Development of an FCV with a New FC Stack for Improved Cold Start Capability Nissan Motor Company,Ltd

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Ikezoe, Ikezoe, author.

Contributor:

Kagami, Fumio

Nishimura, Hidetaka

Tabuchi, Yuichiro

Conference Name:

SAE 2010 World Congress & Exhibition (2010-04-13 : Detroit, Michigan, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2010

Summary:

To promote widespread use of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), furtherimprovement of cold start capability is required for operation invarious extreme temperature regions all over the world.Sub-freezing, cold start issues of fuel cells must be resolvedthrough gaining a better understanding of the physical phenomenataking place in a cell during cold start and by elucidating themechanisms hindering cold startup.Nissan has improved its understanding of the physical phenomenaoccurring in a fuel cell (FC) during cold startup by alaboratory-scale FC experiment at subfreezing temperatures and anumerical calculation that expresses various transport processes ina fuel cell, including those of the reactant gases, water,electrons and heat. The results have identified several necessaryconditions for mass transport in a cell during cold startup and thefactors that limit and govern the phenomena involved. For example,the ice formation rate in the cathode catalyst layer, which has apronounced effect on cold start performance, is substantiallyinfluenced by the product water uptake potential and uptake rate ofthe polymer membrane. It has also been found that the ice formationrate varies significantly depending on the physical properties andinitial water content of the membrane, load, temperature and otherfactors.These findings have been used to improve fuel cell materials andto develop a new 2008 model FC stack that possesses ample coldstart capability without having any negative impact on otherperformance attributes such as durability. Test results obtainedwith an improved X-TRAIL FCV equipped with this new stack haveverified its cold start capability from -20°C and drivingperformance under subfreezing conditions at the Hokkaido ProvingGrounds in Japan.Finally, this paper also touches on some issues that will arisein the future in connection with demands for lower cost FCVs andmentions possible approaches to resolving them

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

2010-01-1093

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license