Control strategy of Fuel cell-Battery hybrid system for optimizing Lift truck load cycle

Material handle vehicles are irreplaceable and widely used in industry. In indoor operations and other conditions which have strict requirements, lift trucks, powered by lead acid batteries, dominates. The weaknesses of battery modules are a short working time and a long charging time which result in cost increase. The solution is the high efficiency, zero emission energy produced with fuel cell. In this article, an analyses and optimization of the Fuel Cell - Battery hybrid system were provided. For the specific application an optimal battery capacity and fuel cell stack power were determined. An optimum energy strategy has been defined for different operation cycles and working conditions. A numerical model of specific forklift powered by Fuel Cell - Battery hybrid system has been made and validate with available experimental data. Simulations have been made according to standard for different operating cycles and validated with an experimental data. Optimal battery size of 10 Ah and Fuel cell power of 11 kW is determined for 3-tonne forklift working according to VDI 60 load profile.