Hybrid Storage System: An Optimization Case

The paper deals with the study of an original on-board power system that combines battery, ultracapacitors (UCs) and a Fuel Cell. The project was funded by the Italian Government in the framework of the new Hydrogen Research Project and is conceived as the first step of a project involving ENEA, (Italian National Agency for New Technology, Energy and Environment, and University of Rome “Roma 3”, aimed at developing a Fuel Cell-powered drive train, for a city-car. It foresees the realization of the drive train in a prototype version, powered by a 5 kW DeNora Fuel Cell, and its testing beside the ENEA laboratories in Casaccia. The report highlights the storage system design phase, emphasising the role that ultracapacitors could fulfill in a near future thanks to their peculiar characteristics, and point at an optimisation method, based on the “simplesso method”, for the technical and economic sizing of such a hybrid storage system.