Abstract
Analysis and experiments in stack cooling system for fuel cell electric vehicle(FCEV) have been performed. The amount of heat discharge for FCEV stack cooling system is approximately up to 2 times more than that for conventional internal combustion vehicle due to low temperature difference between coolant inlet and air inlet. This paper investigated stack cooling performance of FCEV by means of 3D thermal flow analytic software, UH3D, with the variety of operating conditions, such as road load and A/C operation, and tested it on the road at highway and uphill mode. At the same time, airflow velocity and distribution for stack cooling radiator were examined. As a result of 3D simulation, it was estimated that applied FCEV stack cooling system with A/C Off was appropriate for highway mode under the hot weather condition. However, in case of uphill mode, when A/C is operated, stack cooling system might be failed due to additional condensing heat to stack radiator. Since road tests under similar analytic conditions for current developing FCEV were conducted, stack cooling performance data, such as amount of heat discharge and airflow velocity were compiled. Accordingly, analytic results were verified by experimental data. An average error between simulation and experiment for coolant inlet temperature was about 2%.
Keywords: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, Radiator, Heat rejection, Cooling Performance, Frontal air velocity