Analysis of Fuel Cell System for Automotive and Modelling of a Range Extender FCV based on PEMFC

?? One of the biggest challenges for the Automotive Industry during next decade will be to develop low environmental impact and possible cost-effective solutions for the powertrain architecture and, thus, limit their dependency on fossil fuel. Already in the early 2000s, OEMs have invested huge amount of funds to research different ways to lower noxious emissions in order to comply the more and more stringent regulation by central governments. Moreover, local authorities, as the European Commission and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, in USA,) have imposed CO2 limitations and, therefore, the car makers are trying to optimize the conventional ICE-based vehicles and launch alternative type of powertrains, including pure battery electric vehicle (BEV) and hybrid vehicle (HEV), which combine, generally, an electric motor and a common engine. In addition to the abovementioned layouts, an attractive way to reduce both greenhouse gas effect and pollution can be the deployment of the Fuel Cell System (FCs) for vehicles to produce electric energy from the reaction of H2 and Oxygen. In the next years, this kind of technology is promising to become a competitive and environmentally friendly solution due to next-to-zero TtW (Tank to Wheel) emission and the possibility to produce Hydrogen from renewable energy source. The aim of this thesis is, firstly, to analyse the different and the underdevelopment applications of Fuel Cell in Automotive field, understanding which can be the best candidates of electrolytes to be used as Power Source in vehicle and recognizing how the electric energy is produced by means of the different electrochemical reaction within the cells. The second part of the thesis includes the design and the optimization of Series Hybrid Range Extender Vehicle, developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The different component of vehicle, as Battery Pack, Driveline, Fuel Cell Stack and its auxiliaries, are sized with the final goal to optimized the Balance of Plant (BoP) of the Fuel Cell system and to design a proper Control Logic for Energy Management System. In conclusion, an energy prospective comparison between Series Hybrid REX (Range Extender) vehicle ICE-based and FC-Based, with Well to Tank (WtW) emission analysis for the production of Hydrogen, is proposed.