Joint project DynaCell

 

Dynamic operation of a fuel cell system for extended use in mobile and stationary applications.

 

Motivation

Fuel cell systems can be an important building block on the way to decarbonizing the energy supply. These can be used both in stationary applications, for example in residential units for combined heat and power generation, and in mobile applications such as fuel cell vehicles. In addition to the costs, insufficient dynamics of the systems are currently preventing more widespread use and thus a more decisive contribution to the energy turnaround.

 

Project Goals and Methods

In the "DynaCell" research project, the use of innovative control algorithms is intended to enable increased dynamics in the operation of the fuel cell system and at the same time permanently increase the service life of the individual components. To this end, the control algorithms are first developed on a high-precision process model generated with software from AVL, before validation of the researched concepts takes place on the real fuel cell test bench.

The Institute of Automatic Control is responsible for the development, implementation and validation of the model predictive control of the fuel cell system. A major challenge is the development of the algorithms, which must be tailored to the problem at hand in order to robustly address all real-world challenges such as the nonlinearity or the stochasticity of the process. In addition, the real-time capability of the researched algorithms on real-time hardware must be satisfied at all times.

 

Innovations and Perspectives

Successful completion of the project will have direct consequences for both fuel cell research and industry: if the systems can be operated with greater dynamics, new application scenarios will arise that are of interest to research or that can even be offered directly by industrial companies. In this way, an establishment of the fuel cell as an important component of a sustainable energy supply can be achieved in perspective.

 

Project partner	Associated partner
ZBT - The hydrogen and fuel cell center GmbH AiF-Forschungsvereinigung DFMRS Deutsche Forschungsvereinigung für Meß-, Regelungs- und Systemtechnik e.V.	Celeroton AG DiLiCo engineering GmbH dSPACE GmbH e.GO REX GmbH FCP Fuell Cell Powertrain GmbH Nedstack Fuel cell technology B.V. Pierburg GmbH Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH ZAL - Center of Applied Aeronautical Research