Using the DLR Thermofluid Stream Library for Thermal Management of Fuel Cell Systems in Aviation

Abstract

For more environmental friendly aircraft, different propulsion systems are considered. Either fuel cell or fully electrically driven aircraft come along with challenging heat dissipation tasks. An intelligent thermal management system is essential to prevent failures and to ensure a reliable operation of the propulsion system. The exploration space for appropriate cooling systems seems endless, hence it is vital to rely on robust modeling libraries that enable a quick design and simulation of different architectures. The open source DLR Thermofluid Stream Library (TFS) forms such a basis and proved to be expedient in that sense. This paper gives an overview of a complete fuel cell system for future aircraft that covers the most essential subsystems and is modeled solely of components contained in the TFS. The focus is on different cooling systems and methods that can be quickly investigated in the context of the overall fuel cell system throughout an entire flight mission.