Design and Scale-Up of Air Path Balance-of-Plant Components for High-Power PEM Fuel Cells

<p class="font_8">The deployment of PEMFC technology in high-power transport applications presents new challenges for the design and integration of Balance-of-Plant (BoP) components. Achieving power levels above 250 kW requires highly efficient, robust, and scalable air and thermal management solutions. Within the Horizon Europe H2UpScale project, funded through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, academic and research partners are addressing these challenges by advancing the development, integration, and scale-up of key BoP technologies for next-generation high-power PEMFC systems.</p>
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<p class="font_8">One of the objectives of the project is the optimization of the air path subsystem, which critically influences overall system performance, efficiency, and lifetime. Work Package 6 (WP6) addresses the development and integration of advanced air path components including compressors, humidifiers, water separators, cathode air filtration systems, and acoustic resonators. MANN+HUMMEL GmbH, in collaboration with Pankl, plays a leading role in WP6, encompassing component design, internal validation, and the delivery of selected components for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing activities.  Close collaboration among the consortium partners facilitates the translation of end-user requirements into component and system-level solutions, supporting the optimization of the air path architecture for diverse high-power applications in heavy-duty road transport, marine, and aviation sectors.</p>
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<p class="font_8">The main innovations encompass a scalable and robust humidification concept, application-specific water management strategies, modular cathode air filtration architectures that decouple particulate removal from adsorption functions, and integrated acoustic solutions aimed at mitigating noise emissions in high-power systems. The developed technologies are designed to facilitate modular scaling while reducing overall system mass and volume and enhancing operational robustness compared with current state-of-the-art solutions. Collectively, these developments establish a validated pathway for the upscaling and integration of air path Balance-of-Plant (BoP) technologies, supporting higher system efficiency, extended durability, and simplified integration in next-generation high-power PEMFC applications. The presentation outlines the approach to achieving the project targets, key design aspects, and the status of the work in progress.</p>

Speaker Bio

Dr. Saeed Khandan Siar received his Ph.D. in Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics, with a focus on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Since April 2023, he has been working as a Lead Product Engineer at MANN+HUMMEL GmbH in Ludwigsburg, Germany, where he focuses on the development and optimization of air path systems for fuel cell applications.

Within the Horizon Europe H2UpScale project, Dr. Khandan Siar serves as a Work Package Leader WP6, coordinating technical activities related to air path system development and Balance-of-Plant (BoP) technologies. In this role, he leads technical activities, coordinates development efforts, and supports the integration and upscaling of air path components for high-power PEM fuel cell systems in different applications. His professional and research interests include heat and mass transfer, water management, and the application of numerical methods to the design and optimization of advanced air path systems. His work combines fundamental engineering expertise with product-oriented development, with a particular focus on delivering efficient, robust, and scalable solutions for next-generation of PEM fuel cell systems.

Presentation time

December 8, 2026
10:40 am - 11:50 am EST

Abstract

The deployment of PEMFC technology in high-power transport applications presents new challenges for the design and integration of Balance-of-Plant (BoP) components. Achieving power levels above 250 kW requires highly efficient, robust, and scalable air and thermal management solutions. Within the Horizon Europe H2UpScale project, funded through the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, academic and research partners are addressing these challenges by advancing the development, integration, and scale-up of key BoP technologies for next-generation high-power PEMFC systems.

One of the objectives of the project is the optimization of the air path subsystem, which critically influences overall system performance, efficiency, and lifetime. Work Package 6 (WP6) addresses the development and integration of advanced air path components including compressors, humidifiers, water separators, cathode air filtration systems, and acoustic resonators. MANN+HUMMEL GmbH, in collaboration with Pankl, plays a leading role in WP6, encompassing component design, internal validation, and the delivery of selected components for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing activities. Close collaboration among the consortium partners facilitates the translation of end-user requirements into component and system-level solutions, supporting the optimization of the air path architecture for diverse high-power applications in heavy-duty road transport, marine, and aviation sectors.

The main innovations encompass a scalable and robust humidification concept, application-specific water management strategies, modular cathode air filtration architectures that decouple particulate removal from adsorption functions, and integrated acoustic solutions aimed at mitigating noise emissions in high-power systems. The developed technologies are designed to facilitate modular scaling while reducing overall system mass and volume and enhancing operational robustness compared with current state-of-the-art solutions. Collectively, these developments establish a validated pathway for the upscaling and integration of air path Balance-of-Plant (BoP) technologies, supporting higher system efficiency, extended durability, and simplified integration in next-generation high-power PEMFC applications. The presentation outlines the approach to achieving the project targets, key design aspects, and the status of the work in progress.