Exploring Future Promising Technologies in Hydrogen Fuel Cell Transportation

The purpose of this research was to derive promising technologies for the transport of hydrogen fuel cells, thereby supporting the development of research and development policy and presenting directions for investment. We also provide researchers with information about technology that will lead the technology field in the future. Hydrogen energy, as the core of carbon neutral and green energy, is a major issue in changing the future industrial structure and national competitive advantage. In this study, we derived promising technology at the core of future hydrogen fuel cell transportation using the published US patent and paper databases (DB). We first performed text mining and data preprocessing and then discovered promising technologies through generative topographic mapping analysis. We analyzed both the patent DB and treatise DB in parallel and compared the results. As a result, two promising technologies were derived from the patent DB analysis, and five were derived from the paper DB analysis.

Developing a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle (HFCV) Energy Consumption Model for Transportation Applications

This paper presents a simple hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV) energy consumption model. Simple fuel/energy consumption models have been developed and employed to estimate the energy and environmental impacts of various transportation projects for internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). However, there are few published results on HFCV energy models that can be simply implemented in transportation applications. The proposed HFCV energy model computes instantaneous energy consumption utilizing instantaneous vehicle speed, acceleration, and roadway grade as input variables. The mode accurately estimates energy consumption, generating errors of 0.86% and 2.17% relative to laboratory data for the fuel cell estimation and the total energy estimation, respectively. Furthermore, this work validated the proposed model against independent data and found that the new model accurately estimated the energy consumption, producing an error of 1.9% and 1.0% relative to empirical data for the fuel cell and the total energy estimation, respectively. The results demonstrate that transportation engineers, policy makers, automakers, and environmental engineers can use the proposed model to evaluate the energy consumption effects of transportation projects and connected and automated vehicle (CAV) transportation applications within microscopic traffic simulation models.

Role and Important Properties of a Membrane with Its Recent Advancement in a Microbial Fuel Cell

Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are an emerging technology for wastewater treatment that utilizes the metabolism of microorganisms to generate electricity from the organic matter present in water directly. The principle of MFC is the same as hydrogen fuel cell and has three main components (i.e., anode, cathode, and proton exchange membrane). The membrane separates the anode and cathode chambers and keeps the anaerobic and aerobic conditions in the two chambers, respectively. This review paper describes the state-of-the-art membrane materials particularly suited for MFC and discusses the recent development to obtain robust, sustainable, and cost-effective membranes. Nafion 117, Flemion, and Hyflon are the typical commercially available membranes used in MFC. Use of non-fluorinated polymeric membrane materials such as sulfonated silicon dioxide (S-SiO2) in sulfonated polystyrene ethylene butylene polystyrene (SSEBS), sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK) and graphene oxide sulfonated polyether ether ketone (GO/SPEEK) membranes showed promising output and proved to be an alternative material to Nafion 117. There are many challenges to selecting a suitable membrane for a scaled-up MFC system so that the technology become technically and economically viable.

Pilot autonomous hybrid hydrogen refueling station utilizing a metal hydride compressor covering local transportation needs

The need for decreasing carbon emissions in the transportation sector in order to meet the targets of the European Union by 2030, inevitably leads to the large scale adoption of cleaner alternatives. Hydrogen fueled vehicles could possibly provide one such alternative, if we could assume that the necessary infrastructure would be widely available throughout Europe. Already, the European Union has committed to the construction of a significant number of Hydrogen Refueling Stations (HRS) by year 2025 and in view of that, there is a need of developing suitable configurations for the production, compression, storage and dispensing of green hydrogen to hydrogen fueled vehicles. This work presents an autonomous hybrid system which produces green hydrogen by PV- powered water electrolysis (PEM), which is subsequently compressed by a novel metal hydride hydrogen compressor to pressures up to 200 bar. This pilot HRS will meet the daily demand of 2 scooters and a golf cart which have been transformed, in order for their electric motor to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell instead of a battery. An important element of the work which is presented, revolves around the integration of the metal hydride compressor with the rest of the system, and how this integration won’t hinder its functionality. The complete system design and layout is presented, while the results from the system operation could give a good idea regarding the optimal system sizing for similar large scale applications.

