Reliable Control Strategy and Power Switch Failure Analysis of a Three-level Interleaved Buck Converter for Electrolyzer Applications

The main objective of this paper is to develop a control strategy for a three-level interleaved buck converter (3-LIBC) for improving the reliability of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer operation in case of open-circuit power switch failures. The hydrogen flow rate of the PEM electrolyzer is managed through the output current of the 3-LIBC using a modified sliding mode control. Finally, the proposed control strategy of 3-LIBC and the reliability of PEM operation have been investigated by performing simulations. The obtained simulation results enable verifying the good performance of the PEM electrolyzer that, despite the operation of the 3-LIBC in the degraded operating mode (i.e., faulty mode), it can guarantee the H2 production.