Heating performance enhancement of a CO2 heat pump system recovering stack exhaust thermal energy in fuel cell vehicles

A CO₂ heat pump system using recovered heat from the stack coolant was provided for use in fuel cell vehicles, where the high temperature heat source like in internal combustion engine vehicles is not available. The refrigerant loop consists of an electric drive compressor, a cabin heater, an outdoor evaporator, an internal heat exchanger, an expansion valve and an accumulator. The performance characteristics of the heat pump system were investigated and analyzed by experiments. The results of heating experiments were discussed for the purpose of the development and efficiency improvement of a CO₂ heat pump system, when recovering stack exhaust heat in fuel cell vehicles. A heater core using stack coolant was placed upstream of a cabin heater to preheat incoming air to the cabin heater. The performance of the heat pump system with heater core was compared with that of the conventional heating system with heater core and that of the heat pump system without heater core, and the heat pump system with heater core showed the best performance of the selected heating systems. Furthermore, the coolant to air heat pump system with heater core showed a significantly better performance than the air to air heat pump system with heater core.