2022 Volume 101 Issue 8 Pages 152-161
Hydrogen is a candidate of alternative fuels and evaluated for fuel cell (FC) applications. As a hydrogen storage system, metal hydride (MH) is attracting attention due to its high energy volume density and safety. To apply fuel cells and metal hydride to electrically power assisted bicycles, a previous study has evaluated load weight and power demand through experiments conducted on existing electrically power assisted bicycles. Focusing on such energy supply system, this study designs metal hydride cartridge and investigate temperature changing when exhaust heat from fuel cell is supplied to metal hydride, which release hydrogen with absorbing heat. First, the negative effect of the exhaust heat supply to the fuel cell on the fuel cell performance is investigated and we proposed the usage of method to mitigate the effect. Next, the structure of MH cartridge is designed from weight and volume of the MH cartridge and exhaust flow rate of the FC, and we proposed a structure in which multiple small cylinders are stacked. Finally, FC exhaust heat was supplied to the designed dummy cartridge, and the amount of heat supply according to the FC output and power generation time was evaluated.
