Literature Survey of Interleaved DC-DC Step-Down Converters for Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Applications

Abstract

Recently, the use of electrolyzers for hydrogen production through water electrolysis is of great interest in the industrial field to replace current hydrogen production pathways based on fossil fuels (e.g. oil, coal). The electrolyzers must be supplied with a very low DC voltage in order to produce hydrogen from the deionized water. For this reason, DC-DC step-down converters are generally used. However, these topologies present several drawbacks from output current ripple and voltage gain point of view. In order to meet these expectations, interleaved DC-DC step-down converters are considered as promising and interesting candidates to supply proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Indeed, these converters offer some advantages including output current ripple reduction and reliability in case of power switch failures. In addition, over the last decade, many improvements have been brought to these topologies with the aim to enhance their conversion gain. Hence, the main goal of this paper is to carry out a thorough state-of-the-art of different interleaved step-down DC-DC topologies featuring a high voltage gain, needed for PEM electrolyzer applications.

AC-DC Converters for Electrolyzer Applications: State of the Art and Future Challenges

“…However, these solutions increase the complexity of the system, cost, and volume. The diodes in Figure 13 are replaced by IGBT to reduce the conduction losses since the on-state resistances of IGBT are smaller than diodes; for low-power applications, MOSFET can also be adopted [60]. Furthermore, an additional capacitor C s is used between the first and second phase to block the DC component of the current flowing through the second phase (i.e., s).…”

Modelling of large‐sized electrolysers for real‐time simulation and study of the possibility of frequency support by electrolysers

“…Therefore, the application of this model for analysis of the electrolyser behaviour regarding the provision of ancillary services in power systems is limited. Regarding the power conversion system, a literature review about the topology of interfaced converters for PEM electrolysers can be found in [19], [20].…”

Energy Efficiency Based Control Strategy of a Three-Level Interleaved DC-DC Buck Converter Supplying a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer

“…Recently, several interleaved step-down DC-DC converters have been reported in the literature and are considered as possible candidates to interface DC bus grid and ELs [15]. Among those possible candidates, a three-level interleaved DC-DC buck converter has been selected to realize this work.…”

“…Compared to step-up DC-DC converters needed for fuel cell systems [26,27], step-down DC-DC converters requested for PEM EL applications have received less attention from the scientific community. However, recent review works have introduced and emphasized some step-down DC-DC converters for possible interface with PEM ELs [4,15].…”

“…Based on the review reported in reference [15], it has been decided to investigate the three-level interleaved DC-DC buck converter as depicted in Figure 1 within the framework of this work. This converter consists in connecting in parallel the non-floating version (upper part) and the floating version (lower part) of the classic buck converter.…”