A Fuzzy-Based PI Controller for Power Management of a Grid-Connected PV-SOFC Hybrid System

Shivashankar Sukumar, Marayati Marsadek, Agileswari Ramasamy, Hazlie Mokhlis and Saad Mekhilef
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Shivashankar Sukumar: Institute of Power Engineering (IPE), Universit Tenaga Nasional, Selangor 43000, Malaysia
Marayati Marsadek: Institute of Power Engineering (IPE), Universit Tenaga Nasional, Selangor 43000, Malaysia
Agileswari Ramasamy: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Selangor 43000, Malaysia
Hazlie Mokhlis: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Saad Mekhilef: Power Electronics and Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (PEARL), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: Solar power generation is intermittent in nature. It is nearly impossible for a photovoltaic (PV) system to supply power continuously and consistently to a varying load. Operating a controllable source like a fuel cell in parallel with PV can be a solution to supply power to variable loads. In order to coordinate the power supply from fuel cells and PVs, a power management system needs to be designed for the microgrid system. This paper presents a power management system for a grid-connected PV and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), considering variation in the load and solar radiation. The objective of the proposed system is to minimize the power drawn from the grid and operate the SOFC within a specific power range. Since the PV is operated at the maximum power point, the power management involves the control of SOFC active power where a proportional and integral (PI) controller is used. The control parameters of the PI controller K p (proportional constant) and T i (integral time constant) are determined by the genetic algorithm (GA) and simplex method. In addition, a fuzzy logic controller is also developed to generate appropriate control parameters for the PI controller. The performance of the controllers is evaluated by minimizing the integral of time multiplied by absolute error (ITAE) criterion. Simulation results showed that the fuzzy-based PI controller outperforms the PI controller tuned by the GA and simplex method in managing the power from the hybrid source effectively under variations of load and solar radiation.

Keywords: distributed generation; fuel cell; fuzzy logic controller; hybrid system; power management; photovoltaic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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