Refuelable batteries

A fuel cell car, bus or truck is in essence an electric vehicle powered by a stack of hydrogen fueled cells that operates like a refuelable battery. A battery uses chemical energy from its component parts, while a fuel cell uses an electrochemical process to generate electricity and receives its energy from the hydrogen fuel and oxygen that are supplied to it. Like the plates in a battery, the fuel cell uses an anode and cathode, attached to these are wires for the flow of current. These two electrodes are thin and porous. 

Long-term activities to develop new electrochemical technologies, such as refuelable batteries and fuel cells, which offer the potential of higher energy and power, but which require significant development before commercialization. 

Fuel cells can in a sense be regarded as refuelable batteries, and are being considered for use in portable electronic equipment (see Chaps. 42 and 43). 

Systems covered include primary, secondary and emergency core cooling systems, control rod, refueling, scram, electrical power, and lube oil, airsupply, battery supplies. 

The Sequel is almost the size of a Cadillac SRX. It has a 300-mile range on a refueling of hydrogen and accelerates to 60 mph in less then 10 seconds. Other fuel cell cars have a driving range of 170-250 miles and cover 0-60 mph in 12-16 seconds depending on whether they use a battery. 

Fuel cells can be used to power a variety of portable devices, from handheld electronics such as cell phones and radios to larger equipment such as portable generators. Other potential applications include laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and handheld video cameras—almost any application that has traditionally used batteries. These fuel cells have the potential to last more than three times as long as batteries between refueling. 

Figure 25. (A) Comparison of the energy storage capability of fuel cells and batteries. Only after several refueling operations are fuel cells more efficient energy storage devices on a Wh/L and Wh/kg basis. (B) Fuel cells have a set volume and weight for the fuel cell stack and peripherals to supply the reactants to the stack. The small incremental fuel volume to continue operation supplying energy makes them more efficient for longer operations.

Possible niche market for fuel cells may be forklifts used indoors. Fuel cells may have a distinct advantage over batteries because they may be refueled much faster than the batteries can be recharged. 

Before nuclear power was used, submarines could stay submerged for only a brief period of time. A diesel-powered submarine had to surface regularly to recharge its batteries and refuel. But with a lump of nuclear fuel about the size of a golf ball, the first nuclear-powered submarine could remain underwater for months and travel about 97 000 km (about 60 000 mi). Today, nuclear power enables submarines to refuel only once every nine years. 

While research and development in the battery electric arena was worthwhile, the leap to the California ZEV mandate was a classic case of a manufacturer sales mandate that did not adequately consider the state of technology, cost, customer demands, or refueling infrastructure inherent in... 

The super-cold liquid hydrogen fuel ( 20 Kelvin, -423° F) requires a special refueling that can be performed without human intervention. The 750hL also uses a fuel cell in place of the battery to... 

---