This paper presents and discusses the use of a new HiL methodology - Fuel CellHiL. This technique uses a fuel cell as the HiL hardware component that is experimentally evaluated within the context of a fuel cell system design, a specific application (e.g., a fuel cell vehicle), and a typical use pattern (e.g., a standard drive cycle). This new fuel cell HiL methodology has the goal of enabling the experimental evaluation of the performance, efficiency and durability of a fuel cell under the operating conditions corresponding to a real dynamic application. The overall methodology for Fuel Cell HiL has been presented in the literature and is only briefly reviewed in this paper. The focus in this paper is to demonstrate the experimental evaluation of fuel cell performance in a dynamic application using the Fuel Cell HiL technique. Experimental results are provided for fuel cell performance using this new technique. It is demonstrated that the Fuel Cell HiL methodology, when combined with a dynamic simulation and dynamic use profile, causes the fuel cell under experimental evaluation to be exposed to dynamic current and voltage cycles. Dynamic current-voltage cycles of the type illustrated can produce significant changes in the characteristics of a PEM fuel cell and cycles of this type are typically employed (together with other variations such as humidification) as one element of accelerated durability tests. Using the Fuel Cell HiL technique introduced and illustrated here, the performance of a specific fuel cell design (materials, flow fields, catalyst loadings, etc.) can be experimentally evaluated for both its performance and durability when exposed to realistic operating conditions corresponding to a specific dynamic application. In addition, alternative fuel cell system designs and balance-of-plant components can be screened for their impact upon actual fuel cell performance and durability in specific applications without the time and resource investment in complete system hardware and a full scale hardware test program.
Fuel cell evaluation for dynamic applications
Evaluierung von Brennstoffzellen für dynamische Anwendungen
2006
8 Seiten, 6 Bilder, 6 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
Dynamic and Control Fuel Cell Systems for Automotive Applications
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