| Automotive technology
group Prodrive has developed a production-ready ECU specifically for the
control of hydrogen fuel cells as part of a programme part-funded by the
UK-government backed Technology Strategy Board.
The unit, called PP150, has been developed in conjunction with
fuel cell power systems company, Intelligent Energy, as part of a three-year
programme to develop fuel cells for real world applications.
The PP150 is being used to control a 50 kW fuel cell system developed
by Intelligent Energy. These units use proton exchange membrane technology,
making them robust to use in automotive applications.
One of the project’s aims was to ensure that the fuel cell could
be started at sub-zero temperatures. To meet these demands, the control
electronics went through a number of design iterations. Initial development
was carried out using Prodrive’s rapid prototyping ECU, UP200, which
has built-in Simulink compatibility. This enabled Intelligent Energy to
quickly develop its core algorithms and validate them on real world hardware.
Following this Prodrive developed a prototype ECU known as the DP200 which
included bespoke hardware for the fuel cell application but retained sufficient
flexibility to support development changes.
Once the hardware design was fixed, Prodrive developed the PP150 which
is a bespoke ECU suitable for volume production, with potential for a
price around £250 per unit.
|
TECHNOLOGY REVIEWS
Distributing brake
torque on a hybrid. A neural net for predicting emissions
from heavy-duty diesels. And rapid
fabrication using nickel electrodeposition on a stereolithography model.
Just some of the hidden
gems in our Technology Reviews. Click the words "brake",
"emissions" and
"rapid"
for quick access
Go through the Key Topics
on the left to find more Reviews on every subject
[BACK TO TOP]
|
