DECEMBER 2002 — Vehicle Systems
GCtool-Eng/PSAT Linkage Used to Set Up Fuel Cell System Component Requirements
GCtool is a well-known software application developed at Argonne for the analysis of fuel cell systems. It can perform steady-state and dynamic analyses of complex systems with arbitrary configurations. It allows users to establish realistic system constraints and conduct constrained optimization studies. However, GCtool is generally inappropriate for use in studies at vehicle levels because its models are too detailed and too slow for the fast transients seen in drive cycles. Vehicle codes rely on empirical performance maps, while the mechanistic models in GCtool are based on thermodynamics and chemical transport processes. The objective of vehicle simulations is analysis, whereas GCtool is focused on design and searches for optimum configurations.
For these reasons, CTR researchers are developing engineering models of fuel cell systems and components using the GCtool architecture and providing a procedure for automating their linkages to MATLAB-based vehicle codes. This linkage allows the new set of tools to be used to define fuel cell system component requirements. Initial results from GCtool-Eng and the Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) have already been used to set new targets for compressor-expander modules as well as hydrogen storage in collaboration with the FreedomCAR fuel cell technical team. This research allows CTR staff to examine critical issues for fuel cell development such as cold-start and warm-up behavior.
Transient component modeling
used to set fuel cell component targets.
Sponsor
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
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