Fuel cells have been discussed traditionally as a replacement for the internal combustion engines in vehicles. These fuel cells, according to general agreement today, will be powered by hydrogen. On the other hand, the build-up of a hydrogen infrastructure, although not a technical problem, will require a prolonged transition period, similar to the introduction of unleaded petrol and natural gas in past years. In order to bridge this transition and increase the speed of uptake of fuel cell technology, the concept of the APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) was born. It replaces the electricity generator coupled to vehicle engines and produces on-board electricity totally independent of the drive train. Therefore the functions of propulsion and electricity generation are decoupled and can be optimised separately. This concept only makes sense in the context of a combustion engine vehicle. This implies that the APU will be supplied with conventional fuels, primarily diesel. The ideal fuel cell for using diesel reformate with a low processing effort in the range up to 20 kW is the SOFC (Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) operating between 600 and 900 deg C.
Fuel cell APU development perspectives for reducing vehicle emissions
2009
4 Seiten, 1 Bild, 1 Tabelle, 5 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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