Introduction
Heavy-duty vehicles, off-road machinery, maritime systems, and stationary industrial plants – including those used in defense applications – place particularly high demands on drive systems. The requirements include high continuous power output, extreme load profiles, long operating times, and limited infrastructure.
Hydrogen is emerging as a key technology for decarbonizing these use cases in the long term, without compromising availability or performance. Purely battery-electric concepts are increasingly reaching their physical and economic limits in these fields of application.
Two Technological Approaches to Hydrogen Utilization
Two technological approaches have emerged for the use of hydrogen: the hydrogen internal combustion engine (H₂ ICE) and the fuel cell drive (FCEV) . While these approaches differ technically, they often address similar requirements in terms of system design, control, and validation.
Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H₂ ICE): The Evolution of a Proven Concept
The hydrogen internal combustion engine brings proven engine concepts into the hydrogen age. By burning hydrogen in the cylinder, existing engine platforms as well as production and service infrastructures can continue to be used without major modifications.
The H₂ ICE offers key advantages, particularly in applications involving high continuous loads, challenging operating profiles, and long service lives: It is scalable, robust, and technologically proven. At the same time, the use of hydrogen presents new challenges. These include, in particular, tailored strategies for mixture formation, ignition, and emissions control – especially with regard to NOₓ reduction – which must be validated early in the development process.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell (FCEV) : Electric and Efficient
Fuel cell systems electrochemically convert hydrogen into electrical energy, thereby enabling local emission-free and quiet operation. Especially in the heavy-duty and long-haul sectors, they open up new degrees of freedom in drive architecture.
At the same time, however, the complexity of the system is increasing significantly. The stack, air, hydrogen, and water paths, as well as water and thermal management and the electrical integration with the battery and electric drive, must be precisely coordinated. Overall performance depends largely on robust control and the interaction of all subsystems.
Challenges on the Path to Series Production Readiness
Regardless of the technology chosen, both approaches face similar challenges that often only become apparent when the subsystems interact:
- Increasing system complexity
- Sophisticated control strategies
- Integration of peripherals and energy management
- Validation under realistic operating conditions
In a real-world system, these interactions can only be studied at great expense and with significant risk. As a result, simulation-based development approaches are becoming increasingly important.
Simulation as the Key to Industrialization
Virtual development methods are indispensable today for efficiently bringing hydrogen drives into series production. Model-based development enables an early understanding of the system, the validation of control strategies, and the targeted analysis of boundary cases, long before the first prototypes are available. This helps shorten development times and significantly reduce risks. Software-in-the-loop (SIL) and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) play a central role in this process.
From Simulation to the Real System: SIL and HIL
The combination of ASM simulation models with SIL and HIL testing makes it possible to validate control units, control algorithms, and entire systems under realistic operating conditions – even before the complete hardware is available. Errors are detected early, iterations are shortened, and development risks are reduced.
dSPACE Simulation Models for Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines
Simulation of H₂ ICE using dSPACE ASM Engine offers:
- Tried-and-true engine models
- Flexible parameterization
- Support for various hydrogen injection strategies
- Simulation of exhaust aftertreatment for NOₓ reduction
Realistic and validated models are created based on measurement data, enabling the early validation of complex operating strategies.
dSPACE Simulation Models for Fuel Cell Systems
dSPACE ASM Fuel Cell enables detailed modeling of proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems, including:
- Stack
- Air, hydrogen, and water management
- Peripherals and system control
This enables a realistic analysis and optimization of the interaction between all subsystems, from the design of individual components to the validation of the overall control system.
Conclusion: Simulation for Successful Hydrogen Drives
Both hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines and fuel cell systems will play a key role in energy-intensive applications in the future. The technology used depends heavily on the specific scenario.
However, both approaches can only be successfully brought into series production through a consistent, simulation-based development process. High-performance system models, combined with SIL and HIL methods, help manage complexity, shorten development times, and reliably validate innovative hydrogen drives.
