Tan Jie Ying creator author. text my 2024 monographic eng xiv, 88 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm. + 1 CD-ROM specialized Tan Jie Ying Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technology Thesis (Master of Science) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2024 In response to the escalating challenges posed by climate change, the global energy sector has witnessed a paradigm shift towards sustainable alternatives. Recent research indicates that fuel cell technology has emerged as a preeminent subject of interest among researchers. Fuel cells are a sort of energy resource used to convert chemical elements into electricity. It can guarantee the system constant energy support as long as it has fuel. The promising fuel cell technology known as the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has found widespread use in a variety of mobile and stationary applications. The high efficiency and compact design of the PEMFC have become the main reasons for it to be widely applied in many applications. Some of the research studies mentioned how the performance of the PEMFC system is affected by various aspects, such as load variation and fuel cell applied parameter variations. Hence, the instability in its operating condition can potentially impact the performance and reduce the lifespan of the fuel cell. This study introduces the use of a maximum power point tracking (MPPT)-based supertwisting sliding mode (STSM) control in a three-phase interleaved boost converter (IBC) for operating a PEMFC. The goals of this study are to (1) create a mathematical model of a PEMFC that includes a DC/DC converter, (2) build an STSM control for maximum power point tracking in the PEMFC system, and (3) assess how well the proposed sliding mode controller performs in light of the PEMFC system’s that comes with uncertainties. In order to achieve a relatively high level of voltage output while minimizing current and voltage ripple, a mathematical model of the PEMFC is built and used in conjunction with a three-phase IBC. To ensure the maximum power point operation for the system, a reference current estimator (RCE) is implemented to provide the reference current value that corresponds to the system’s maximum power and a STSM controller is constructed to guarantee the trajectory to move towards the reference current. At the same time, the performance of the proposed sliding mode controller is evaluated under the variations of fuel cell partial pressure. In a closed-loop setup, the stability of the system is analyzed. The model of the overall PEMFC system including the proposed sliding mode control is built in MATLAB/Simulink environment. Consequently, the simulation results validated the efficiency of the suggested controller based on the MPPT technique, even in the face of the PEMFC system’s uncertainty. In conclusion, the proposed STSM controller can maintain the system’s robustness when fuel cell parameter variations occur in the system. The comparison between STSM and conventional sliding mode control (SMC) shows that STSM exhibits superior performance in reducing chattering, particularly in the presence of fuel cell partial pressure changes, with STSM achieving an 86% reduction in the chattering magnitude of the fuel cell current. Faculty of Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technology Dissertations Universities and colleges Dissertations Theses Dissertations THE0009902 (Local) UMPSA 240729 20251125110910.0 eng