Current Status and Future Development of Fuel Cell Ships in China

The high quality development of fuel cell ship industry is of great significance for China to achieve carbon dioxide peaking and carbon neutrality. The research of fuel cell ships in China is still in its early stage and faces many challenges to achieve industrialization. In this paper, the types and characteristics of fuel cells are introduced, and the fuel cell types suitable for marine applications are identified. Then, the research status of fuel cell ship projects in China and abroad is introduced. By comparing fuel cell ship projects, the gap between domestic and foreign fuel cell ship projects is discussed. Finally, in view of the existing problems of fuel cell ships in China, some suggestions for the development of marine hydrogen fuel cells in China are put forward, and the future development of marine hydrogen fuel cell technology in China is prospected.

Research on Hydrogen Consumption and Driving Range of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle under the CLTC-P Condition

Hydrogen consumption and mileage are important economic indicators of fuel cell vehicles. Hydrogen consumption is the fundamental reason that restricts mileage. Since there are few quantitative studies on hydrogen consumption during actual vehicle operation, the high cost of hydrogen consumption in outdoor testing makes it impossible to guarantee the accuracy of the test. Therefore, this study puts forward a test method based on the hydrogen consumption of fuel cell vehicles under CLTC-P operating conditions to test the hydrogen consumption of fuel cell vehicles per 100 km. Finally, the experiment shows that the mileage calculated by hydrogen consumption has a higher consistency with the actual mileage. Based on this hydrogen consumption test method, the hydrogen consumption can be accurately measured, and the test time and cost can be effectively reduced.

Experimental Validation of Hydrogen Fuel−Cell and Battery−Based Hybrid Drive without DC−−DC for Light Scooter under Two Typical Driving Cycles

Faced with key obstacles, such as the short driving range, long charging time, and limited volume allowance of battery−−powered electric light scooters in Asian cities, the aim of this study is to present a passive fuel cell/battery hybrid system without DC−−DC to ensure a compact volume and low cost. A novel topology structure of the passive fuel cell/battery power system for the electric light scooter is proposed, and the passive power system runs only on hydrogen. The power performance and efficiency of the passive power system are evaluated by a self−developed test bench before installation into the scooters. The results of this study reveal that the characteristics of stable power output, quick response, and the average efficiency are as high as 88% during the Shanghainese urban driving cycle and 89.5% during the Chinese standard driving cycle. The results present the possibility that this passive fuel cell/battery hybrid powertrain system without DC−DC is practical for commercial scooters.

RESEARCH OF GENERAL HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY ACCORDING TO OPTIMAL PARAMETERS AS A COMPONENT OF COMPLEX DEVELOPMENT OF EFCE AND CFE-UA ASSOCIATIONS

The analysis of the prospects for the development of hydrogen energy in the EU and Ukraine is carried out. The possibilities of implementing projects and technologies for the production of green hydrogen for industrial use are considered. The conditions for the implementation of the project for the creation of a research and development center for hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cell technology are presented. A review of publications devoted to the process of obtaining hydrogen from water has been completed. The main factors influencing the course of reactions in the production of hydrogen from water using alloys are considered. Recommended alloys for producing hydrogen at autonomous facilities. The components of the research algorithm are given taking into account the system of process factors based on the analysis of literature data on the technology of hydrogen production by the electrolysis of water. The general principles of calculating gas generators have been established, which should be based on the basic principles of the thermodynamics of heterogeneous processes: classical thermodynamics of multiphase and heterogeneous systems.

A Numerical Simulation on the Leakage Event of a High-Pressure Hydrogen Dispenser

For the sake of the increasing demand of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, there are more concerns on the safety of hydrogen refueling stations. As one of the key pieces of equipment, the hydrogen dispenser has drawn attention on this aspect since it involves massive manual operations and may be bothered by a high probability of failure. In this paper, a numerical study is conducted to simulate the possible leakage events of the hydrogen dispenser based on a prototype in China whose working pressure is 70 MPa. The leakage accident is analyzed with respect to leakage sizes, leak directions, and the time to stop the leakage. It is found that, due to the large mass flow rate under such high pressure, the leak direction and the layout of the components inside the dispenser become insignificant, and the ignitable clouds will form inside the dispenser in less than 1 s if there is a leakage of 1% size of the main tube. The ignitable clouds will form near the vent holes outside the dispenser, which may dissipate quickly if the leakage is stopped. On the other hand, the gas inside the dispenser will remain ignitable for a long time, which asks for a design with no possible ignition source inside. The results can be useful in optimizing the design of the dispenser, regarding the reaction time and sensitivity requirements of the leakage detector, the size and amount of vent holes, etc.