Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/seta

Investigation and simulation of electric train utilizing hydrogen fuel cell

and lithium-ion battery
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh a, *, S. Panchal b, E. Samadani b, K. Raahemifar c, a, d, M. Fowler a,
R. Fraser b
a
Chemical Engineering Departments, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
b
Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering Department, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada
c
College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Program, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania, PA 16801,
United States
d
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoud 123, Muscat, Oman

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This article includes a sensitivity analysis of a rolling stock hydrogen hybrid powertrain using different power
Lithium-ion battery splitting scenarios based on the load’s frequency contents. The model used for this purpose mimics the dynamics
Fuel cell of a hydrogen hybrid powertrain from the component scale. The simulated powertrain consists of five different
Mathematical modelling
subsystems including the lithium-ion battery, hydrogen fuel cell, vehicle dynamics, power split, and high-level
Hydrogen hybrid powertrain
Hydrail
controller. As a novel case study, utilizing a customised frequency based power splitting scenario, a real-
world load profile is observed throughout an implemented observer subsystem. The duty cycle is extracted
based on the real world drive cycles of the current Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) which are currently running in
the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ontario, Canada. The model and its submodules are implemented in the
MATLAB Simulink. As a result, the sensitivity of the system to the frequency content of the drive cycle were
assessed in terms of different parameters such as simulated power, voltage, temperature, and state of charge
(SOC). As a conclusion, different scenarios are compared based on the level of their fidelity to the other related
researches.

transportation sector represents a congestion-free transportation op­

Introduction
Nowadays, transportation sector encounters a globally serious
challenge. Excessive fossil fuel consumption pathways, belong to the
transportation sector, are became the main concern for those global
warming environmentalists, who believe in a relation between the car­
bon footprint and the global warming [1]. Assuming such inconvenient
truth to be true [1], criterion pollutants are emitted by the fossil fuel
engines, are believed to be the principal cause of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emission which is the main reason for the emergence of the concept of
alternative fuel in transportation sector [2]. Renewables are alternatives
which can improve the energy sector in terms sustainability, economy,
and conservation. Prevalent alternatives are biodiesel, natural gas,
propane, hydrogen, ethanol, etc. [3].
Rolling stocks, as an approved class of transportation sector, are
basically representing the best advantages in terms of economic, envi­
ronment, social, and energy intensity. Occasionally, the rail
portunity with high levels of safety. These options are concurrently
along with a reduced emission generation as well as better per passenger
fuel intensity. As the other option, the land used per traffic portion is
more reasonable for this sector. Rail transportation is almost utilized in
freight applications. However, three modes of rolling stocks are used in
today’s transportation sector which are unit trains, carloads as well as
intermodal mode [3].
In terms of life cycle assessment of rail transportation sector,
distinctive numerical methodologies are utilized in train modeling and
environmental risk calculations. Hydrogen seems to be praised in the
heavy-duty cycle transportation sector amongst the other alternatives
[4]. These kinds of studies have proved that the independent powered
(hydrogen hybrid electric) heavy-duty long/short haul rolling stocks
compelling benefits over the catenary overheads. These types of rolling
stocks are easily extendable, visually attractive, operational during
power outage, and free of impact on their environments. In October
2017, the first prototype of hydrogen Light Rail Vehicle (LRV) unveiled

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mhajiakh@uwaterloo.ca (M. Haji Akhoundzadeh).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2021.101234
Received 1 August 2020; Received in revised form 13 February 2021; Accepted 1 April 2021
Available online 23 April 2021
2213-1388/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Nomenclature ANL Argonne national laboratory

