Modular modeling of a PEM fuel cell system for automotive applications

Abstract

The promising potentials of fuel cell systems attract more and more interest in science and industry for the application in alternative drive concepts. Their ability to convert hydrogen into electrical energy in a clean, highly durable and reliable way offers solutions to some of the fundamental challenges of modern drive development. From a wide variety of available technologies, proton exchange membrane fuel cells PEMFC seem to be appropriate for automotive applications and are therefore a very active field of research and development. Today, first large-scale field tests of fuel cell electrical vehicles FCEV’s indicate the increasing maturity and competitiveness as a result of continuous improvements in life cycle and efficiency as well as the reductions of cost and weight. Equivalent to the ongoing development of conventional combustion engines, advancements in controller design, on-board diagnostics and the optimization of operating strategies are crucial for exploiting the technological possibilities. The basis is a fuel cell system model that takes the demands for automotive application into account.