Comparison of diesel-powered hydrostatic and hydrogen fuel cell-powered series hybrid powertrains for agricultural sprayers

This paper provides a comprehensive comparison of two powertrain architectures for a 20-tonne agricultural sprayer: a baseline diesel-powered hydrostatic transmission and a hydrogen fuel cell-powered series hydraulic hybrid system. System-level modeling and simulation were employed to evaluate these powertrains across a vehicle application-specific mission profile that includes roading, spraying, and tendering operations. Key metrics such as fuel consumption and energy efficiency were assessed under varying operational conditions. A key contribution of this paper is the integration of the hydrogen fuel cell with the hydraulic series hybrid system, which allows energy recuperation and regeneration during certain operating conditions and also improves operational efficiency. The results highlight the potential of hydrogen fuel cell technology in agricultural machinery, demonstrating a higher overall efficiency (34.2%) compared to the diesel-powered system (28.2%). The total fuel consumption for the 12-h mission profile is 115.5 US gallons of diesel for the diesel-powered powertrain and 106.4 kg of hydrogen for the hydrogen fuel cell-powered powertrain. These findings pave the way for the further optimization of hydrogen fuel cell systems in agricultural applications.