Fuels on-board

In more recent years, industrial involvement has increased in the development of hydrogen vehicles, under the auspices of either national or international programs. In February 2001, Fiat introduced its first prototype of a fuel cell car, the "Seicento Elettra Hj Fuel Cell" and a more advanced prototype of the same car was presented in 2003. Both Fiat prototypes use compressed hydrogen as fuel on board and fuel cell stacks supplied by Nuvera. 

By multiplying 7682 L by 1.77, Pearson calculated that the airplane had 13 597 kg of fuel on board. He subtracted this value from the total amount of fuel for the trip, 22 300 kg, and found that 8703 kg more fuel was needed. 

First bottleneck lies in the unloading capacity infrastructure for unloading and pools for storage of unloaded fuel (either aboard service ships or in land facilities) are not always available, financial resources are not there, and at the end of the day many decommissioned submarines have still there fuel on board, sometimes more than ten years after they were pulled out active service. 

DC machines are simpler and cheaper, because their speed regulation is based on scalar controls. For that reason they need simple electronic boards to control the DC electric drive operations. Moreover, they have the advantage that they can be fed by the DC supply already on board. On the other hand, the principal disadvantage is represented by the maintenance required, since for instance brushes need to be periodically checked and changed. Another point to take in consideration is that fuel cell electric vehicles equipped with brushed electric machines would require specific safety devices to avoid that sparks of the collector during the commutation might interact with the hydrogen used as fuel on board. 

Fuel cells may be developed for either auxiliary or primary power using methanol as the liquid fuel of choice, and in the distant future technology could evolve to synthesize hydrocarbon fuel on board. 

Tank to Speed Efficiency The power train working in conventional vehicles requires more energy compared to fuel cell systems. The latter have intrinsic high efficiency of the stacks. The sffidy also exhibited higher fuel economy for hydrogen-based FCVs compared to those processing fuel on board. 

BaUard Power Systems, the leader in the manufacture of PEEC stacks, has sold at least fifty 3- to 5-kW units worldwide. BaUard is involved in a program in Canada to demonstrate a 120-kW PEEC stack to power a transit 20-passenger, 9752-kg bus. Eor this demonstration, on-board compressed hydrogen, sufficient for 150-km range, is the fuel. 

Ballard Power Systems, in conjunction with the province of British Columbia and the government of Canada, have converted a diesel bus for Vancouver, B.C. Transit (43). This 9.1-m vehicle is powered by a 105-kW fuel cell. Gaseous hydrogen, stored on board the bus in DOT-approved glass-wound composite cylinders operating at 20.7 MPa (3000 psi), provides the necessary fuel requited for the 150-km projected vehicle range. 

Komodromos, C., Pearson, S. Grint, A., "The Potential of Adsorbed Natural Gas for Advanced On-board Storage in Natural Gas Fueled Vehicles", International Gas Research Conference, Florida, 1992. 

Later, Du Pont in America developed its own ionically conducting membrane, mainly for large-scale electrolysis of sodium chloride to manufacture chlorine, Nafion , (the US Navy also used it on board submarines to generate oxygen by electrolysis of water), while Dow Chemical, also in America, developed its own even more efficient version in the 1980s, while another version will be described below in connection with fuel cells. Meanwhile, Fenton et al. (1973) discovered the first of a... 

Environmentally benign hydrogen is clearly the ideal fuel for use with fuel cells. The question is whether to store the hydrogen nn-bnard or to generate it on board from liquid fuels that are easier to store and distribute. 

As a constituent of synthesis gas, hydrogen is a precursor for ammonia, methanol, Oxo alcohols, and hydrocarbons from Fischer Tropsch processes. The direct use of hydrogen as a clean fuel for automobiles and buses is currently being evaluated compared to fuel cell vehicles that use hydrocarbon fuels which are converted through on-board reformers to a hydrogen-rich gas. Direct use of H2 provides greater efficiency and environmental benefits. ... 

Only chemical propulsion will be further discussed, and in particular, that associated with liquid, solid, and hybrid motors and engines. These motors and engines are uniquely different from other chemical propulsion systems in that they carry on board the necessary propellants, as contrasted to jet engines that rely on atmospheric oxygen for combustion of the fuel. 

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