OTPA method-based contribution analysis of components on the vibration of fuel cell in fuel cell vehicles

Due to the introduction of auxiliary components in fuel cell vehicle powertrains and absence of internal combustion engine, the vibration sources and transfer paths are very different from conventional vehicles. These vibrations interact on the output performance of the fuel cell system. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the vibration characteristics of the fuel cell system under vehicle operating conditions. IPEK conducted vehicle measurements regarding different driving manoeuvres and environments. In order to quantitatively evaluate contributions of each vibration source on the total vibration of fuel cell, frequency-domain contribution was investigated based on Operational Transfer Path Analysis method with the singular value decomposition as well as principal component. The results of vibration in Z-direction in the vehicle coordinate system show that the hydrogen pump dominantly contributes to the vibration of fuel cell in a wide range of frequency in the majority of the driving manoeuvres. However, the results vary in various driving manoeuvres, environments and frequencies. The Paper will discuss in detail the vibrational contributions in X-, Y- and Z-direction.