RC ⎦
[1], Vactivation is the voltage loss due to the rate of reactions on (8)
the surface of the electrodes, Vohmic is the ohmic voltage drop
from the resistances of proton flow in the electrolyte, and
Vconcentration is the voltage loss from the reduction in
concentration gases or the transport of mass of oxygen and
hydrogen. Their equations are given as follows:
RT ⎛ I fc + I n ⎞ (3)
Vactivation = N ⋅ ⋅ ln ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟
2αF ⎝ Io ⎠
Vohm = N ⋅ I fc ⋅ r (4)
Vconcentration = N ⋅ m exp(n ⋅ I fc ) (5)

In equation (2), PH 2 , PO2 , and PH 2Oc are the partial pressures

of hydrogen, oxygen, and water, respectively. Subscript c (b)
means the water partial pressure, which is vented from the Fig. 3 (a) Current fed full bridge boost converter and (b) the
cathode side. equivalent circuit of (a)
Table 1. Cell Voltage Parameters [1]
where the parameters and variables are defined as follows.
Parameter Value and definition
N Cell number L = inductor, C = DC link capacitor, R = load resistance,
Vo Open cell voltage [V] V fc = fuel cell voltage input,
R Universal gas constant[J/gm-mol-k] I p = inductor current, Vc = Capacitor voltage,
T Temperature of the fuel cell [K] u = switching signal = ⎧1 if S1 and S 2 are closed [5,6]
⎨
F Faraday constant [C/mole] ⎩0 if S3 and S 4 are closed
α Charge transfer coefficient a = turn ratio, Vs / V p = n2 / n1 ,
I fc Output current density [A/cm2 ] V p = the primary voltage and V s =the secondary voltage at
I0 Exchange current density [A/cm2 ] the high frequency(HF) transformer(XFMR) during the
continuous conduction mode (CCM)
In Internal current density [A/cm2 ]
i p = the primary current and i s =the secondary current at the
m and n Constants in the mass transfer voltage
HF transformer during CCM
r Area-specific resistance [ kΩcm ]
2

Assuming that the circuit is in the CCM and the HF

transformer is ideal with no leakage inductance. The state
III. STATE SPACE MODEL OF THE BOOST CONVERTER variables chosen are the inductor current i p = x1 and the
The Fig.3 shows that the current fed full bridge boost output capacitor voltage Vc = x2 .
converter circuit to be selected in this study and its equivalent
circuit (b) of Fig. 3. IV. THE SLIDING MODE CONTROL FOR THE BOOST
During the Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) from the CONVERTER
equivalent circuit of Fig. 3, the state space model of the boost To design the sliding mode controller for this boost
converter is given using Kirchhoff voltage law (KVL) and converter, typically two cascade control loops: an inner
KCL (Kirchhoff current law) as current control loop and an outer voltage control loop, are
1 V used since the change rate of the inductor current is much
x1 = −(1 − u ) x2 + fc (6) from KVL
a⋅L L faster than the output DC link capacitor voltage
1 1 dynamics[5,6]. Therefore, the outer voltage is controlled by
x 2 = (1 − u ) x1 − x2 (7) from KCL
a ⋅C RC manipulating the inductor current, and the switching action
from a sliding mode controls the inductor current to obtain the
The state space representation forms of Eq.(6) and (7)[3] are desired output voltage. Let us select a sliding mode variable s
as below as
 3

s = x1 − x1* (9) sliding mode controller works appropriately so that the

feedback boost converter output voltage and inductor current
where x1* is the reference inductor current. The switching can follow the corresponding reference voltage and current as
control function for the current control loop, u is then can be seen in Fig. 4, 5, 6, and 7.
designed to enforce the sliding mode on the surface s=0.
1
u = (1 − sign ( s ) ) (10)
Table III. PEMFC Parameters for the Simulation
2
Parameter Value and definition
By solving the equation s = x1 = 0 assuming constant
N Cell number: 40
reference current, the equivalent control of u becomes Vo Open cell voltage: 1.032[V]
a ⋅ VFC (11)
ueq = 1 − R Universal gas constant [J/mol-k]: 8.314[J/mol-k]
x2 T Temperature of the fuel cell [K]: 353 [K]
F Faraday constant [C/mole] : 96485 [C/mole]
The sliding mode on the sliding surface s = 0 exists when the α Charge transfer coefficient: 0.5 [ref]
condition ss < 0 is satisfied, i.e., the sliding mode occurs if m Constant in the mass transfer voltage: 2.11× 10−5 [V]
Constant in the mass transfer voltage:
aV fc n
x2 > a ⋅ VFC , or 0 < ueq = 1 − <1 (12) : 8 × 10 −3 [ cm 2 mA −1 ]
x2 r 2.45 × 10 −4 [ kΩcm 2 ]
This implies that the sliding mode control can be enforced as A fc Fuel cell active area: 232 [ cm ]
2

long as the output DC link voltage is higher than the fuel cell
input voltage multiplied by the turn ratio of the transformer.
Va 3
Anode volume: 0.005 [ m ] [ref khan]

