How a Miniature Fuel Cell Car Works
"My Hydrogen Experiments Part 4"
I bought a fuel cell car experimentation kit Here it's really cool, this little car actually goes at a good walking pace. It's powered by solar hydrogen, which means that the solar panel powers the fuel cell, which makes hydrogen. Then the car drives on the hydrogen. The fuel cell basically functions as a battery, when fully charged the tanks hold enough for the car to go for five minutes or so, the charge time appears to be close the the use time which means five minutes of sun, stored in the form of hydrogen make five minutes of drive time in the shade, but because of the hybrid feature, when the sun is out it actually charges while it drives. And when the sun goes behind a cloud or the car goes into a shadow the suns stored energy kick in from the fuel cell. It is truly amazing, the power of the sun.
My first two hydrogen experiments Click Here have do with basic electrolyzers, how they work, how to build them also suggest some ideas for what to do with them. An electrolyzer is basically a simple version of a fuel cell. The main difference is that a fuel cell is smaller, more compact, more efficient, efficiencies approaching 100% verses a homemade electrolyzer maybe 50% or so, a fuel cell also has the added feature of being able to run in reverse, you can feed it electricity and it will spit out hydrogen and oxygen, or you can feed it hydrogen and oxygen and it will give you back your electricity. That is why hydrogen is called a renewable energy medium, rather than a energy resource, very similar to a battery when used in this way. My fuel cell requires a small amount (one time) of distilled water which is then put to use in a closed system, where it is broken down into its elements and recombined over and over again. No electrolyte is required, fuel cells instead use platinum. The only real drawback with a fuel cell is the price, very expensive due to the fact that they require a platinum catalyst.
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Here is a picture and a clip of it charging, I just have it up to a normal 75 watt light bulb charging. The bubble you just demonstrates the being produced. I will have a better clip soon. I lost a piece and this is just something I took when I was messing around, more soon. |
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Here is a picture and a clip of it driving, no panel is needed, normally I would just leave it anyway, but I removed it to demonstrate that the car is powered not by the solar panel, but by the hydrogen stored in the tank from the solar panel. There is also the advantage of using the panel in conjunction with the fuel cell to give added propulsion. |
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