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RWTH Aachen University is one of the leading technical universities in Germany. It employs 564 professors, 2.200 scientific staff members and 2.100 non-scientific employees. In 2018, 45.256 students were taught in 158 courses of study in the fields of medicine, humanities, social and economic sciences, mathematics, computer and natural sciences, and engineering sciences; the number of graduates was 7.164. RWTH Aachen University’s wide reach is reflected in the 17 % of students from other federal states (not NRW) and the 20 % of students from abroad. The quality of teaching is ensured by a comprehensive quality management system.
The high innovation potential and the high level of research and development are ensured by strategic orientations and interdisciplinary cooperation, for example in profile areas, Clusters of Excellence and various centres. Recently, RWTH Aachen University was repeatedly successful in the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments; in the course of this initiative, it is addressing the major challenges facing our society in three Clusters of Excellence.
The Institute for Combustion Engines (VKA) at RWTH Aachen University is led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Pischinger and concentrates on all issues relating to the mobile powertrain. In many different projects, the VKA has acquired a high level of expertise in the area of classic internal combustion engine but also hybrid drives, batteries and fuel cells. VKA has sufficient experience in the field of fuel cell research. For more than 20 years, VKA has carried out several projects regarding fuel cells in the domains of simulation and the testing. With regards to the entire vehicle powertrain layout, several topologies for fuel cell systems are developed and examined by VKA with the main focus on full and plug-in hybrids as well as range extender concepts. Besides the fuel cell itself, VKA focuses the fuel cell system and the individual components of the system. In order to operate the fuel cell system most efficiently with respect to lifetime and energy demand, the hydrogen supply, air supply and thermal management are considered concerning mechanical setup and optimal operating strategy.
VKA has rich experience by increasing operating time of fuel cell systems in different projects. In the project FC system simulation – membrane water management at 2017, a modular simulation architecture for fuel cell systems was developed and then applied in developing operating strategies to extend the life time of the FC system. In the project X-EMU (2017-2020), a high-performance fuel cell power train was developed. Reducing the degradation of the fuel cell system is one of the main targets in this project. By combining experiments at test benches and simulations with 1-D and 3-D models, the aging mechanism of the fuel cell system was analyzed and a new control strategy was developed by VKA.
VKA has high performance hardware test benches and experimental equipment. At the affiliated Center for Mobile Propulsion (CMP), laboratory facilities are available for testing fuel cells, components of fuel cell systems and large fuel cell systems. Furthermore, Hardware in the Loop (HiL) testing of electric machines can also be carried out. Detailed information about CMP is available in the section of “Description of significant infrastructures” below.
In this project, VKA will be responsible for WP1.4 and develop a maintenance scheduler concept to increase the operational time of coaches. In the course of this working package, VKA takes benefits from its fuel cell researching experience, related project experience and professional test benches. A new maintenance scheduler concept will be developed using predictive maintenance functionalities and state-of-health indicators, which enables early detection of faulty system operation and wear. Depending on the error source, the maintenance scheduler will enable countermeasures which could be a changed operating strategy or a workshop service.
