With the growing electrification of heavy-duty transportation, fuel cell systems are becoming increasingly important as zero-emission propulsion solutions.

One often underestimated but essential aspect of this technology is exhaust air management, which must meet both functional and acoustic requirements.

This presentation introduces an innovative exhaust system for fuel cell commercial vehicles that integrates three key functions:

1. Noise reduction through usage of a specially designed silencer that significantly attenuates flow noises generated during fuel cell operation.
2. Effective water management with a brand-new developed water separator which reliably removes condensed water from the exhaust air flow, protects components from damage and prevents icing.
3. Steam reduction at the tailpipe, minimizing the visibility of water vapor emissions to meet safety-related and aesthetic demands in road traffic.

The presentation highlights the technical challenges of integrating these functions into a compact, robust system design and presents results from simulations and fuel cell specific testing.

Finally, an outlook on future optimization potential and transferability to other vehicle classes and drive technologies is given.