CD Charge depleting
T Temperature [◦ C or K] CS Charge sustaining
I Current [A] CARB California Air Resources Board
V Voltage [V] DC Direct current
T Time [s] DMU Diesel Multiple Unit
R Resistance (Ω) GHG Green house gas
V0 Thermodynamic equilibrium overpotential (V) IIR infinite impulse response filters
η Activation overvoltage (V) MEA Membrane electrode assembly
rM membrane resistance MATLAB Matrix laboratory
EV Electric vehicle
Subscripts ESS Energy storage system
act actual FFT Fast Fourier Transform
oc open circuit FCPM Fuel Cell Power Module
ohm Ohmic FDPS Frequency domain power splitting
Superscripts GTA Greater Toronto area
◦
C Degree centigrade GDL Gas diffusion layer
Elec Electronic HEL Hybrid electric locomotive
Pro Proton HPPC Hybrid pulse power characterization
LRT Light rail transit
Greek Symbol OCV Open circuit potential or voltage
Ω Ohm PHEV Plug-In hybrid electric vehicle
ξ Summation constants in Butler-Volmer equations. PEMFC Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells
λ Fitting parameter SOC State of charge
SOFC Solid oxide fuel cell
Acronyms UPE Union Pearson express
AC Alternating current

by the China Tangshan railway [5]. The LRV was powered by a pack of
150 kW fuel cell which was working in parallel with packages of battery
and ultracapacitors. A 12 kg of hydrogen thank was supporting the
LRVs’ 40 km range in each trip of 15 min. Additionally, the line has 4
stations as well as a 100 kg capacity refuelling station.
So far, four types of rolling stocks are available to be electrified with
hydrogen fuel cells, as a range extender. The four groups are the com­
muters and regional trains, the shunt/switch locomotives, the mining
locomotives, and the line haul locomotives. Alstom’s first DMU is a good
example for the commuter and regional types of trains [6]. Its flexible
hybrid energy storage system is integrated with a unique energy man­
agement platform which provides a comparable operational perfor­
mance compare to the baseline fossil fueled DMU. With a similar
passenger, acceleration, and braking capacity to the baseline DMU, this
hydrail vehicle can reach the speed of 140 km/h [7]. Shunt/switch lo­
comotives are those types of locomotives which are providing services in
rail yards to move rail cars over the yard and assembling or disassem­
bling trains to make them ready for trips. These locomotives need to
provide high torques at low power regimes. Since these types of rolling
stocks generates huge amounts of pollutions, hydrogenised shunt loco­
motives are the most interesting options as they are zero local emissions
with zero noises. The first prototype of these types was implemented by
Miller in 2007 to support a peak power of 600–1000 kW for a few mi­
nutes of drive cycle [8]. Since 55% of the drive cycle of the hydrail
switcher was idling time and also because of the short period of the peak
time in its drive cycles, the mean power band for this hydrail vehicle was
calculated between 40 and 100 kW. Regarding to the third category,
different regulations are enacted in mines which makes using vehicles
for mining purposes challenging. For example, in coal mines, because of
the chance of explosion, the surface temperatures should be lower than
150 ◦ C. So, the conventional kinds of powertrains for this application,
which are tethered, diesel, and battery powered powertrains, should not
be considered as clean, safe, or efficient solutions to be utilized in such
closed environments [9]. In this context, hydrail technology offers a
reliable option for the mining industry which was the world’s first
hydrail platform with the application in mining and is implemented by
Valicek and Fourie [10]. They used metal hydride hydrogen storage
technology to store 3.5 kg of hydrogen with the refuelling pressure of
15–20 bar and the refuelling time of 20 min. The hydrail’s fuel cell
package generates 50 kWh output of electrical energy. During the
refuelling progress in the mine, a customised cooling technique was
designed to reduce the risk of explosion and to satisfy the mine regu­
lation [10]. In terms of duty cycle, there is a difference between the line
haul rolling stocks and shunt/switchers. The peak power in switchers is
more frequent with large load variation, instead, the switchers have
constant but with extended time duty cycles. The power ranges for
switchers are always below 750 kW which is always up to 3700 kW for
the line haul freight locomotives. Since most of the line haul rolling
stocks are equipped with diesel-electric traction systems, the replace­
ment of their traction system with a fuel cell traction powertrain does
not require a complete redesign. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) has a
good advantage [11] which makes them a strong candidate, based on
California Air Resources Board (CARB) report [12] for the interstate line
haul rolling stock market. A research by Martinez [12] investigated the
feasibility of implementation of SOFC locomotives and ended up with
the claim that implementing a line haul hydrail locomotive with desir­
able efficiency and favorable dynamic is feasible. However, imple­
menting a feasible prototype of these types of locomotives requires more
technological development [12].
Commuters and regional trains are the most paid attention groups of
rolling stocks in terms of hybridization with hydrogen. Simulation and
modeling with different goals have been the way of approach of diverse
research studies [13–15]. Hogerwaard [16] proposed a model which
thermodynamically approximated the efficiency and environmental
impact of hydrogen hybrid commuters. In that study, the performance of
hydrogen hybrid rolling stock was compared against the conventional
diesel electric-powered trains. In the study, efficiencies were calculated
based on energy and exergy rules. As another study, Hoffrichter [17]
proposed a model of a fuel cell powertrain for a hybrid commuters. The
powertrain utilized compressed hydrogen in two distinct pressure of 350

