Control Method for the Improvement of the Efficiency of a Fuel Cell.

The major breakthroughs that have recently brought fuel cells to the fore-front include the development of low resistance membranes, highly diffusive electrodes, and reduced use of noble metal catalysts. However, in order to obtain the maximum efficiency out of a fuel cell, some parameters like flow control, temperature, water flow and load must be controlled. This paper is focused on the load control. A three-stage SMPS converter is proposed and analyzed. The fuel cell operation and the types of fuel cells are also described. An experimental setup was made using a toy vehicle powered by a fuel cell in order to experimentally prove the theoretical approaches of load control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]