Fuel cell system integration into a heavy-duty hybrid vehicle: preliminary experimental results

This paper is the second paper dealing with the evaluation of different power sources and hybridization strategies in a heavy-duty vehicle. It focuses on the physical integration of a fuel cell system (FCS) into the vehicle as well as the preliminary experimental results obtained with the FCS coupled to batteries. The vehicle considered here is a mobile research platform (ECCE) dedicated to the integration and characterization of various hybridization technologies and architectures in real operating conditions. The installation of the FCS into ECCE required some heavy modifications of the vehicle structure and architecture. Prior to moving toward extensive development and testing of energy management algorithms, a validation stage was necessary. The objective of the present paper is to describe this first stage. The first step was the functionality validation of the embedded FCS in term of communication with ECCE´s controller and electrical performance in static vehicle operation. The second step of the validation process was to proceed to a slow displacement of the vehicle powered by the FCS and batteries. This research activity was initiated within the framework of the SPACT-80 program and is now continued under a new project called ECCE 2, supported by the DGA (Technology & Procurement Agency of the French Ministry of Defense).