Fuel Cell Model Development

As the automotive industry continues to de-carbonise, Fuel Cell vehicles provide a promising alternative to conventional ICE vehicles. Characterising a fuel cell virtually is fundamental in unlocking performance and efficiency gains in its operation and development. Using data and specifications from the manufacturer to develop a theoretical model is often time consuming given the number of parameters and the level of fidelity desired in each use case. Therefore, the main aim of this work is to parameterise and develop automotive fuel cell models which will improve and fulfil the current model requirements derived from industry use cases such as Hardware in the Loop systems and virtual sensors for onboard monitoring.
The initial stages of the project will include narrowing the scope through both an in-depth literature search and review and communication with the industry partner to define the model itself. From here the fuel cell model development process will contribute to a significant proportion of the research project, with the model needing to satisfy the use case but also improve upon what is already available to the industry partner. Following this, careful design of the experimental procedure will take place in order to optimise the data acquisition process. This will then lead to the verification of the model, reducing error between modelled and measured values. It is envisaged that the required data for the project will be supplied by AVL as well as experimental testing at a later date using DoE methods. The parameterisation procedure will aim to reduce the hardware required on the UUT by optimising the parametrisation process.
The main challenge associated with this project is the amount of data handled throughout. Fuel cells are complex to model and therefore include a huge set of parameters leading to a large amount of data needed to fully characterise the cell. This in turn increases the measurements required during the experimental procedures.
Given that the intended output of this work is to develop and define a fuel cell model, parameterisation process and experimental process which is more efficient and accessible there are clear benefits and impacts as a result. The model development process will allow for a simplification of the model generation and selection used in industry, as well as unlocking new potential avenues to explore within the subject such as cell aging which at this moment is a relatively poorly understood area. This will allow better understanding of performance, efficiency, and longevity gains in the development of fuel cells. Streamlining the experimental design procedure and parametrisation process reduces both financial and time costs associated with testing but also allows models to be more widely accessible, given these processes will have been optimised.

Impact Summary

This proposal has been developed from the ground up to guarantee the highest level of impact. The two principal routes towards impact are via the graduates that we train and by the embedding of the research that is undertaken into commercial activity. The impact will have a significant commercial value through addressing skills requirements and providing technical solutions for the automotive industry - a key sector for the UK economy.

The graduates that emerge from our CDT (at least 84 people) will be transformative in two distinct ways. The first is a technical route and the second is cultural.

In a technical role, their deep subject matter expertise across all of the key topics needed as the industry transitions to a more sustainable future. This expertise is made much more accessible and applicable by their broad understanding of the engineering and commercial context in which they work. They will have all of the right competencies to ensure that they can achieve a very significant contribution to technologies and processes within the sector from the start of their careers, an impact that will grow over time. Importantly, this CDT is producing graduates in a highly skilled sector of the economy, leading to jobs that are £50,000 more productive per employee than average (i.e. more GVA). These graduates are in demand, as there are a lack of highly skilled engineers to undertake specialist automotive propulsion research and fill the estimated 5,000 job vacancies in the UK due to these skills shortages. Ultimately, the CDT will create a highly specialised and productive talent pipeline for the UK economy.

The route to impact through cultural change is perhaps of even more significance in the long term. Our cohort will be highly diverse, an outcome driven by our wide catchment in terms of academic background, giving them a 'diversity edge'. The cultural change that is enabled by this powerful cohort will have a profound impact, facilitating a move away from 'business as usual'.

The research outputs of the CDT will have impact in two important fields - the products produced and processes used within the indsutry. The academic team leading and operating this CDT have a long track record of generating impact through the application of their research outputs to industrially relevant problems. This understanding is embodied in the design of our CDT and has already begun in the definition of the training programmes and research themes that will meet the future needs of our industry and international partners. Exchange of people is the surest way to achieve lasting and deep exchange of expertise and ideas. The students will undertake placements at the collaborating companies and will lead to employment of the graduates in partner companies.

The CDT is an integral part of the IAAPS initiative. The IAAPS Business Case highlights the need to develop and train suitably skilled and qualified engineers in order to achieve, over the first five years of IAAPS' operations, an additional £70 million research and innovation expenditure, creating an additional turnover of £800 million for the automotive sector, £221 million in GVA and 1,900 new highly productive jobs.

The CDT is designed to deliver transformational impact for our industrial partners and the automotive sector in general. The impact is wider than this, since the products and services that our partners produce have a fundamental part to play in the way we organise our lives in a modern society. The impact on the developing world is even more profound. The rush to mobility across the developing world, the increasing spending power of a growing global middle class, the move to more urban living and the increasingly urgent threat of climate change combine to make the impact of the work we do directly relevant to more people than ever before. This CDT can help change the world by effecting the change that needs to happen in our industry.