Abstract

Recently, due to elevated oil prices and the need for low emissions, the automotive industry has been clamoring for cleaner, more energy-efficient vehicles. Fuel cell-hybrid electric vehicles (FC-HEV) are considered to be one of the most promising alternatives, because of their evident advantages of much higher fuel efficiency and lower (or zero) emissions, without any significant restriction on driving range and vehicle performance. However, a number of severe obstacles need to be overcome to attain widespread commercialization of FC-HEVs. The most critical aspects of fuel cell vehicle research include the development of optimal power management strategies and design of efficient power train architectures. Firstly, this thesis attempts to solve the critical power management problem through the optimal design, modeling, and testing of innovative power control strategies. Thereafter, the advantages and limitations of the proposed strategies are compared and analyzed in depth. Secondly, the thesis also discusses the selection of suitable power train configurations, followed by the power electronic system design, based on hybridization degree and component characteristics. The circuit-level simulation results indicate that the power electronic control system can precisely implement the overall power control strategy, starting from the high-level supervisory control system. Finally, an attractive short-term future option, in the form of a plug-in fuel cell hybrid vehicle (FC-PHEV), is introduced. A suitable power management strategy is designed for the proposed FC-PHEV, with detailed discussions on critical performance as well as practical issues.