Weight and Electrical Response Tradeoffs of PEMFC Hybrid Power Sources for APUs

(Abstract) This paper develops a method for sizing a lithium ion battery to be used with a polymer electrolyte fuel cell as an auxiliary power unit for ground power for commercial aircraft. First, the limitations on the transient performance of the fuel cell are discussed and demonstrated through simulation. Next, a means for sizing the battery to improve the power ramping rate and step load response of the hybrid source is demonstrated. Finally, possible future work is proposed.