COMPONENT SIZING AND STUDY OF FACTORS AFFECTING FUEL CONSUMPTION IN A FUEL CELL HYBRID HEAVY VEHICLE

摘要

With increasing shift towards clean energy sources in the transportation industry, major focus is being given to fuel cells for providing automotive power especially in urban bus applications. Developments in the design of powertrain are required for improving their efficiency and performance. This research work focuses on powertrain component sizing of a fuel cell-battery hybrid city bus for a modified Indian driving cycle for minimizing the fuel consumption. Downsizing of fuel cell and battery were achieved by extending the constant power region of the traction motor. The objective of this work is to investigate the effects of design parameters of a component sizing process, on the fuel consumption and acceleration performance of the vehicle. Parameters identified were Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW), speed ratio (x) of traction motor and degree of hybridization (H) of power sources. For studying their effects, simulations were done using ADVISOR software to evaluate the fuel consumption. Analyzing the individual effects of these parameters showed that smaller values of x and GVW, and moderate values of H were preferred for improving the fuel economy of the vehicle. On the contrary, larger values of x and GVW were preferred for improving the vehicle's acceleration performance, which was unaffected by the variation of H.