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M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al.
Fig. 1. Modeling strategy during the simulation [7′ ].
and 700 bar. The pressurized hydrogen was assumed to be reserved in
metal-hydride tanks. As a result, they concluded that the hybrid
hydrogen rolling stock is 34% more efficient than the conventional
baseline which was a diesel-electric rolling stock. Abdelrahman [18]
implemented a model of a train using power demand datasets were
logged from Bombardier’s train’s throttles. The simulation was carried
on for powertrain with an average power demand of 40 kW. The
hydrogen consumption and tank dimensions were characterized by
different energy storage scenarios. The prototype was implemented for
the first time ever in the North America and it turned out that the pro­
totype can be scaled up for any transit platform in the world. Din [19]
developed a hydrail model to analyze energy consumption as well as life
cycle GHG emission generation. In their study, a British class 150 con­
ventional diesel-powered train was chosen as the baseline and the cal­
culations performed based on the train’s specification. A comparison
was reported on the GHG emission and energy consumption rates of two
different hydrogen powertrains. The first powertrain was a hydrogen-
only fed powertrain and the other was the hydrogen hybrid power­
train. As a result, 44% energy consumption reduction was observed for
the hydrogen-only powertrain and 60% consumption reduction
approximated for the modeled hydrogen-hybrid train. It was also shown
that in hydrogen-only powertrain, downstream carbon-dioxide emission
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234
was reduced by 59%, which was 18% lower than the CO2 reduction
taking place in their simulated hydrogen-hybrid powertrain. The emis­
sion consumption reduction of 77% was observed in the last powertrain.
Washing [20] simulated the energy demand and emission production of
two different powertrains. Hydrogen-electric and conventional diesel-
electric powertrains. He showed that the hydrogen hybrid powertrain
is 34% more efficient than the conventional diesel-electric light rail
trains. The results of the simulations are also indicated that the
hydrogen-hybrid trains are technically feasible to run on the Blue Line
Extension light rail transit (LRT) platform in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Preliminary simulation of the S70 electric train as the baseline which
was working on the Blue Line Extension tracks set up the initials for the
development of the conceptualized hydrogen-hybrid locomotives.
However, the output of the conceptually designed train was then
compared with the baseline.
According to the brief literature introduction, it turned out that the
hydrogen and hydrogen hybrid powertrain concept is technically rele­
vant in rolling stock application. To develop an end-to-end designing
platform and implement the technology on a customized scale, a
designing scenario should be created both in theoretical and practical
levels. A system model of a hydrogen locomotive is developed in this
study. The model consists of five different subsystems which are
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al.
Fig. 2. Baseline topology representing one bogie of the UP Express DMUs.
explained in detail in the next sections of the paper. The aim of this study
is to approximate energy consumption as a response to the dynamic of
the load. As a contribution, a frequency power splitting strategy is
implemented at the high-level control scale to generate diverse power
splitting modes and distribute it between the components.
Modeling scenario
A mathematical model of a hybrid electric locomotive with a
hydrogen fuel cell as an onboard range extender is developed. Fig. 1
indicates the modeling scenario during the simulation [21]. The model
is constructed based on the subsystems available in the commercial
software AUTONOMIE. For those subsystems which the software is not
offering proper options, the subsystem is customised and integrated to
the model. The model consists of five different subsystems, which are
mechanical power demand estimation subsystem, battery subsystem,
fuel cell subsystem, high-level control subsystem, and power splitting
subsystem. In mechanical power demand estimation subsystem, which
is called the observer, a baseline model of the mechanical power con­
structed according to the baseline topology shown in Fig. 2.
After validating the resulted power demand, the output power was
applied to the battery and fuel cell subsystems to evaluate the dynamics
of the two subsystems according to the input load coming from the
observer. Owing to the drive cycle frequency content, applying entire
frequency content to the fuel cell is not applicable as the starvation
happens in the fuel cell membrane. To avoid such a significant issue, a
power management scenario was implemented in the model to split the
demanded duty cycle due to the applied drive cycle’s frequency content.
To control the power management dynamics to follow the power com­
mands with regards to the different cost functions, such as the battery
SOC, the sensitivity of each subsystem to the frequency of the applied
load seems would be the first and mandatory step. So, a rule-based
power management control subsystem is implemented and introduced
in this research which can control the flow of the power between
different subsystems. Following, the different subsystems as well as the
outputs of the sensitivity analysis are explained in detail.
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234
Subsystems
Battery
A hybrid electric commuter (HEC) has three phases of operation with
respect to the flow of energy in battery pack and other parts of the en­
ergy system. The phases include Charge sustaining (CS), charge
depleting (CD), and idling. During the HEC idling, depending on the
location, the trainset can supply its energy demand using the station’s
infrastructure or it’s battery packs. In this mode, the battery pack can
experience either CS or CD depending on its SOC. In CD mode, a HEL is
drawing current throughout its battery package. In CS mode, the loco­
motive should be able to compensate the other two modes of its motion.
This mode of the locomotive’s motion defines the degree of hybridiza­
tion with different embodiments. From the battery package side and
based on its control strategy, once the battery SOC is reached to its
minimum level, the mode should be switched to the CS. In this mode, the
current vector is changed to the opposite direction and the battery
started to be charged.
To simulate the battery response in the HEL embodiment in this
research and to develop the battery pack empirical model, 20Ah lithium-
ion pouch cells were assumed to be the main components of the battery
pack. The main scenario for the battery pack sizing for hydrogen hybrid
rolling stocks were explained in our previous study [21]. An accurate
model is needed for these 20Ah battery packs to be utilized as an
observer in the developed model. Collecting empirical battery data
through standard reference performance tests such as hybrid pulse
power characteristic (HPPC) is the first stage in modeling the battery
dynamics [22,23]. The HPPC test is shown in Fig. 3. The experimental
progress of testing the battery packs, online estimation as well as offline
calculation and the comparison and validation with different drive cy­
cles, was published in another study of our group [24]. The Gen 1.5 20
Ah lithium-ion prismatic cells were chosen as the main components.
These batteries contain lithium–iron-phosphate cathode chemistry
which is intrinsically safer than lithium cobalt chemistries due to the
stronger phosphorous oxygen bond. The cell has a nominal voltage of
3.24 V with a maximum and minimum cut off voltage of 3.6 V and 2.0 V,
respectively. It is rated for a maximum 10-second discharge pulse of
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Fig. 4. Open circuit voltage of 20Ah cell.

