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Fuel cells convert a fuel together with oxygen in a highly efficient electrochemical reaction to electricity and water. Automotive fuel cell systems mainly use compressed onboard stored hydrogen as fuel. Oxygen from ambient air is fed to the cathode of the fuel cell stack by an air supply subsystem. For its current and next generation air supply subsystem NuCellSys has employed screw type compressor technology, which in the automotive area initially was developed for supercharged internal combustion (IC) engines. As NVH expectations to fuel cell vehicles differ very much from IC-engine driven vehicles, specific efforts have to be taken to address the intense noise and vibration profile of the screw compressor. This paper describes different counter measures which have been implemented into the NuCellSys next generation air supply subsystem.

A liquid fuelled, fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) can provide efficient, quiet and low pollution power for a variety of applications including commercial and military vehicles. Truck idling regulation, customer comfort or military “stealth” operation by using electrical power, require a device disconnected from the main diesel engine. The power can be utilized for air conditioning as well as other auxiliary systems found on board commercial trucks for driver comfort. In a military vehicle, this regulated power could be supplied to telecommunication and other computer equipment required for military operations. A system designed to be an add-on or retrofit solution using alternative fuel can have the potential to meet these requirements on the hundreds of thousands of existing vehicles currently in service or as optional equipment on a newly procured vehicle.