Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Education at Michigan Technological University

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Mukherjee ◽  
Jason M. Keith ◽  
Daniel A. Crowl ◽  
David W. Caspary ◽  
Jeff Allen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Hydrogen Energy ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Hydrogen Technology ◽  
Hands On Learning ◽  
Technological University ◽  
Transformative Curriculum ◽  
Group Enterprise

There is a strong need for a transformative curriculum to train the next generation of engineers who will help design, construct, and operate fuel cell vehicles and the associated hydrogen fueling infrastructure. In this poster we discuss how we integrate fuel cell and hydrogen technology into the project-based, hands-on learning experiences in engineering education at Michigan Technological University. Our approach is to involve students in the learning process via team-based interactive projects with a real-world flavor. This project has resulted in the formation of an “Interdisciplinary Minor in Hydrogen Technology” at Michigan Technological University. To receive the 16 credit minor, students are required to satisfy requirements in four areas, which are: • Participation in multiple semesters of the Alternative Fuels Group Enterprise, where students work on hands-on integration, design, and/or research projects in hydrogen and fuel cells. • Enrolling in a fuel cell course. • Enrolling in a lecture or laboratory course on hydrogen energy. • Enrolling in discipline-specific elective courses.

scholarly journals Analysis of Related Technologies Used in Fuel Cell Vehicles

2021 ◽  
Vol 2125 (1) ◽  
pp. 012011
Author(s):  
Ziyi Du ◽  
Hongxu Zhan
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Hydrogen Energy ◽  
Fuel Cell Vehicles ◽  
Energy Applications ◽  
Different Types

Abstract Nowadays, many types of fuel cells have made significant progress. In 2014, they were applied to the production model Toyota’s FCHV-Adv. With their high efficiency and low pollution, fuel cells have gradually started to replace some traditional technologies in many energy applications and production industries and have become a hot topic of interest in recent years. Depending on the type of fuel, there are various types, and different fuel cells work on different principles, leading to differences in their performance. This paper lists the different fuel cells and their application scenarios in the automotive industry. In addition, the use of hydrogen in fuel cell vehicles is also a major concern. This paper briefly discusses the current hydrogen production and four different types of fuel cell vehicles and their energy management strategies. All the technical advantages of fuel cells and hydrogen energy are ultimately reflected in fuel cell vehicles, and this paper describes the current challenges and future possibilities.

Sustainable hydrogen energy

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter P. Edwards ◽  
Vladimir L. Kuznetsov
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Hydrogen Energy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Energy Economy ◽  
Fossil Fuel Energy ◽  
Carbon Based

Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant chemical element in our universe— it is the power source that fuels the Sun and its oxide forms the oceans that cover three quarters of our planet. This ubiquitous element could be part of our urgent quest for a cleaner, greener future. Hydrogen, in association with fuel cells, is widely considered to be pivotal to our world’s energy requirements for the twenty-first century and it could potentially redefine the future global energy economy by replacing a carbon-based fossil fuel energy economy. The principal drivers behind the sustainable hydrogen energy vision are therefore: • the urgent need for a reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions; • the improvement of urban (local) air quality; • the abiding concerns about the long-term viability of fossil fuel resources and the security of our energy supply; • the creation of a new industrial and technological energy base—a base for innovation in the science and technology of a hydrogen/fuel cell energy landscape. The ultimate realization of a hydrogen-based economy could confer enormous environmental and economic benefits, together with enhanced security of energy supply. However, the transition from a carbon-based(fossil fuel) energy system to a hydrogen-based economy involves significant scientific, technological, and socio-economic barriers. These include: • low-carbon hydrogen production from clean or renewable sources; • low-cost hydrogen storage; • low-cost fuel cells; • large-scale supporting infrastructure, and • perceived safety problems. In the present chapter we outline the basis of the growing worldwide interest in hydrogen energy and examine some of the important issues relating to the future development of hydrogen as an energy vector. As a ‘snapshot’ of international activity, we note, for example, that Japan regards the development and dissemination of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies as essential: the Ministry of Economy and Industry (METI) has set numerical targets of 5 million fuel cell vehicles and10 million kW for the total power generation by stationary fuel cells by 2020. To meet these targets, METI has allocated an annual budget of some £150 million over four years.

scholarly journals Integrative Activities for First Year Engineering Students-Fuel Cell Cars as a Linking Project Between Chemistry, Mechatronics Concepts and Programing

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Hulls ◽  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
William Melek ◽  
Sanjeev Bedi
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
First Year ◽  
Joint Project ◽  
Graduate Attributes ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Team Environment ◽  
Hands On Learning ◽  
The University

In Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, a joint project involving small, inexpensive fuel cells cars was introduced to show how courses in the first term relate to one another. Additionally, the project was designed to provide the students with hands on learning, to give the students a taste of what to expect in later years, and to start incorporating many of the CEAB's graduate attributes at an introductory level. The fuel cell car consists of two low-voltage cells, a low power microcontroller and several sensors mounted on a motorised platform. Students employed concepts from chemistry, programming and mechatronics systems throughout the project, submitting reports at key milestones. during the projet, students needed to make decision in a team environment on which strageties to implement to meet the goals of the project. The project culminated in a final competition and report. Students were surveyed at the start, and end, and the term to measure any changes in attitude with regards to the courses as well as their satisfaction with the project. The project was well recieved by students but significant challenges remain to be solved.

