Power sources sizing for a fuel cell hybrid vehicle

Abstract

AbstractFuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHV) are attractive alternatives to fossil fuel based ones in terms of lowering levels of polluting emissions. This paper presents a methodology for modeling, sizing, and power management of FCHV. The aim of the study is to achieve the lowest cost of driving over different driving cycles taking into consideration the vehicle specifications and minimum drivability constraints. The tunnel dynamic programming (TDP) is used to find the optimal power split between the battery and the fuel cell to meet the power demand for driving. On the other hand, since cost is a major barrier hindering the commercialization of FCHV, Pareto front is used to determine the best combination of sizes to achieve the lowest operational cost. The analysis covers different driving cycles including a combination of the highway and urban driving cycles mimicking a realistic one. The focus on lithium titanate battery and the combination of TDP‐Pareto front are the significant contributions of this paper. Comparative results against a commercial hybrid vehicle showed that the proposed model found a more efficient design in terms of hydrogen consumption and more capable in meeting aggressive drivability constraints as the electric motor size selected is greater.