Abstract
This paper evaluates the performance of a fuel cell/battery vehicle with an on-board autothermal reformer, fed by different liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels. A sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the system behavior under the variation of the steam to carbon and oxygen to carbon ratios. This is done in order to identify the most suitable operating conditions for a direct on-board production of hydrogen to be used in a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. The same system should be able to process different fuels, to allow the end-user to freely decide which one to use to refuel the vehicle. Hence, the obtained operating conditions result in a trade-off between system flexibility as the feeding fuel changes, CO poisoning effect on the fuel cell and overall efficiency. The system is thus coupled to a high temperature fuel cell, modeled by means of a self-made tool, able to reproduce the polarization curve as the input syngas composition varies, and the overall system is afterwards tested on a plug-in fuel cell/battery vehicle simulator, in order to provide a thorough feasibility analysis, focusing on the entire system efficiency. Results show that a proper energy management strategy can mitigate the effect of the fuel variation on the reformer efficiency, allowing for good overall powertrain performance.
Highlights
The automotive sector is one of the main contributors to pollutant and global greenhouse gas emissions [1], and hybrid electric vehicles are gaining popularity thanks to the possibility of increasing the overall efficiency, lowering emissions and fuel consumption [2,3]
Unlike internal combustion engines that allow at most a bi-fuel operation, the same reformer can be fed by several fuels, requiring only the adaptation of the operating conditions, but keeping the processor unvaried and preserving the system integrity
What is worth noting for the Federal Highway Driving Schedule (FHDS) is that with the 40-kW autothermal reactor (ATR), any temperature, the system is able to maintain a state of charge of 30% SoC, and again, the markers are overlapped because the controller makes the system work exactly in the same way
Summary
The automotive sector is one of the main contributors to pollutant and global greenhouse gas emissions [1], and hybrid electric vehicles are gaining popularity thanks to the possibility of increasing the overall efficiency, lowering emissions and fuel consumption [2,3]. Brown [7] reached similar conclusions in a comparative study of seven different automotive fuels for on-board hydrogen production for FCVs. In that study, the employed fuel processors were steam or partial oxidation reformers, coupled with low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (LTPEM FC), and the costs did not justify the efficiency trade-off required by a multi-fuel operation. After a period of lack of interest on the topic, in the early 2010s, on-board fuel processing was investigated again for coupling with small fuel cells.especially used as auxiliary power units of 1–5 kW of rated power [11,12,13] In those systems, the energy management of the vehicle was generally based on the operation of the fuel cell at constant power, derived from the stand-alone optimization of the autothermal reactor (ATR)/FC system efficiency. Composition varies, for in-vehicle operation; in Section 3, the overall system performance is evaluated and presented
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
