Predicting the Fuel Economy Impact of ""Cold-Start"" for Reformed Gasoline Fuel Cell Vehicles

Document Number: 2003-01-2253

Date Published: June 2003

Author(s):
Keith B. Wipke - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Anthony Markel - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Kristina Haraldsson - National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Patrick Davis - US Dept. of Energy

Abstract:
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) appear to be a promising solution for the future of clean and efficien tpersonal transportation. Issues of how to generate the hydrogen and then store it on-board to provide satisfactory driving range must still be resolved before they can compete with conventional vehicles. Alternatively, FCVs could obtain hydrogen from on-board reforming of gasoline or other fuels such as methanol or ethanol. On-board reformers convert fuel into a hydrogen-rich fuel stream through catalytic reactions in several stages. The high temperatures associated with fuel processing present an engineering challenge to warm up the reformer quickly and efficiently in a vehicle environment. Without a special warm-up phase or vehicle hybridization, the reformer and fuel cell system must provide all power to move the vehicle, including 1/4 power in 30 s, and 1/2 power in 3 min to satisfy the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) cycle demands. If the reformer cannot meet these performance demands, hybridization can be applied. Battery power and energy requirements for a hybrid-reformed gasoline FCV were determined using ADVISOR\sT for a range of reformer system warm-up durations (10 to 120 s). Finally, the predicted fuel economy impacts attributable to ""cold-start"" for a range of potential reformer warm-up times and fueling rates for a gasoline-reformed FCV on the FTP cycle are analyzed.

File Size: 699K
Product Status: In Stock

Included in: SP-1790

See other papers presented at Future Transportation Technology Conference & Exhibition, June 2003, Costa Mesa, CA, USA, Session: Alternative Fuels & Fuel Processing for Fuel Cells

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