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A fuel cell hybrid powertrain design is implemented and optimized by the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team for the ChallengeX competition. A comprehensive set of bench-top and in-vehicle validation results are used to generate accurate fuel cell vehicle models for SIL/HIL control strategy testing and tuning. The vehicle is brought to a “99% buy-off” level of production readiness, and a detailed crashworthiness analysis is performed. The vehicle performance is compared to Vehicle Technical Specifications (VTS).

Supervisory control strategies for a hybrid fuel cell powertrain are developed and simulated using Simulink models and the Powertrain Systems Analysis Toolkit (PSAT). The control strategy selects the power splitting ratio between a 65kW Hydrogenics fuel cell power module and a 70kW Cobasys Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery pack. Simple control algorithms targeting a battery pack State of Charge (SOC), or maximizing the instantaneous powertrain efficiency are initially considered and analyzed. A comprehensive control strategy optimizing powertrain efficiency, vehicle performance, emissions, and long-term reliability is then developed and simulated. The simulated vehicle using the comprehensive control strategy with reliability considerations exhibits a 21% mileage improvement as compared to a simple rule-based control algorithm.