Design and testing of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) power pack for platform vehicle

Abstract

During the last few years and in this context of constant innovation, several alternatives for internal combustion engines arose with the aim to find feasible options to fossil fuel consuming devices. As one may recall, the main alternative for internal combustion cars is without a doubt BEVs (battery electric vehicle). Those vehicles rely on electricity in order to function, storing the electricity in a battery pack and using it to feed a motor in order to give motion. However, some issues are still to solve in order to market them as appealing as internal combustion cars. Two of the most important issues to tackle are mileage range and charging time. On the other hand, fuel cell technology which began in the late sixties is beginning to take part in the automotive sector. This paper presents design evaluation and testing of 100 kW PEM fuel cell power pack for battery operated platform vehicle application developed to drive PMSM motor with requisite energy range that can be adapted by the power conditioning elements of the system under implementation to attain desired speed under Matlab/Simulink environment and the overall system dynamic performance was found to be coherent by analyzing basic operating parameters.