An Efficient Solar-Hydrogen DC-DC Buck Converter System with Sliding Mode Control

Abstract

This paper focuses on two different scenarios to benefit from solar energy more efficiently. One of them is photovoltaic houses and storing their energy as hydrogen, the other one is photovoltaic cars and storing their energy as hydrogen. The common point in these two photovoltaic sourced scenarios is convert and storage of the hydrogen energy more efficiently. The direct current (DC) photovoltaic energy is converted to the desired voltage level using the DC-DC buck converter for generating hydrogen with electrolysis process. The electrolysis load for hydrogen production needs low voltage and high currents especially. To supply these conditions the converter must be designed and controlled sensitively. For this aim, the sliding mode controller is proposed as a solution in this study. This controller is used the inductance current in the inner loop and supply a strong control for the converter under normal and abnormal conditions. The photovoltaic powered DC-DC buck converter for electrolysis load was simulated in MATLAB/ Simulink software more detailed using the sliding mode controller.