Co-operation Profile

The Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems Dresden has developed fuel cell based drive train with high reliability by means of redundant systems - particularly for public transport sector - with hydrogen polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, offering local emission free and high efficient energy conversion in vehicles. Available are pure lean drives or hybrid combinations with energy storages (high-performance batteries, super capacitors). The institute is searching for technical co-operation. A drive system contains as specially adapted peripheral systems a cooling system, an air supply system, a power electronics system, the hydrogen supply and a comprehensive safety system as well as control software regarding to the requirements of the fuel cell manufacturer. The cooling system (air or fluid cooling respectively) enables an accurate temperature control in highly dynamic ranges of performance too. The complete hydrogen line satisfies the safety standards; the comprehensive, redundant safety system reduces the risks of the handling of gaseous hydrogen to a minimum. If possible, the components of the system periphery are originated from the automotive field. They satisfy a maximum of reliability with mean investment costs. Special Custom-made designs are necessary for special requirements only. For instance for fluid cooled fuel cell stacks a custom-made design for the heat exchanger is necessary because of the high cooling requirements. Furthermore with the application of deionised cooling water the whole cooling system has to be designed with corrosion-resistant components (stainless steel, PVDF, EPDM). The control software enables a reliable and safe operation of the fuel cell drive at any time. Since 2005 a fully automated test vehicle with fuel cell drive is available. A redundant drive system with several fuel cells composed in a cluster increases the reliability and availability of the drive. Development, Integration and Testing of fuel cell based drive train in/into vehicles by an integrated service and support package, consisting of: - Development of the peripheral systems incl. power electronics and hydrogen supply; - Development of the safety system; - Development of the control software; - Integration of all components; - Test of all components and; - Test of the complete system. Advantages - Fully automated operation; - Redundant safety concept; - High reliability by redundant fuel cell systems - Demonstrator as a tested, non-rail-bound tram available - Potential target applications: all types of transport (street, rail, water)

Type of partner sought: industry/research area - Specific area of activity of the partner: development of any type of traffic systems or drives for traffic systems - Task to be performed: Provision of a complex application case in the current and potential application fields, competencies for a high-level co-operation