that cell power, specifically the discharge power, is a strong function of

the cell’s temperature. The large increases in internal resistance that
occur as the temperature drops below 10 ◦ C significantly limit the power
of the cold-temperature power cell. However, these results illustrate the
importance of the operating temperature on the battery performance.

Hydrogen fuel cell

The Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) modeled in this
study is composed of three components which are the Membrane Elec­
trode Assembly (MEA), Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL), and bipolar plates. In
the fuel cell, collectors are the connection to the external load while the
end plates provide the strength which is protecting the stack through
mechanical compression [25]. Theoretically, the model is a polarization
curve to evaluate the voltage of the cell in terms of current is:
V = V0 − ηact − ηohmic (1)
In this equation, the V0 referred to as thermodynamic equilibrium
overpotential. To calculate this overpotential, Nernst equation might
become the best solution [26].
RT ( )0.5
V 0 = E0 − ln[p*H2 p*O2 ] (2)
nF
This overvoltage is the voltage drop happened due to the kinetics of
the reaction. The kinetic of hydrogen at the anode is comprehensively
faster than the kinetics of oxygen at the cathode [26]. In (1), the term
ηact, activation overvoltage, is also calculated as a sum equation (3)
Fig. 3. HPPC test. which is derived as a lumped summation of different Butler-Volmer
equations [27].

