Analytical temperature estimation process of the air supply system of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack in fuel cell electric vehicles

Abstract

The air supply system of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack in fuel cell electric vehicles should be included as one of the components of the balance of plant. However, the air supply system consists of a centrifugal air compressor, driven by an ultra-high-speed motor. Therefore, there occurs a large amount of thermal energy from losses and the temperature of the air supply system should be considered. Accordingly, this study suggests the temperature estimation process for an air supply system based on a lumped parameter thermal network (LPTN). First, performance modeling is introduced using not only the empirical approach but also electromagnetic finite element analysis (FEA). Subsequently, thermal modeling based on the LPTN is presented. For this procedure, optimization techniques, screening, and surrogate model-based optimization are used. Finally, the results of LPTN construction are investigated. Furthermore, an additional experiment is conducted, and the result of this study is verified.