Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Emulator for Power Electronics Testing Applications

This article aims to develop a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer emulator. This emulator is realized through an equivalent electrical scheme. It allows taking into consideration the dynamic operation of PEM electrolyzers, which is generally neglected in the literature. PEM electrolyzer dynamics are reproduced by the use of supercapacitors, due to the high value of the equivalent double-layer capacitance value. Steady-state and dynamics operations are investigated in this work. The design criteria are addressed. The PEM electrolyzer emulator is validated by using a 400-W commercial PEM electrolyzer. This emulator is conceived to test new DC-DC converters to supply the PEM ELs and their control as well, avoiding the risk to damage a real electrolyzer for experiment purposes. The proposed approach is valid both for a single cell and for the whole stack emulation.