Cooling Performance Characteristics of the Stack Thermal Management System for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles under Actual Driving Conditions

Ho-Seong Lee, Choong-Won Cho, Jae-Hyeong Seo and Moo-Yeon Lee
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Ho-Seong Lee: Thermal Management Research Center, Korea Automotive Technology Institute, 74 Younjung-Ri, Pungse-Myun, Chonan 31214, Korea
Choong-Won Cho: Thermal Management Research Center, Korea Automotive Technology Institute, 74 Younjung-Ri, Pungse-Myun, Chonan 31214, Korea
Jae-Hyeong Seo: Research and Development Division, Nano Thermal Fusion Technology Company (NTF TECH), Hadan 840, Saha-gu, Busan 49315, Korea
Moo-Yeon Lee: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan 49315, Korea

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: The cooling performance of the stack radiator of a fuel cell electric vehicle was evaluated under various actual road driving conditions, such as highway and uphill travel. The thermal stability was then optimized, thereby ensuring stable operation of the stack thermal management system. The coolant inlet temperature of the radiator in the highway mode was lower than that associated with the uphill mode because the corresponding frontal air velocity was higher than obtained in the uphill mode. In both the highway and uphill modes, the coolant temperatures of the radiator, operated under actual road driving conditions, were lower than the allowable limit (80 °C); this is the maximum temperature at which stable operation of the stack thermal management system of the fuel cell electric vehicle could be maintained. Furthermore, under actual road driving conditions in uphill mode, the initial temperature difference (ITD) between the coolant temperature and air temperature of the system was higher than that associated with the highway mode; this higher ITD occurred even though the thermal load of the system in uphill mode was greater than that corresponding to the highway mode. Since the coolant inlet temperature is expected to exceed the allowable limit (80 °C) in uphill mode under higher ambient temperature with air conditioning system operation, the FEM design layout should be modified to improve the heat capacity. In addition, the overall volume of the stack cooling radiator is 52.2% higher than that of the present model and the coolant inlet temperature of the improved radiator is 22.7% lower than that of the present model.

Keywords: fuel cell electric vehicle; initial temperature difference; radiator; stack; thermal management system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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