Integrated auxiliary drives for fuel cell vehicles

Fuel cell cost and dynamic response are the major limitations for automotive commercialization. Fuel cell dynamic response depends on the auxiliary supporting components such as air blower and the fluid pumps. An integrated motor drive utilizes the vehicle battery for starting the fuel cell, and unregulated fuel cell stack voltage for normal running operation. The integrated motor drive for the cathode air blower and water pump offers fast dynamic response, efficient operations, and cost effective and compact integrated system solutions for vehicle integration. The fast dynamic response and feed forward control allows the fuel cell power plant to be load following for maximum vehicle system efficiency and energy balance with transparent transitions and operation from auxiliary to unregulated fuel cell stack voltage.