Week 6 Fuel cell powered vehicle model

Aim

The aim of the project is to create a matlab model for a fuel cell powered electric vehicle.

Matlab model

The drive cycle is used as the input for the model the flow rate selector has two input drive cycle & flow rate regulator. The ramp & flow rate is the output from the selector. The switch provides the output based on the predefined input criteria. In the fuel cell stack the motor specification & nominal volatge, operating condition, efficiency are provided. The boost converter is used to step up the voltage & the current, voltage sensor are used to measure the values. The RLC circuit which is load for the system.

Matlab Blocks:

Switch - Pass through input 1 when input 2 satisfies the selected criterion; otherwise, pass through input 3. 

Saturation - Limit input signal to the upper and lower saturation values.

Fuel cell stack - Implements a generic hydrogen fuel cell model which allows the simulation for the following types of cells: Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC).

Chopper - This model implements an average-value buck converter. Duty Cycle contains the duty cycle of the internal IGBT device. 

Current measurement - The Output signal parameter is disabled when the block is not used in a phasor simulation. The phasor simulation is activated by a Powergui block placed in the model.

DC bus voltage - The Output signal parameter is disabled when the block is not used in a phasor simulation. The phasor simulation is activated by a Powergui block placed in the model.

Series RLC branch - Implements a series branch of RLC elements. Use the 'Branch type' parameter to add or remove elements from the branch.

Results

The fuel flow rate keeps on increasing the flow rate varies depends on the drive cycle the maximum value of the flow rate is 80. The utilization of the H2 is constant throughout the cycle & the air utilization is high during the start of the vehicle the utilization of the O2 & H2 is 60 after sometime. The stack consumption of the air & fuel increases during the start of the vehicle the air cosumption is around 150 lpm & fuel consumption is 50 lpm . The stack efficiency decreasing during the start where the fuel consumption is high & the efficiency becomes constant & reaches around 40% during the end of the cycle.