Vc 3
Cathode volume: 0.01 [ m ] [ref khan]
For the inner current loop, the relationship between the
desired output voltage and the current x1 should be found. Let
ka Anode conversion factor: 7.034 × 10 −4 [mol/s]

us define the error between the actual and the desired kc Cathode conversion factor: 7.036 × 10−4 [mol/s]
capacitor voltage as e = x2 − Vd* where Vd* is the desired Pvs The saturation pressure: 32 [kPa]
at the temperature 353 [k]
output voltage. Then the equivalent inductor current to obtain
the voltage can be found by solving the equation e = 0 . With
the equivalent control of ueq and the assumption of constant 500

* * 450
V the inductor current x to achieve the desired output is
d 1 400

found as 350

(V )
* 2 300
Vout (V)

x1* = d
(13) 250
R ⋅ VFC 200

150

V. SIMULATION RESULTS 100

All the parameters in the simulation are shown in Table 1. 50

MATLAB/SIMULINK software is used for this simulation.

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
time (sec)

Fig. 4. The output voltage of the boost converter

Table II. Simulation parameters
Parameter Values 100

L 5mH 90

C 500 μF
80

R 50 Ω(Initial)
Inductor current (A)

70

Vd* 430 60

The nominal values of parameters for the simulation are 50

shown in the Table III.

40

Fig. 4,5,6, and 7 show the simulation results of the proposed

30
control scheme for the boost converter in the fuel cell 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
time (sec)
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2

application. In Fig. 4,5,6 and 7, the step load change is

Fig. 5 The inductor current of the boost current
applied. The value of the initial load is set to 100Ω, and at
0.6sec, the step load change occurs from 100Ω to 50Ω and at
1.2sec, the other step load change is set from 50Ω to 100Ω.
Fig. 4 shows the boost converter output voltage. Although it
shows a certain level of transient when the load changes, the
 4

[3] Mohan, N., Underland, T., and Robbins, W. Power

100
Electronics:Converters, Applications, and Design, Second Edition,
90 New York: Wiley, 1995
[4] X. Kong, L.T. Choi, and A.M. Khambadkone, “Analysis and
control of isolated current-fed full bridge converter in fuel cell
Ref. inductor current (A)

80

system,” IEEE IECON 2004, Vol. 3, pp. 2825-2830, 2004

70
[5] Utkin, V., “Sliding mode control design principles and applications
60
to electric drives,” IEEE transaction on Industrial Applications,
Vol. 40, pp. 23-36, 1993
50 [6] Utkin, V., Guldner, J. and Shi, J., Sliding Mode Control in
Electromechanical Systems.PA: Taylor & Francis, 1999
40

30
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
time (sec)

Fig. 6 The reference inductor current of the boost current

95 x1ref
x1
90
85
Inductor current (A)

80
75
70

65
60
55
50

45
0.597 0.598 0.599 0.6 0.601 0.602 0.603 0.604
time (sec)

Fig. 7. Zoom in figure the inductor current and its reference

at 0.6 sec

Fig. 7 shows the zoom in figure of the inductor current and

its reference of the boost converter around 0.6 sec under the
step load change from 100Ω to 50Ω. As seen in Fig. 7, the
sling mode controller is enforced with a 10 kHz switching
frequency, and the inductor current of the boost converter can
reach to its reference value within 10 ms with a small ripple
factor due to switching.

VI CONCLUSION
A sliding mode controller for the fuel cell input-current fed
full bridge boost converter is designed in this study. Based on
the analysis in the paper, the proposed sliding mode controller
works properly to maintain the output voltage at the desired
value. The sliding mode occurs when the output voltage of the
boost converter is higher than the input fuel cell voltage
multiplied by the turn ratio of the transformer. Also the
proposed controller does not require using linear control
techniques for the outer loop voltage and provides robustness
with respect to any parametric uncertainties and disturbances.
The proposed sliding mode controller with a dynamic PEMFC
model is tested through Malab/Simulink simulation to show
the system response to step load changes and fuel cell voltage
variation.

REFERENCES

[1] J. Larminie and A. Dicks, Fuel Cell Systems Explained. New York:
Wiley, 2002.
[2] Erickson, R. W., Fundamentals of Power Electronics, (Chapman &
Hall, 1997).