The fuel cell: MAHLE’s extensive expertise
- Supply and exhaust air path, thermal management, and power electronics
Supply and exhaust air drive thermal management and power electronics
The hydrogen-based vehicle powertrain has what it takes to play an important role in the future mobility mix. It’s a good thing that MAHLE has more than ten years of experience in this field and supplies renowned international manufacturers with fuel cell products.
MAHLE’s hydrogen experts are already working on projects for future generations of fuel cell vehicles. In this field, MAHLE can make full use of its expertise in filtration, thermal and air management, and power electronics.
Lightweight solutions for the heavyweights
Today, it’s clear that hydrogen powertrains are highly suited for commercial vehicles.
These vehicles account for around one third of the transportation sector’s total CO2 emissions.
Battery drives present major challenges to long-distance hauling trucks, partly because of their weight and charging times. By contrast, hydrogen storage systems are “comparatively” light and simply have to be refilled, like the tank of a combustion engine vehicle.
Fuel cells and hydrogen engines are thus ideal for carbon-neutral long-distance hauling or even international freight transportation.
Lots to control
Fuel cells must be precisely controlled and monitored during operation. The quantity, humidity, and purity of the supplied air are just as important as the temperature of the hydrogen supply.
MAHLE offers all the necessary components for controlling and monitoring fuel cells and is continuously developing them further.
MAHLE is thus well acquainted with the fuel cell and its requirements—an important prerequisite for providing the workshops with knowledge and equipment later on.
Two in one
The water balance of a fuel cell significantly affects its efficiency and service life. The fuel cell contains a membrane that must be kept optimally moist in order to prevent damage.
For this purpose, MAHLE has developed a fuel cell air humidifier. This humidifier, combined with a charge air cooler, is available as a module. The cooler cools the compressed air before it is fed into the humidifier. In turn, the humidifier uses the water produced in the fuel cell to moisten the incoming air before it reaches the fuel cell.
Purity as a top priority
Fuel cells contain platinum as a catalyst. However, harmful gases and undesirable particles continuously reduce the catalytic effect of the platinum layer.
The air supplied should therefore be extremely pure in order to preserve the expensive metal. Filtration thus plays a critical role in the fuel cell.
MAHLE has developed standardized air filter solutions, which reliably protect the cell against harmful gases and particles. The filter medium consists of several layers:
- A substrate material makes the filter mechanically stable.
- A filter layer blocks 99.9 percent of unwanted particles.
- A molecular layer prevents ammonia from entering the fuel cell.
- An activated carbon layer absorbs unwanted hydrocarbons.
- And an additional, specially impregnated activated carbon layer stops sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen oxides from reaching the cell.
These features ensure the fuel cell can operate over the entire service life of a vehicle and give fuel cell technology a significant boost toward suitability for large-scale production.
Meeting the highest requirements for the fuel cell and for your interior
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Structurally, the filter medium of the MAHLE air filter solutions for the fuel cell is similar to that of the MAHLE CareMetix® filter.
With its S5 broadband technology, the filter keeps out just about everything in the air supply that could enter the vehicle cabin: ultrafine particles such as diesel soot, brake dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and even exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.
And it works: not just in the laboratory, but also on the road—tried and tested in everyday conditions!
High investments in tomorrow’s powertrains
About a year ago, MAHLE set up a new 1,400-square-meter test center at its location in Stuttgart/Germany for the further development of hydrogen applications.
Around EUR 2 million have been invested in this project, and further expansion is planned. Where in the past only conventional combustion engines were tested, there are now test benches on which not only fuel cell components are tested, but also engines that run almost emission-free on hydrogen.
Besides the fuel cell, the hydrogen engine is another type of hydrogen drive with great potential. Essentially, it is a reciprocating piston engine powered by hydrogen instead of diesel, gasoline, or natural gas—with zero CO2 emissions.