Table 1 ηact = ξ1 + ξ2 T + ξ3 [lnCO* 2 ] + ξ4 T[ln(i)] (3)

Specifications for A123 20Ah Li-ion cell.
The last term of the polarization equation is the ohmic resistance
Specification Value Unit
which is the resistance of proton transfer in the membrane and electron
Capacity 20.0 Ah transfer in the electrodes and collector plates. This overpotential is
Nominal Voltage 3.24 V calculated by:
Nominal Energy 64 Wh
Energy Density 135 (2 4 5) Wh/Kg (Wh/L) ηohmic = i(Relec + Rpro ) (4)
Mass 0.48 kg
Power @25C, 10sec, 50% SOC 650 W In this equation, the total proton diffusion resistance is calculated as
Dimensions 165 × 227 × 7.05 mm
a function of the membrane cross-sectional area and thickness as well as
the membrane resistance and can be calculated by:
200A or 10C for a maximum discharge power of approximately 650 W. rM l
The most important cell specification and parameters are summarized in Rpro = (5)
A
Table 1. Open circuit voltage (OCV) as a function of the SOC for the
The membrane resistance is given by
different operating temperatures tested is shown in Fig. 4. Across all
temperatures the cell’s nominal voltage is in the 3.25 V to 3.30 V range, () ( )2 ( )2.5
however, cell voltage drops sharply below 5% SOC. The higher tem­ 181.6[1 + 0.03 Ai + 0.062 303T i
A
]
perature tests, particularly 25 ◦ C and 35 ◦ C showed a wider range of rM = [ ( )] [ ] (6)
operating voltage, which indicates the higher usable capacity at these λ − 0.634 − 3 Ai exp(4.18 T− T303 )
temperatures. The most important information can be extracted from
the data is the effect of temperature on cell power. The data illustrates In the above equation, λ is a fitting parameter. The fitting parameter

5
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Fig. 5. Picture of the fuel cell powertrain test setup. 1. Hydrogen fuel tanks (99.9995% purity), 2. Air supply line, 3. Nitrogen supply line, 4. Anode and cathode inlet
gases from internal humidification bottles (wet), 5. Anode and cathode inlet gases from external humidification bottles (dry), 6. FCAT cell (see schematic of single cell
in Fig. 1-1), 7. External power supply (5 V, 120 A) connected in parallel to the FCAT cell and external electrical RBL 232– TDL load box (Note that the load box was
located below the computer monitor), 8. Temperature controllers for humidification bottles, 9 BioLogic Science VMP3 potentiostat with HCP-1005/100A booster and
EC lab V10.39 software, 10. Greenlight model fuel cell control chamber (G-50), 11. Water outlet bottles to collect condensed water from the fuel cell stack for fluoride
ion release analysis. 12. Water bath to maintain the stack temperature at 90 ◦ C, 13. Hydrogen outlet connected to fume extractors, 14, hydrogen sensor to detect any
H2 leaks from the stack.

is observed to be sensitive to humidification, morphological, and the age
of the membrane. The value for the parameter was set to be 14 similar to
the previous published research [28].
In this research, the fuel cell block was implemented and used to
calculate power generation and hydrogen fuel consumption rate of each
stack. Single cell sub-block, as the unified sub-components, are repre­
senting the dynamic of a Hydrogenics Fuel Cell Power Module (FCPM)-
65 kW. To build the unique cell component, the data extracted from the
powertrain test stand, Fig. 5, was utilized. Fuel cell pack configuration
was chosen based on our previous study [21]. However, in the fuel cell
pack block, the hydrogen fuel rate is calculated based on the demanded
duty cycle which manifested as the electrical power. To maintain the
power constant as the voltage drops over time, the current drawn should
be increased over the same period. This shows that the voltage drop
causes an increase in hydrogen consumption as the current directly
related to the fuel consumption rate.

