Maximum power point tracking of a photovoltaic energy system using neural fuzzy techniques

In order to improve the output efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) energy system, the real-time maximum power point (MPP) of the PV array should be tracked closely. The non-linear and time-variant characteristics of the photovoltaic array and the non-linear and non-minimum phase characteristics of a boost converter make it difficult to track the MPP as in traditional control strategies. A neural fuzzy controller (NFC) in conjunction with the reasoning capability of fuzzy logical systems and the learning capability of neural networks is proposed to track the MPP in this paper. A gradient estimator based on a radial basis function neural network is developed to provide the reference information to the NFC. With a derived learning algorithm, the parameters of the NFC are updated adaptively. Experimental results show that, compared with the fuzzy logic control algorithm, the proposed control algorithm provides much better tracking performance.     

Adaptive inverse control of air supply flow for proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems

To prevent the oxygen starvation and improve the system output performance, an adaptive inverse control (AIC) strategy is developed to regulate the air supply flow of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system in this paper.The PEMFC stack and the air supply system including a compressor and a supply manifold are modeled for the purpose of performance analysis and controller design. A recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN) is utilized to identify the inverse model of the controlled system and generates a suitable control input during the abrupt step change of external disturbances. Compared with the PI controller, numerical simulations are performed to validate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed AIC strategy.