A hybrid fuel cell-battery power supply for an electric forklift

A forklift is a motorized vehicle that is used for lifting heavy objects. Currently, battery powered electric forklifts are the preferred choice for indoor applications. The main problem with these forklifts is the time it takes to recharge the battery. A solution to this problem is to power the forklift using a hybrid fuel cell---battery power supply, where the fuel cell is used to continuously charge the battery. This thesis seeks to determine the factors that affect the sizing of the two power sources in the hybrid power supply and the fuel cell's fuel consumption rate through the development of a software simulation program. The program simulates the behaviour of a hybrid powered forklift as it operates through a full day of activities. The hardware required to link the fuel cell and battery together was studied with a small scale hardware implementation of the hybrid power supply.