Open AccessDirect fuel cell—supercapacitor hybrid power source for personal suburban transport
Author(s) -
Caroline Bonnet,
AUTHOR_ID,
Stéphane Raël,
Melika Hinaje,
Sophie Guichard,
Théophile Habermacher,
Julian Vernier,
Xavier François,
MarieCécile Péra,
François Lapicque,
AUTHOR_ID,
AUTHOR_ID,
AUTHOR_ID,
AUTHOR_ID
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
aims energy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.294
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 2333-8334
pISSN - 2333-8326
DOI - 10.3934/energy.2021059
Subject(s) - driving cycle , supercapacitor , automotive engineering , traction (geology) , hybrid power , voltage , test bench , power (physics) , range (aeronautics) , fuel efficiency , auxiliary power unit , environmental science , power density , driving range , electrical engineering , electric vehicle , computer science , materials science , engineering , chemistry , electrode , physics , mechanical engineering , capacitance , thermodynamics , composite material
In view to proposing an alternative to oversized energy sources currently installed in electric vehicles for suburban transport, a direct hybrid fuel cell (FC)-supercapacitors (SC) source has been designed and tested on a test bench. The rated 15.6 kW source—with an air-cooled 5.6 kW FC and a 165 F SC storage device—was shown perfectly suited to traction of a 520 kg vehicle along the NEDC cycle, then validating the previously developed concept of a one-ton car propelled by a 10 kW FC in the rated 30 kW hybrid source for this cycle. In comparison with a FC used alone, hybridization was shown to allow the power demand for the cell to vary in quite a narrower range, as formerly observed. Moreover, the rates of fuel cell voltage and current generated in the driving cycle, were shown to be reduced by one order of magnitude by the direct hybridization which is to contribute to the FC durability. Two operating parameters were shown to have a significant effect on the hybrid source efficiency, namely the capacity of the SC at 110 or 165 F, and the recovery of deceleration power—emulated by an external power supply—which can decrease by 25% the fuel consumption in NEDC cycle conditions, as predicted by the model.