Elementary Investigation into Road Simulation Experiment of Powertrain and Components of Fuel Cell Passenger Car

It is very important to investigate how road irregularity excitation will affect the durability, reliability, and performance degradation of fuel cell vehicle powertrain and its key components, including the electric motor, power control unit, power battery package and fuel cell engine system. There are very few published literatures in this research area. In this paper, an elementary but integrated experimental work is described, including the real road load sample on proving ground, road load reproduction on vibration test rig, total vehicle road simulation test and key components vibration tests. Remote parameter control technology is adopted to reproduce the real road load on road simulator and six-degree-of-freedom vibration table, which is used respectively for total vehicle and components vibration tests. After the total vehicle vibration test, vehicle driving performance and fuel economy are regularly measured on chassis dynamometer to validate powertrain system degradation resulting from vibration. Structural damage of vehicle body structure and components are observed to evaluate structure strength and operation malfunction of powertrain system. Key components are noted and statistically analyzed to validate the powertrain system reliability under the circumstance of vibration. The systematic experiment process and validation method help to improve the durability, reliability and life of fuel cell vehicle, powertrain and its key components.