Industrial Robots Fuel Cell Based Hybrid Power-Trains: A Comparison between Different Configurations

Electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular. One of the most promising possible solutions is one where a hybrid powertrain made up of a FC (Fuel Cell) and a battery is used. This type of vehicle offers great autonomy and high recharging speed, which makes them ideal for many industrial applications. In this work, three ways to build a hybrid power-train are presented and compared. To illustrate this, the case of an industrial robot designed to move loads within a fully automated factory is used. The analysis and comparison are carried out through different objective criteria that indicate the power-train performance in different battery charge levels. The hybrid configurations are tested using real power profiles of the industrial robot. Finally, simulation results show the performance of each hybrid configuration in terms of hydrogen consumption, battery and FC degradation, and dc bus voltage and current regulation.