Fuel Cell Systems for Heavy Duty Applications: From Concept to System Validation

Autoren

Dr. Marius Walters, FEV Europe GmbH, Aachen;
Steffen Dirkes, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Pischinger, Lehrstuhl für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen (VKA), RWTH Aachen University, Aachen;
Johannes Buchmann, FEV Consulting Inc., Auburn Hills, USA

Zusammenfassung

Since the transport sector has not seen the gradual decline of CO₂ emissions as other sectors, it is more than ever at the forefront of public attention as well as research. Particularly for the heavy duty (HD) transport with its high specific CO₂ emissions, major research and development programs are ongoing for the implementation of lowand zero-emission powertrains. Not only the reduction of the fleet’s average CO₂ emissions in order to prevent high financial charges for exceeding CO₂ emission limits, but also the system efficiency, durability, reliability and total cost of ownership (TCO) need to be considered to find competitive alternatives to internal combustion engines for heavy duty transport.

Exclusive usage of pure battery electric powertrains for heavy duty applications is at least not yet a viable option, as huge batteries are necessary, which lead to high powertrain weight, increased power demand and reduced payloads. That is why proton exchange
membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) in combination with smaller batteries represent a promising approach for heavy duty vehicles with electric drives.

The Institute for Combustion Engines (VKA) of the RWTH Aachen University and FEV Europe GmbH investigate, inter alia, the implementation of PEMFCs in transport applications. In order to assess alternative powertrains for commercial vehicles, the investigation of total cost of ownership for different powertrains, considering different scenarios for electricity generation from renewable sources, is important to make decisions on the development of future HD powertrain systems.

This paper presents details about FEV’s and VKA’s development and validation of fuel cell systems with advanced operating strategies for heavy duty applications up to 250 kWnet power output. Fuel cell degradation mechanisms and their mitigation strategies are introduced to optimize the hybrid operating strategy and to prove durability and reliability of the designed systems.

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