This article presents the development of a Three-Phase Interleaving Phase-Shifted Full Bridge (PSFB) DC-DC converter for green hydrogen generation. The converter implements Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) and GaNFETs in the primary side of the transformer, and incorporates an Active Clamp system with synchronous rectification in the secondary side. These features are designed to minimize switching losses and significantly improve the power conversion efficiency. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of these design choices, showcasing improved waveforms and stable operation. This work contributes to the advancement of power electronics in the field of green hydrogen production, offering a promising solution to increase efficiency and enhance the overall power quality of hydrogen generation processes.

Given the climate change observed in the past few decades, sustainable development and the use of renewable energy sources are urgent. In this scenario, hydrogen production through electrolyzers is a promising renewable source and energy vector because of its ultralow greenhouse emissions and high energy content. Hydrogen can be used in a variety of applications, from transportation to electricity generation, contributing to the diversification of the energy matrix. In this context, this paper presents an autonomous isolated DC microgrid system for generating and storing electrical energy to be exclusively used for feeding an electrolyzer hydrogen production plant, which has been retrofitted for green hydrogen production. Experimental verification was performed at Itaipu Parquetec, which consists of an alkaline electrolysis unit directly integrated with a battery energy storage system and renewable sources (e.g., photovoltaic and wind) by using an isolated DC microgrid concept based on DC/DC and AC/DC converters. Experimental results revealed that the new electrolyzer DC microgrid increases the system’s overall efficiency in comparison to the legacy thyristor-based power supply system by 26%, and it autonomously controls the energy supply to the electrolyzer under optimized conditions with an extremely low output current ripple. Another advantage of the proposed DC microgrid is its ability to properly manage the startup and shutdown process of the electrolyzer plant under power generation outages. This paper is the result of activities carried out under the R&D project of ANEEL program No. PD-10381-0221/2021, entitled “Multiport DC-DC Converter and IoT System for Intelligent Energy Management”, which was conducted in partnership with CTG-Brazil.

This paper presents the design and development of a DC-DC step-down converter, operating with 1 MHz switching frequency. The use of this switching frequency is intended to reduce the physical size of the device. To achieve this operating frequency, while maintaining acceptable levels of efficiency, GaN-FET transistors are used. The converter acts on the Synchronous Buck scheme and converts 12 V to 1 V supporting 30 A of output current. The control is performed by the TPS53632 integrated circuit and three LMG5200 power stage integrated circuits are also used, both are manufactured by Texas Instruments. The tests performed with the converter demonstrates a peak efficiency of 85%, reducing to 70% at maximum load. In addition to the design of the converter, this paper addresses the losses calculation for a comparison between GaNFET and MOSFET based converters, the effects of using a high frequency switching, as well as techniques available to reduce these effects.

Given the climate change being observed in the past few decades, sustainable development and the use of renewable energy sources are urgent. In this scenario, hydrogen production through electrolyzers is a promising renewable source and energy vector because of its ultralow greenhouse emissions and high energy content. Hydrogen can be used in a variety of applications, from transportation to electricity generation, contributing to the diversification of the energy matrix. In this context, this paper presents an autonomous isolated microgrid system for generating and storing electrical energy, to be exclusively used for feeding an electrolyzer hydrogen production plant, which has been retrofitted toward green hydrogen production. The experimental verification was performed at Itaipu Parquetec, which consists of an alkaline electrolysis unit directly integrated with a battery energy storage system and renewable sources (e.g., photovoltaic and wind) by using an isolated DC microgrid concept based on DC-DC and AC-DC converters. Experimental results revealed that the new electrolyzer DC-DC converter increases the system’s overall efficiency in comparison to the legacy thyristor-based power supply system, and autonomously control the energy supply to the electrolyzer under optimized conditions with extremely low output current ripple. Another advantage of the proposed DC microgrid is its ability to proper manage the startup and shutdown process of the electrolyzer plant under generation outages. This paper is the result of activities carried out under the R&D project of the ANEEL program No. PD-10381-0221/2021, entitled Multiport DC-DC Converter and IoT System for Intelligent Energy Management, which was conducted in partnership with CTG-Brasil.