Experimental assessment of energy management strategies in fuel cell propulsion systems

The limitations of electric vehicles equipped with electrochemical batteries justify the strong research interest for new solutions, based on hydrogen fuel cell technology, able to improve the vehicle range, and to reduce battery recharging time, maintaining the crucial advantages of high efficiency and local zero emissions. The best working of a fuel cell propulsion system, in terms of optimal efficiency and performance, is based on specific strategies of energy management, whose scope is to regulate the power flows between the fuel cells, electric energy storage systems and electric drive during the vehicle mission. In this paper the experimental study has been carried out on a small size electric propulsion system based on a 2,5 kW PEM fuel cell stack and a 2.5 kW electric drive. The fuel cell system has been integrated into the power train comprising DC-DC converter, lead acid battery pack and brushless electric drive. The experiments have been conducted on a test bench able to simulate the vehicle behaviour and road characteristics on specific driving cycles. The experimental runs have been carried out on the European R40 driving cycle using different energy management procedures, and evaluating both dynamic performance and energy consumption.