UA College of Engineering Fuel-Cell Auxiliary Power Unit Project Wins Award

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A truck mounted fuel-cell auxiliary power unit, developed by The University of Alabama College of Engineering in a partnership with the U.S. Army TACOM National Automotive Center, Ballard Power Systems, and Freightliner LLC, recently was awarded the Automotive Engineering International Tech 2003 Award for being one of the top technologies on display at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ World Congress in Detroit, Mich.

While on display at the SAE show, the environmentally-friendly auxiliary power unit, or APU, was producing power for various electrical components, including an air conditioning unit for the Class 8 Freightliner truck’s large sleeper cab.

The goal of the U.S. Army NAC collaboration project in developing a roadworthy fuel-cell APU is to optimize engine operation to improve overall efficiency and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. The University of Alabama’s Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies supports the fuel-cell APU partnership by providing noise and vibration analysis and system modeling.

“Since this is the first prototype fuel-cell APU to be installed on a heavy-duty truck, the harmful vibrations that could result from road conditions were a major concern,” explained Dr. Steve Shepard, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UA.

As a result, UA researchers have been analyzing different vibration isolation techniques and studying various vehicle arrangements to minimize the impact of the vibrations on the APU. Researchers at UA also are studying system integration issues of the truck-mounted APU by examining its potential impact on vehicle efficiency.

The prototype APU, which includes a Ballard Power Systems’ fuel-cell stack, generates power for onboard electronics and appliances.

The APU produces five kilowatts of electricity with an onboard power management system that delivers electricity to the truck’s system, which can then export electricity off the vehicle as standard household power. The current APU requires a mixture of methanol and water as fuel; future systems will operate on common commercial or military fuels, such as diesel or JP-8.

There are many advantages and benefits of using a fuel-cell APU to provide auxiliary power. Military vehicles often run at idle, utilizing powerful engines at their lowest efficiency point, to provide relatively small amounts of electrical power for communications equipment, sensors, vehicle readiness, command and control, and basic amenity applications.

Similarly, long-haul commercial trucks idle their engines to power sleeper cabin heating and air conditioning, as well as a variety of other accessories during non-driving operations. Depending on the application and season, commercial trucks can idle anywhere between 20-40 percent of the time.

Although little research has been conducted, it has been estimated that non-driving idling costs the commercial trucking industry nearly $2 billion per year in fuel costs alone. Truck engine idling also significantly increases vehicle emissions and noise levels.

These pollution and noise issues can be a major concern at truck stops where a large number of vehicles can be located within a small area. Many municipalities around the country have drafted anti-idling regulations. These regulations are expected to spread to other areas of the country and become more stringent in the future.

In addition to meeting these regulations, the reduced noise and emissions make the fuel-cell APU a prime candidate for applications where military personnel require a clean and quiet source of powers. As a result, fuel-cell APUs offer the military and the commercial trucking industry the potential to substantially reduce fuel usage, vehicle emissions, and maintenance costs, by more efficiently and cleanly meeting these power needs.

In a related project, which also involves the same group of NAC partners, UA College of Engineering researchers are examining how the performance of a fuel-cell APU can be further enhanced through component design and selection.

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.

Note to the Editor: To receive photos of the truck with the fuel-cell auxiliary power unit, contact Mary Wymer at 205/348-6444 or mwymer@coe.eng.ua.edu.