Output power regulation system for portable micro fuel cell systems

This article presents an output power regulation system for micro fuel cells to help enhance the stability of the fuel cell in a portable micro power system. The structure of an MCU-controlled DC-DC converter is proposed. Then, the output characteristics of a selected fuel cell stack and the DC-DC converter’s power control functions are estimated by a system-level model. Based on the simulation results, the model provides a power regulation system which is implemented, and the test shows that it fulfills its intended function and the output power is regulated to a fixed level of 5 W–40 W with good efficiency.