Comparative assessment and improvement of the powertrain supplied by hybrid energy source in fuel cell vehicles

Abstract

The energy distribution and conversion between the fuel cell (FC) and the battery are realized by the powertrain in fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). In this study, the cost and efficiency of a novel powertrain based on the dual winding motor are assessed and compared with the mainstream powertrain. To shorten the energy transfer chain from FC to motor, a dual winding motor is employed and supplied by the energy source (ES) directly through inverters. The DC/DC converter is eliminated from the powertrain to avoid its cost and energy loss. The powertrain based on the dual winding motor is further optimized by multiple objectives, including FCV economy and durability. The double-loop optimization is proposed to solve the coupling between hybrid energy source sizing (HESS) and energy management strategy (EMS). Particle swarm optimization is adopted in outer-loop optimization to get the optimal size of the ES. Dynamic programming is used in inner-loop optimization to get the optimal energy distribution between ESs. Compared with the prevalent DC/DC converter-based powertrain, the optimized powertrain based on the dual winding motor is lower in manufacturing cost and fuel consumption.