Fig. 6. Simulink diagram of the power splitting scenario.

6
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al.
Fig. 7. Frequency and phase response of first to fifth order low path filter.
Power split
Starvation is a common phenomenon taking place in the fuel cell
membrane and has different reasons [29]. A good gas management
system causes a delay in membrane starvation because of reactant
depletion. However, in an urban duty cycle like the one logged from the
Union Pearson Express (UPE) diesel multiple units DMUs [21], although
a good gas management system might give the opportunity of imple­
menting a powertrain configuration without extra energy storage system
(ESS) and only rely on the fuel cell component, such system might not be
applicable for several reasons. Although this research has conducted at
system level, a brief justification behind is the technical limitations
which ended up with the lack of a PEM fuel cell pack can support a high
dynamic load without the need to be integrated with a-second-high
dynamic energy source such as a battery pack or an ultra capacitor
system [30].
A power management system should also regulates the power flow
between different components in a way that each source working at its
best performance [31]. Splitting the duty cycle in terms of frequency
content gives the option of developing precise optimal control strategies.
It also gives the opportunity of controlling each power source in a high-
level fashion considering their dynamics separately. In this study, Fre­
quency Domain Power Splitting (FDPS) was the key factor to split the
demanded power into two portions. The feasible power splitting weight
was assigned to each component of the ESS, that was defined based on
the practical dynamics each source could follow during the three modes
of duty cycle. These modes are hovering, braking, as well as idling. The
duty cycle, which was estimated and validated in our previous study
Fig. 8. Union Pearson Express (UPE)-extracted reputable drive cycle [21].
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234
[21], was decomposed into high and low-frequency signal components.
The low frequency component approximated the smooth trajectory of
the duty cycle and the high-frequency component estimates the very
dynamic contents. Technically the amplitude of the duty cycle in the
high frequency part is smaller than the smooth part. However, with the
aim of this subsystem, the model became sensitive to the drive cycle, and
duty cycle dynamics. In addition to this, in the development of the
model, the UP Express drive cycle was analyzed and the maximum ac­
celeration and jerk were calculated [21]. Accordingly, the power de­
mand was also analyzed. Based on the calculations it turned out that the
batteries solely can maintain the acceleration trips during the journey
and there would be no need to utilize excess supercapacitors in the
configuration. However, the HEL power management system is
composed of two parts of the battery and fuel cell, and Fig. 6 shows
Simulink diagram of the power splitting scenario used in this study.
An FDPS was designed using low pass filters. Different orders of low
pass filters were implemented to achieve the best performance in terms
of the filter gain and phase. The filters were designed from the first order
to fifth order separately. The duty cycle was applied to each filter and
the filter’s characteristics were analyzed based on the performance
factor of the filters. The performance is expressed by means of the gain
and phase responses which are corresponding to the cut of frequency
and the filter’s order, as shown in Fig. 7. A sensitivity analysis was also
performed due to evaluating the long-term response of the ESS accord­
ing to different frequencies. In this analysis, the higher-order filters
show the best attenuation response at the cut off frequencies, but the
phase shift is observed to be larger than the lower order filters. Although
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Fig. 9. Schematic of the power splitting scenario.

the cut off frequency was set to be 1 Hz in order to evaluate the filter
response according to the order of the filter. To evaluate the sensitivity
of the power management platform to the power splitting subsystem,
four nominated different frequencies of 0.01 Hz, 0.1 Hz, 1 Hz, and 10 Hz
were randomly chosen and the duty cycle, as the case study, was
decomposed based on these four frequencies.
Results and discussion
As mentioned earlier, a model of the hydrail powertrain was
implemented via MATLAB/Simulink commercial software. The generic
battery and fuel cell model of the “Autonomie”, a software developed by
the Argonne National Lab [32], was used in our model and the generated
dataset was used to set up the empirical model of the battery and fuel
cell. The battery dataset was extracted from the tests conducted on an
A123 battery pack [24]. A test bench was also installed for testing fuel
cells due to extracting polarization curves and other necessary data out
of fuel cell stacks and cells [33]. A dataset of a Hydrogenics Fuel cell
power module (FCPM)-65 kW Fuel cell nominal power was available
and published before [33]. Using the datasets of batteries and fuel cells,
the battery and fuel cell subsystems were empirically tuned and the
results for a cell was validated by the papers published in our group
before [34]. In terms of the third subsystem which is estimating the
power demand with respect to the rolling stock characteristics, the block
was verified with the Metrolinx DMU’s specifications. According to the
filter design, the response of the filter, which was implemented in
Simulink, was compared with the filter designer toolbox of the MATLAB.
The high-level control scenario, also, was implemented in state flow

Fig. 10. Power splitting based on different scenarios at four cut off frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.

