Fuel cell hybrid powertrains for use in Southern Italian railways

This paper analyses the use of a fuel cell hybrid powertrain for different uses on rail. Four vehicles are numerically tested on suitable tracks. The implemented model calculates the vehicle power demand, starting from track altitude, train speed and vehicle characteristics. For each track, a powertrain composed of a fuel cell system and an energy storage system, battery and/or supercapacitor, is used, suitable for the purpose. Each component is modelled separately and is validated. It should be underlined that the whole system is validated, by means of experimental data found in the literature. A comparison analysis between the simulation results is done: the H2 consumption varies between 5 kg/cycle and 160 kg/cycle, according to the track energy consumption, while the fuel cell efficiency is between 50% and 47%, since the fuel cell works at different power rates.