Abstract
The thermal management of lithium-ion batteries in hybrid electric vehicles is a key issue, since operating temperatures can greatly affect their performance and life. A hybrid energy storage system, composed by the integration of a battery pack with a metal hydride-based hydrogen storage system, might be a promising solution, since it allows to efficiently exploit the endothermic desorption process of hydrogen in metal hydrides to perform the thermal management of the battery pack. In this work, starting from a battery electric scooter, a new fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain is designed, based on the simulation results of a vehicle dynamic model that evaluates power and energy requirements on a standard driving cycle. Thus, the design of an original hybrid energy storage system for a plug-in fuel cell electric scooter is proposed, and its prototype development is presented. To this aim, the battery pack thermal power profile is retrieved from vehicle simulation, and the integrated metal hydride tank is sized in such a way to ensure a suitable thermal management. The conceived storage solution replaces the conventional battery pack of the vehicle. This leads to a significant enhancement of the on-board gravimetric and volumetric energy densities, with clear advantages on the achievable driving range. The working principle of the novel storage system and its integration within the powertrain of the vehicle are also discussed.
Highlights
Improving energy efficiency and curbing CO2 emissions are top priority issues that need to be addressed by the automotive manufactures in the pursuit of a sustainable mobility
A rule-based energy management strategy has been implemented, which consists of three different modes of operation, as follows: x Charge Depleting (CD): the vehicle operates as a Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) for a battery State of Charge (SoC) higher than 60% or if the hydrogen fuel is fully depleted
X Charge Sustaining – constant power (CP): the first time the battery SoC goes below 60%, and anytime the battery SoC hits the 50%, the fuel cell operates at constant power, in such a way to allow for battery partial depletion, which instead has the role of fulfilling the peak power request
Summary
Improving energy efficiency and curbing CO2 emissions are top priority issues that need to be addressed by the automotive manufactures in the pursuit of a sustainable mobility. If the temperature in a battery cell (especially if aged) rises above 80°C, the thermal runaway can be triggered and its propagation within the pack can further result in catastrophic hazards [13] In these vehicles, high power battery cells (with relatively low internal resistance) and an efficient thermal management system are required. To address this critical issue, an interesting option may be represented by the use of an integrated system which combines a metal hydride (MH) hydrogen storage with a battery pack, into a single, compact, device. Its integration within the vehicle power-unit is discussed
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