Testing of an automotive fuel cell system

This paper is to present a test platform for automotive fuel cell systems and report some test results on this platform. The test platform was developed based on a test bed of internal combustion engine with a dynamometer, the dynamometer acted as both a load and a measurement instrument. A fuel cell engine, a DC/DC converter and an induction traction drive motor with a DC/AC inverter were integrated to a system and were tested in the platform. Test results of one fuel cell system showed that the efficiency was 41% (LHV) while 50 kW of electrical power is produced in the engine; the cell current density was 400 mA/cm2 when 0.65 V of average cell voltage is obtained in the stacks; the maximum mechanical power of the fuel cell system was 41 kW, and the best specific fuel consumption was 102 g/kWh. This test platform is feasible for evaluating all components of fuel cell systems, such as stacks, parasitic powers, engines, DC/DC converters and traction drive motors; and in this platform it is convenient to uncover problems of electromagnetism compatibility in the fuel cell systems before being mounted into vehicles.