TECHNICAL ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT OF A VARIABLE HYBRIDITY FUELCELL LOCOMOTIVE

TECHNICAL ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT OF A VARIABLE HYBRIDITY FUELCELL LOCOMOTIVE Arnold R Miller, PhD President Vehicle Projects LLC Denver, Colorado, USA 2 nd International Hydrogen Train and Hydrail Conference Herning, Denmark 7 June 2006 1

VEHICLE PROJECTS LLC MISSION Vehicle Projects LLC serves heavy industry and transport by developing and demonstrating prototype fuelcell vehicles that improve productivity, worker health and safety, environmental quality, or energy efficiency and security Its core in-house activities are project conception and fundraising, vehicle engineering design, and consortium organization and management 2

DEFINITION OF HYBRIDITY h = p b /(p b + p f ), p mean p f p max h is hybridity p b is rated battery power (kw) p f is rated fuelcell power (kw) p mean is mean power of the duty cycle p max is maximum power By this definition, a pure fuelcell vehicle has a hybridity of zero With fuelcell power fixed, hybridity increases toward unity as battery power increases 3

FUELCELL MINE LOCOMOTIVE Completed in 2002 36 metric tons 17 kw PEM fuelcells 3 kg hydrogen as metal hydride Not hybrid (h = 0) 4

FUELCELL MINE LOADER Brand new 123-kW diesel loader shown at Caterpillar proving grounds in June 2003, prior to baseline testing and conversion to fuelcell power 5

DUTY CYCLE OF LOADER R 1 3 0 0 D u t y C y c l e 2 0 0 6 0 1 5 0 5 0 P o w e r - k W 1 0 0 5 0 0-5 0-1 0 0 M u c k T r a m L e v e l T ra m u p 1 5 % T r a m L e v e l D u m p T r a m L e v e l T r a m D o w n 1 5 % T r a m L e v e l 4 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 E n e r g y - k W - h r - 1 5 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 2 0 0 2 5 0 3 0 0 3 5 0 4 0 0 T im e - s e c T o ta l P o w e r J o b M e a n P o w e r M e a n K i lo w a tts E n e r g y 0 0 6

FUELCELL HYBRID POWERPLANT 157-kW fuelcell-battery hybrid powerplant: Three fuelcell stacks provide 87 kw of continuous power; a 12-kWh nickel metal-hydride battery provides additional 70 kw of transient power and absorbs energy during regenerative braking With covers in place With covers removed 7

POWER ELECTRONICS The power electronics system sits atop the powerplant and provides DC power to the vehicle s three electrical buses: 280- VDC (at load) output of the fuelcells, 600 VDC for the traction motor, hydraulicpump motor, and traction battery, and 24 VDC for auxiliaries such as lights 8

METAL HYDRIDE STORAGE Hydrogen fuel is stored as a reversible metal hydride, a safe and compact method of storing hydrogen as a solid Photo shows half of the hydride storage system, the vehicle s fuel tank, being lowered into the loader The vehicle can be refueled in 10-15 minutes 9

ASSEMBLY OF LOADER The left half of the hydride-storage unit sits in front of the powerplant (labeled High Voltage ) The storage units may be refueled in situ or after removal from the vehicle 10

LOCOMOTIVE PROJECT OBJECTIVES Develop and demonstrate a prototype fuelcell-powered road-switcher leading to commercial locomotives that will: Reduce air pollution in urban rail yards, in particular, yards associated with seaports Increase energy security of the rail transportation system by using a fuel independent of imported oil Reduce atmospheric greenhouse-gas emissions Serve as a mobile backup power source for military bases and civilian disaster relief efforts 11

LOCOMOTIVE CONSORTIUM BNSF Railway Company, USA: Freight applications Defense NTG & Rail Equipment Center, USA: Packaging and integration DOT Volpe Nat l Transportation Systems Ctr, USA: Safety and economics Fuelcell Propulsion Institute, USA: Project advocacy General Atomics/Power Inverters, USA: Power electronics Ovonic Hydrogen Systems, USA: Metal-hydride storage Modine Manufacturing Co, USA: Heat exchangers New York City Transit, USA: Subway transit applications Nuvera Fuel Cells, USA: Module balance of plant Railway Technical Research Institute, Japan: Passenger rail applications Regional Transportation District Denver, USA: Light rail applications Transportation Technology Center Inc, USA: Locomotive performance University of Nevada - Reno: Refueling system Union Pacific Railroad, USA: Freight applications Vehicle Projects LLC, USA: Prime contractor Washington Safety Management Solutions LLC: Safety analysis 12