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M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Fig. 11. State of charge versus time for different cut off frequencies of frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.

toolbox of the MATLAB and integrated to the filter subsystem to
represent a complex two-layer signal processing subsystem with the aim
of splitting power flow between the other subsystems.
Although this control scenario, should become a part of a sophisti­
cated customized optimal controller, implementing such power man­
agement system needs a good insight of the designer out of the system
sensitivity [35]. The high-level control strategy, as mentioned before is
to use a frequency splitting based methodology. To conduct a sensitivity
analysis, the first step is to approximate cut off frequencies and
approximate the response of the system in terms of this important factor.
In this regard, the spectrum of the duty cycle was extracted using Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) toolbox in MATLAB which is significantly close

Fig. 12. Energy consumption split for different cut off frequencies of frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.

9
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234

Fig. 13. Total energy demand versus time [21].

to the studies performed on drive cycles of vehicles [31]. The drive
cycle, as shown in Fig. 8, was sampled in 5 Hz. However, the peak fre­
quency has happened at 0.1 Hz. To evaluate the system response, four
different frequencies were chosen. The nominated frequencies were
0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.1 Hz, and 1 Hz.
On the other hand, the high-level control was implemented to con­
trol the SOC of the battery as a cost function manipulating the flow of
energy between battery pack, fuel cell pack, and the regenerative
braking system. In simulating four different scenarios, all the other
system factors set to be constant in every scenario and time domains and

Fig. 14. Hydrogen consumption split for different cut off frequencies of frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.

