fuel cell power system conceptual design for unmanned underwater vehicles

Improving the subsea endurance and the power system efficiency of unmanned underwater vehicles (uuvs) has become more important in recent years as their demand grows for different applications. integrated electric power systems are commonly applied in uuvs with different types of batteries as power sources. utilizing fuel cells hybridized with batteries is one of the most efficient ways to increase the uuv’s range and overall system efficiency. in this paper, a conceptual design is presented for a fuel cell/battery hybrid uuv. this design process includes a review of the uuv fuel cell stacks, the commercial fuel cell uuvs, the fuel and oxidant storage technologies, and the electrical energy storage subsystems. also, analytical investigations were presented on the degree of hybridization (doh) between fuel cells and batteries. the fuel cell/battery hybrid system design for a uuv and the technologies of its main components are proposed as the final step of the conceptual design process.