Pollution Free Operation of Rail Vehicle with Diesel Engine using Fuel Cell

Abstract

Presently, energy used in rail transportation is fossil in nature, in case of electric vehicle, electricity which is generated mostly from coal/gas while in diesel engine driven vehicle oil /gas. Fossil energy sources inherently suffers from disadvantages such as limited in nature, damage to environment due to exhaust of greenhouse gases, noise pollution etc. Fuel cell not only overcome above demerits of diesel engine but offer other advantages such as energy recovery during braking, better dynamic response. A feasibility study of use fuel cell in place of diesel engine is presented in this paper. It briefly discuss fuel cell operation, its suitability for transient energy requirement of transportation application, necessity of energy storage system, simulation of potential of recovery of energy during braking. Present status of technology of drives, power conditioning is reviewed and a circuit topology for conversion of existing diesel engine based vehicle into fuel cell system is presented. Advantages of fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) over conventional transportation vehicle is also discussed.