State of the Art About the Effects of Impurities on MCFCs and Pointing Out of Additional Research for Alternative Fuel Utilization

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Desideri ◽  
P. Lunghi ◽  
R. Burzacca
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Research Priorities ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Inert Gases ◽  
Molten Carbonate ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Processing Technologies

Fuel cells are very flexible energy conversion devices and in particular MCFC power generating system are among the most promising for stationary power generation. Potentially, MCFCs can be fed by a great variety of gaseous fuels comprising low calorific values gases like landfill gas. Thanks to fuel processing technologies, like gasification, suitable anode input gases can also be obtained from solid matters. Coal, but also RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel), industrial waste and biomasses are potential fuels for the fuel cell technology after a specific treatment aimed to yield a proper gas for the cell requirements. The gases mentioned above are characterized by low calorific values, presence of inert gases, presence of carbon monoxide and dioxide, presence of various contaminants such as chlorine, sulphur and nitrogen compounds or metals and they can be utilized for power production in high temperature fuel cell units only after a proper clean-up treatment (tars, particulate and sulphur removal). Although interest in alternative fuels for fuel cells has spread in the recent years, most research activity related to fuel treatment has been performed on methane. The biggest drawback deriving from this situation is a general lack of information. When present, moreover, the information is often contradictory. An example of this is given by the acceptable contaminants levels for molten carbonate fuel cells about which there are not values that are based on sufficient experimental evidence. Unfortunately the design of a clean-up system, the choice of the best technology, the optimization of the BOP relies just on these values. In this work a literature research and an analysis of the present knowledge about the effect of impurities in fuel for fuel cells has been preformed. The goal is the definition of concentration levels that can be tolerated by MCFCs and the degradation in performance or the reduction of cell life related to the presence of different pollutants. A second step of the work is the comparison of the levels of impurities tolerated by the cells with those present in the different low calorific value gases in order to define the clean-up requirements. The research priorities in this field have been pointed out. Finally, the project of the fuel cell team of University of Perugia about this topic is briefly described.

scholarly journals Design and development of a laboratory for the study of PEMFC system for marine applications

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 02020
Author(s):  
Gerardo Borgogna ◽  
Enrico Speranza ◽  
Thomas Lamberti ◽  
Alberto Nicola Traverso ◽  
Loredana Magistri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Power Systems ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Cell Systems ◽  
Marine Applications

Climate change is driving the introduction of strict emission limits in the shipping sector favoring the introduction of alternative fuels, among which hydrogen. While the storage energy density of this energy vector is a key challenge that makes way to a variety of different solutions, from fossil fuel reformers to sodium borohydride systems, fuel cell systems are generally considered among the future ideal energy converters. Nevertheless very few fuel cell marine applications are available worldwide, none of them is related to a ship application, mainly because of the high power requirements. Fuel cells are relatively new in the shipping sector, up to now no civil industrial system has been commercialized yet while military applications rely only on the U212 submarine of the Italian and German Navy. The lack of favorable niche markets coupled with the strong conservative and traditional design principles held back the investment for optimized marine systems. For this reason, present and past projects made use of conveniently adapted automotive technologies into pilot demos, with particular focus on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). However, ships requirements are largely different from automotive ones, not only for the power size that are in the range of MWs instead of kWs. On the other side, in order to take advantage of large scale production as well as of the modularity of fuel cell technology, the integrations of automotive or stationary based fuel cell subsystems, already available on the market, inside a dedicate modular marine system seems to be the solution pursued by many shipbuilders and contemplated by regulatory authorities. In hybrid system configurations, fuel cells are considered in combinations with batteries, another important technology under development, in order to take advantage of the superior energy performances of fuel cell systems and the highly power discharge dynamics of batteries. The need of fuel cell power systems for ships is pushing towards the creation of knowledge that requires laboratories able to challenge the abovementioned issues in order to give answers to shipbuilders and at a lower level also to rule makers.

Highly proton conductive membranes based on carboxylated cellulose nanofibres and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Guccini ◽  
Annika Carlson ◽  
Shun Yu ◽  
Göran Lindbergh ◽  
Rakel Wreland Lindström ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Surface Charge ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Membrane Surface ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Membrane Thickness ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Cellulose Nanofibres ◽  
Exchange Membrane

The performance of thin carboxylated cellulose nanofiber-based (CNF) membranes as proton exchange membranes in fuel cells has been measured in-situ as a function of CNF surface charge density (600 and 1550 µmol g<sup>-1</sup>), counterion (H<sup>+</sup>or Na<sup>+</sup>), membrane thickness and fuel cell relative humidity (RH 55 to 95 %). The structural evolution of the membranes as a function of RH as measured by Small Angle X-ray scattering shows that water channels are formed only above 75 % RH. The amount of absorbed water was shown to depend on the membrane surface charge and counter ions (Na<sup>+</sup>or H<sup>+</sup>). The high affinity of CNF for water and the high aspect ratio of the nanofibers, together with a well-defined and homogenous membrane structure, ensures a proton conductivity exceeding 1 mS cm<sup>-1</sup>at 30 °C between 65 and 95 % RH. This is two orders of magnitude larger than previously reported values for cellulose materials and only one order of magnitude lower than Nafion 212. Moreover, the CNF membranes are characterized by a lower hydrogen crossover than Nafion, despite being ≈ 30 % thinner. Thanks to their environmental compatibility and promising fuel cell performance the CNF membranes should be considered for new generation proton exchange membrane fuel cells.<br>

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