NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th TECHNICAL AND ECONOMICAL STUDY ABOUT THE INTEREST IN USING PEMFC SYSTEMS TO FEED STAND ALONE RAILWAY EQUIPMENTS Eric PINTON (1), Laurent ANTONI (1), Marc ANTONI (2) (1) CEA (2) SNCF NHA 2010 May 4 th, 2010 Long Beach, California, USA

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th INTRODUCTION  Fuel Cell technology is believed by the French National railway company “SNCF” as a potential technology to feed stand alone railway equipments of fixed facilities  In order to enhance this interest, a technical and economical study was carried out. The investigation compares 3 types of energetic systems dedicated to stand alone applications: Fuel cells, Photovoltaic, battery.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th INPUTS and SPECIFICATION  Main railway equipment inputs : –Equipments with continuous energy consumption : 3 to 50 W (250 W maxi with cumulated equipments) –Equipments with discontinuous energy consumption (during train crossing): o5 to 1000 W (1850 W maxi with cumulated equipments) o5 to 90 sec o10 times per day –Voltage : principally 24 V DC, 230 V AC  Main technical specification : –Assure the energy continuity of railway equipments with no maintenance during 18 months → Is there a FC system able to respond to this requirement ?

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th FLUIDIC ACHITECTURE OF AIR PEMFC  Standard fluidic architecture of an air PEMFC : –Complex, many components → not reliable: failure rate ≈ 3 per year for a continuous working (Gerbec et al, int. JHE, 2008). → Not in accordance with specifications. → System simplification is required.  Simplified fluidic architecture of an air PEMFC : –Possible with PEMFC ≈ kW. –Cooling line : controlled air convection. –Air line : Dry air, P ≈ P atm –H 2 line : dead end. → failure rate of the FC system ↓ but life time of MEAs ↓ too (Ballard : 4000 h versus 8000 h). → Not in accordance with specifications. → Appropriate electrical architecture is required.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th ELECTRICAL ACHITECTURE  Solution : add a battery between the FC and the railway equipments. → Battery is recharged periodically by FC → FC operating time ↓. → Energy continuity with equipments is ensured by the battery.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th HYPOTHESIS AND MODEL FOR HYBRID FC SYSTEM SIZING  Battery sizing: –Lead acid technology is considered. –Battery capacity is calculated for a 1 day battery life at the severest conditions: I Max et -20°C and for a maximal DOD of 50%. –Maximal current confirmation : oI max Discharge < 1 C oI max Recharge < 0,1 C and readjustment of the capacity to respect the criteria. –Self discharge is taken into account.  FC sizing: –Battery is recharged each day during 10 h. –FC efficiency is supposed to be constant at rated conditions.  H 2 storage sizing: –H 2 amount must supply the FC and recharge the battery during 18 months

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th HYPOTHESIS AND MODEL FOR PV SYSTEM SIZING  Battery sizing: –Identical to FC system except for the battery capacity which is assessed to the maximal day number without sun.  PV sizing: –The model calculates the energy amount available in the battery as a function of time (hourly scale), from hourly climatic data and from PV modules, converter and battery features. Number of modules required is determined such as no failure of the energy supplying occurs during 18 months. Strategy of the energy management Time (h) Useful battery energy (Wh)

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th HYPOTHESIS AND MODEL FOR BATTERY SYSTEM SIZING  Battery sizing: –Identical to PV system sizing except for the number of PV modules which is equal to 0. Time (h) Useful battery energy (Wh)

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th ECONNOMICAL MODEL AND HYPOTHESIS  Basic model:  Cost and life time applied to components are mainly the ones from 2015 UE or DOE targets.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th OUPUTS FOR LEVEL CROSSING EQUIPEMENTS  Stack power is relatively low (  100 W) because battery is the power supplier (1850 W max) and H 2 is the energy supplier.  Cost of the Hybrid FC system is mainly due to battery (55%) then hydrogen storage (33%) and FC system (12 %).  An hybrid Fuel Cell systems can be competitive in comparison to photovoltaic systems, especially in the North of France.  Battery system alone require a huge storage capacity which is not in accordance with size and cost criteria.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th CONCLUSIONS  A Fuel Cell system coupled with battery: –can technically answer to French railway facility constraints applied to stand alone conditions. –can be competitive in comparison to photovoltaic system.  Battery system alone require a huge storage capacity which is not in accordance with size and cost criteria.  Next step: Prototype manufacturing to bring the demonstration that an Hybrid Fuel Cell system can assure the energy continuity with no maintenance during 18 months.

NHA 2010, Long Beach, California, USA E. PINTON May 4th This work has been supported by the French national railway company “SNCF” Thank you for your attention! ACKOWLEDGEMENTS