Abstract

The configuration of hybrid power system (HPS) are widely used and accepted in providing a stable and higher power capability sources in generating energy for human needs. Hybrid configuration is composed of at least two generating sources combined to produce larger supply of energy. The advantages of using hybrid configuration are distinctively beneficial. It reduces the stress on each source and decreases the internal power loss of the system. It also smoothes the hybrid source terminal voltage of the system due to load demands and create quality energy when conventional source is incapable. Moreover, in portable application, it is quicker to replenish the fuel for a fuel cell than for a battery which requires recharge. This paper presents an analysis of hybrid system consisting of- a fuel cell and battery as portable power source. The fuel cell used in this experiment is a Heliocentris ^TM “Constructor”, a 50 W proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, a rechargeable lead acid battery pack, DC – DC converter and a variable resistive load. The experimental results show the characteristics of the hybrid configuration under different load conditions.

Key words: Hybrid power system (HPS), proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC, DC-DC converter, microcontroller, pulse width modulation (PWM), lead acid battery