Dynamic Waste-Heat-Recovery for Efficient Application of Fuel-Cells in Commercial Vehicles

Autoren

V. Rajamani, FH Dortmund

Zusammenfassung

Hydrogen fuel cells (FC) play an important role in the transformation towards sustainable mobility. The continuous performance and efficiency of this type of drive are strongly dependent on thermal management. Here, a concept for waste heat recovery in FC for use in commercial vehicles (CVs).By recovering and using waste heat, thermal losses are minimised, increasing system efficiency. Waste heat recovery (WHR) can be used for thermomanagement during normal operation as well as in cold start. Time-resolved simulations are used to develop a WHR concept, using. models of the hydrogen FC and the WHR technologies. Then, Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and Thermoelectric Generator (TEG) are simulated and discussed. The recovered energy can be used for vehicle drive and / or vehicle heating. By extending the operating conditions, the system can also be used to heat the fuel cell in the event of a cold start. The results show that improved efficiency of the FC is made possible by the concept. The preheating enables a significantly faster heat-up time. Overall, heat recovery offers promising potential for improving the energy efficiency of fuel cell systems.