LOCOMOTIVE CONCEPT Diagram courtesy of RailPower Technologies 13

PROJECT PHASES 1) Feasibility Analysis: $1 million, completed one year from June 2003, funding from DOD 2) Conceptual Design: $1 million, completed one year from June 2004, funding from DOD 3) Fabrication of Prototype PM and Locomotive-Layout Design: $29 million, to be completed 20 months from June 2005, funding from DOE and the Government of Japan 4) Development of a three PM, 450-kW (12-MW peak) Hybrid Switcher: $6 million, to be completed 12 months from March 2007, proposed funding from DOD 5) Demonstration of Switcher in Commercial Applications: Estimated $2 million, one year duration 6) Development of eight PM, 12-MW Road Locomotive Estimated $5 million, one year duration 7) Demonstration of Locomotive in Road Applications and Military Backup-Power Applications Estimated $2 million, one year duration Total project cost: $199 million Duration: 92 months (7 years and 8 months) 14

PROTOTYPE POWER MODULE FOR LOCOMOTIVE 165-kW prototype module (150 kw required) Rugged metal plates for rail applications Prototype was sold to offshore customer Delivered in February 2006 15

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF HYBRID RAIL POWER Enhancement of transient power and tractive effort Regenerative braking Reduction of capital cost 16

AUXILIARY POWER/STORAGE DEVICES Rail application requirements Ruggedness High energy density Provide or absorb power over relatively long period Two plausible devices for rail: batteries or flywheels 17

COST ANALYSIS (12 MW Road-Switcher) Fuelcell Rated Power (kw) Battery Capacity (kwh) Battery Weight (Tonne) Total Cost Hybrid Fuel Cost Fuel Cost Penalty Fuel Capacity Penalty (%) 200 1863 287 $345,001 $106,829 $36,904 53 300 870 134 $261,006 $98,091 $28,166 40 400 752 116 $260,033 $90,474 $20,549 29 500 624 96 $269,961 $85,793 $15,868 23 600 497 76 $271,644 $80,826 $10,901 16 700 328 50 $286,634 $78,497 $8,572 12 1200 0 0 $369,925 $69,925 0 0 18

NOMINAL BATTERY CAPACITY Power p(t) (kw) +3 kwh Energy absorbed by vehicle +4 kwh Energy generated by fuelcell or vehicle p f -6 kwh Energy E(t) (kwh) 3 kwh -8 kwh 4 kwh -5 kwh Time 19

CYCLE LIFE OF NI-CD BATTERY 140000 120000 Life (Cycles) 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 Depth of Discharge (%) 20

COST ANALYSIS (12 MW Road-Switcher) Fuelcell Rated Power (kw) Battery Capacity (kwh) Battery Weight (Tonne) Total Cost Hybrid Fuel Cost Fuel Cost Penalty Fuel Capacity Penalty (%) 200 1863 287 $345,001 $106,829 $36,904 53 300 870 134 $261,006 $98,091 $28,166 40 400 752 116 $260,033 $90,474 $20,549 29 500 624 96 $269,961 $85,793 $15,868 23 600 497 76 $271,644 $80,826 $10,901 16 700 328 50 $286,634 $78,497 $8,572 12 1200 0 0 $369,925 $69,925 0 0 21

CONCLUSIONS Tractive effort for switchers is generally limited by wheel adhesion, not power Regeneration benefits are limited for all applications Switchers have little braking energy to absorb and would lose efficiency Others have too much energy to absorb by practical devices Reduced capital cost can be realized for yard switchers Efficiency penalty Increased complexity 22

FINANCIAL SUPPORT US Department of Energy, Hydrogen Program US Department of Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies Government of Canada, Action Plan 2000 on Climate Change Natural Resources Canada, Emerging Technologies Program US Department of Defense, US Army National Automotive Center (NAC) Government of Japan, Railway Technical Research Institute Fuelcell Propulsion Institute Corporate cost-share contributors 23

REFERENCES 1 A R Miller, Least-cost Hybridity Analysis of Industrial Vehicles European Fuel Cell News, Vol 7, January 2001, pp 15-17 2 A R Miller, et al, Analysis of Fuelcell Hybrid Locomotives Journal of Power Sources, in press, 2006 24