A modified particle swarm optimization-based adaptive maximum power point tracking approach for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Abstract

Fuel cells are one of the most promising renewable energy sources, offering advantages like reliability, eco-friendliness, and low pollutant emissions, which have spurred rapid advancements in power generation technologies. However, fuel cells face significant challenges, including high initial costs, limited fuel availability, and the difficulty of maintaining operation at the maximum power point, which hinders their use in stand-alone applications. In this paper, a Modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO) method is proposed for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to optimize the power output of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs). The proposed method dynamically adjusts to key operational parameters such as cell temperature, hydrogen partial pressure, and membrane water content, areas that have not been comprehensively addressed in previous research. In this paper, an MPSO algorithm-based MPPT tracking approach without a PID controller is proposed to achieve the maximum power point (MPP) of a PEMFC. Under rapid temperature fluctuations in the fuel cell, the proposed MPSO MPPT method achieved a maximum power of 1223.5 W with an average of 5.66 iterations. In comparison, the meta-heuristic particle swarm optimization (PSO) method and the conventional perturb and observe (P&O) method achieved maximum power outputs of 1218.5 W and 1213.65 W, respectively, with PSO requiring 12.33 iterations. Additionally, the proposed approach showed improvements in power efficiency by 2.47 %, 2.87 %, and 13.58 % for the Jaya algorithm. demonstrating effective MPPT tracking under different operating conditions and perturbations. The MPSO method is implemented in the Simulink/MATLAB environment and is compared with the Perturb & Observe (P&O) and Conventional PSO (CPSO) methods. The results demonstrate that the proposed MPSO approach outperforms these traditional techniques in terms of tracking speed, efficiency, and stability under varying conditions. This successful implementation lays a strong foundation for future integration into real-world PEMFC systems.