This paper presents an experimental assessment on the Fuel Cell System (FCS) performance tests conducted in the Hydrogen Initiative for Sustainable Energy Application (HI-SEA) Joint Laboratory of Fincantieri and University of Genova (UNIGE) [1]. The HI-SEA FCS plant is made up of 8 Fuel Cell (FC) stacks of 30 kW each for a total power of 240 kWe, originally designed for automotive applications, installed in two equal branches of 4 stacks in series. The two branches can be connected in parallel by means of two DC/DC converters together with an AC/DC converter that is able to simulate the presence of a 60 kW battery (BAT). The goal of the experimental campaign is to assess the performance and real behavior of the FCS when connected in parallel with and without DC/DCs, with or without the battery to assess the optimum BoP setup and the most feasible and efficient configuration for a ship application. The tests are conducted using typical ship power profiles. The results show that the operative profile could influence the FC performances if the BoP setup is not well optimized [2]. Stationary and dynamic performance of the system are evaluated in single branch and parallel branches configuration, with and without DC/DCs. The study conclusion gives important indications on how to assemble, setup and control an FCS powerplant for marine application.
