Due to the large amount of heat required to bring a phosphoric acid, molten carbonate or solid oxide fuel cell to operating temperature, the energy consumption required to travel most drive cycles is very large, while very little of that energy consumed goes to producing useful work. The large amounts of heat required (on the order of the useful work, from one tenth to five times as large) are due to the high operating temperature of these fuel cells and in two cases to the necessity to melt their electrolytes. The heat requirement is supplied by the combustion of fuel in the stack. Then the heat is wasted when the stack is turned off. The repetition of this cycle leads to a large waste of energy (i.e. fuel). In conclusion, high temperature fuel cells are not suitable for automotive and light duty vehicle applications. Medium temperature fuel cells (phosphoric acid fuel cells) may be suitable for some of these applications, but the present study is inconclusive regarding this technology. Additionally, other studies have concluded that indeed phosphoric acid fuel cells do not require unacceptable amounts of warm up heat. The future work on the issue of fuel cell warm up influence on fuel cell vehicle energy consumption should include an accurate determination of the characteristics of all the materials concerned with warm up. The heat requirement for each component should thus be determined and the variations due to design should be accounted for. Finally, the energy consumption required by automobiles, buses, trucks, tramways, locomotives and ships should be determined for real-life drive cycles. A comparison with internal combustion engines would be appropriate.
High-temperature fuel cell warm-up influence on vehicle fuel consumption
2003
9 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 5 Tabellen, 11 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
High-Temperature Fuel Cell Warm-up Influence on Vehicle Fuel Consumption
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2003
|High-temperature fuel cell warm-up influence on vehicle fuel consumption
Kraftfahrwesen | 2003
|High-Temperature Fuel Cell Warm-up Influence on Vehicle Fuel Consumption
SAE Technical Papers | 2003
|High-Temperature Fuel Cell Warm-up Influence on Vehicle Fuel Consumption
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2003
|