A proposed hardware design and control technique for solid polymer electrolyte water electrolyzer directly coupled with photovoltaic panels

Hydrogen economy relies on hydrogen production. One method for hydrogen production is the water electrolysis in solid polymer electrolyte electrolyzers using electrical energy from renewable energy sources such a solar energy. The hydrogen produced with such system is of very high purity (more than 99.9%) suitable for later usage in fuel cells systems. This paper proposes a specific design for the solar - hydrogen system where the photovoltaic panel is coupled directly with the electrolyzer and a control technique is used in order to achieve high efficiency in the system operation and hydrogen production. The main components of the solar hydrogen system are modeled in Matlab/Simulink and the system is simulated under various conditions of solar irradiance. Electrolyzer efficiencies between 88% and 92% have been observed, with a maximum of 98 % reached for a certain period of time.