10
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al.
Fig. 15. Timely hydrogen consumption split for different cut off frequencies of frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.
the only manipulated parameter was the splitting cut off frequency. To
start the simulation, the battery and fuel cells were sized for the cutting
frequency of 0.005 Hz.
The first step in analyzing the results and interpreting the system
dynamics in terms of different frequencies is to interpret the filters
output and the portions of contribution for each part of the ESS. Fig. 9
shows the splitting strategy and Fig. 10 shows power splitting based on
different scenarios at four cut-off frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz,
0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz. In the development of the power split subsystem, two
different scenarios were implemented; one is more mathematical, but
not practical and the other is purely practical. In some cases, the power
portion assigned to the battery is introduced as a negative intensity
value. This negative power might be translated to the current demand
and use as a charging value. But the issue is that the negative value
should be considered as an imaginary value since, at that moment, the
powertrain is not in a recharging situation. The second scenario, pre­
sented in Fig. 10, the value jump to the real zero and the fuel cell
command jumps to follow the whole portion of the duty cycle. Both the
battery and fuel cell duty timely demands are shown in different colors
(blue color for first scenario and green color for the second scenario) in
Fig. 10. It also shows the split duty cycle for four different cut off
frequencies.
To evaluate the response of the battery pack in terms of the SOC, four
mentioned different splitting frequencies were applied to the system and
the high-level control response was measured in controlling the SOC
during the journey. In this matter, it was assumed that the battery initial
SOC was set to be 8%. The sizing scenario was performed in the way that
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234
the designed main bus voltage should be sustained. The standard voltage
for a locomotive was defined to be 850 V. This voltage approximates the
number of series in each string of the battery and fuel cell packs.
However, in battery pack it turned out two parallel strings of 265 bat­
teries connecting in series might satisfy the demanded power. Also, it
turned out that one string containing 38 series fuel cell stacks can satisfy
the fuel cell power demanded. The sizing strategy in this research is
published in [21]. Fig. 11 shows SOC versus time for different cut off
frequencies of 1 Hz, 0.01 Hz, 0.005 Hz, and 0.001 Hz of the battery in
response to the duty cycle. The maximum range of changing the SOC in
the Fig. 11 belongs to when the cut off frequency set to be 0.001. In this
cut off frequency, the main contributor in duty cycle is the battery packs
and the fuel cells are only using as the range extender. We also devel­
oped an adaptive charging scenario which changes the C-rate based on
the SOC and hydrogen level of the tanks. In this adaptive scenario, the
control changes the C-rate when the SOC becomes shorter than 0.75%.
In terms of energy utilization, increasing the cut off frequency has
been interpreted to increase the contribution of fuel cells. In Fig. 12, the
ESS energy output (shown in black) shows a decrease with increasing
the cut off frequency. Comparing to the Fig. 13, which shows the
demanded power [21] it is approximated that increasing the cut off
frequency, which means the increase of fuel cell portion can even result
in energy shortage during the trip.
In terms of hydrogen consumption, Fig. 14 shows the hydrogen
consumption of the designed hydrail powertrain. In this, the increase in
cut off frequency resulted in an increase in hydrogen consumption
which might result in bigger tanks. However, hydrogen consumption
M. Haji Akhoundzadeh et al.
Fig. 16. Temperature versus time for different cut off frequencies of 0.001 Hz, 0.005 Hz, 0.01 Hz, and 1 Hz.
varies between 5 kg and 8 kg [21]. The maximum hydrogen consump­
tion belongs to when the cut off frequency set to be 1 Hz. It means that
the batteries can help to reduce the size of the tank. This parameter
might be considered as a designing parameter in finding an optimal
value for battery sizes, splitting frequencies, etc.
The developed model in this study, a simple rule was applied to
approximate the dynamic of hydrogen crossover in the PEMFC model in
response to the cut off frequency. Fig. 15 shows the timely hydrogen
consumption rate of the fuel cell stack at different cut off frequencies of
1 Hz, 0.01 Hz, 0.005 Hz, and 0.001 Hz. The crossover dynamic shows a
different frequency as a function of cut off frequency. Red arrows show
the dynamic in detail for the fuel cell in a similar region and the dif­
ferences are obvious. The model also estimates the temperature of the
battery. This part of the subsystem was published in [36]. The temper­
ature response of the battery is shown in Fig. 16. It demonstrates that the
temperature decreases with increase in the cut off frequency. To inter­
pret the response, the contribution of the battery and the portion of
current drawn out of the battery is the main reason for such temperature
range drop. The ambient temperature was set to be 22 ◦ C. However, the
interesting point in the temperature dynamic is that the sensitivity of the
battery pack to the drive cycle is extremely high and the temperature
reaches even 40 ◦ C and it needs to be damped by means of an effective
thermal management system.
Conclusion
A model of a hydrail powertrain was developed based on a specific
drive cycle from DMUs working on the Air Rail link tracks, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. The model includes five different subsystems which
are the battery, hydrogen fuel cell, vehicle dynamics, power split, and
high-level controller. This specific novel power split subsystem accepts
the estimated power demand, from the output of the power estimation
observer subsystem, to share it between the two energy systems. To
execute the power splitting algorithm an IIR filter was implemented to
work in parallel with a rule-based high-level control scenario to
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Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments 46 (2021) 101234
supervise the energy flow. The cost functions to control the power split
progress was the battery SOC and the level of hydrogen available in the
tank. As the output of this research, a sensitivity analysis was performed
to evaluate the response of different subsystems in terms of different
parameters. To validate the results and evaluate the levels of fidelity of
the analysis for different subsystems, two different scenarios were cho­
sen. As the first scenario, some outputs of different subsystems, such as
the fuel consumption rate and power consumption, were compared to
their real-world values in the current DMUs. As the second scenarios,
similar studies were chosen from literature as the second benchmark
sources. To pick up a good candidate between related studies in the
literature, studies with similar DMUs in terms of some factors, such as
weight, drive cycle, as well as track profile, were selected in order to
compare with the outputs of this research. The results of this study
showed acceptable agreements with two benchmarks that shows the
high levels of fidelity.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
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