Useful miniature hydrogen gasoline cell powers RC truck

Autos powered by hydrogen gasoline cells mix the advantages of battery-powered electrical automobiles and inner combustion engines (ICEs). You get the environmental and efficiency advantages of electrical energy, with the identical refueling comfort as you get with ICE automobiles. However for many of us, hydrogen gasoline cells are nonetheless mysterious and unattainable. In actuality, you should purchase one proper now. To display how sensible they’re, Alfonso Delgado Ollero constructed a miniature hydrogen gasoline cell to energy an RC truck.

Hydrogen combines with oxygen within the air to supply water. Because it does, it additionally produces electrical energy and we will use that electrical energy to energy units and even automobiles. The one causes hydrogen gasoline cell automobiles aren’t frequent are that it takes a whole lot of power to supply the hydrogen within the first place and the power density is comparatively low. These sensible issues are related when speaking about the way forward for the automotive business, however they shouldn’t forestall makers from experimenting with hydrogen gasoline cells. You should purchase small hydrogen gasoline cells, just like the 12W unit used on this challenge, from on-line retailers for lower than $700. You can too buy cartridges of hydrogen and even make your individual by electrolysis (learn up on the protection precautions first).

Whereas this challenge makes use of an off-the-shelf hydrogen gasoline cell, it nonetheless wanted one thing to manage the operation and energy output. An Arduino Nano board displays the working voltage and shuts the system down whether it is operating too lengthy or in an open circuit. It additionally prompts a pump when essential to purge the water that accumulates because the hydrogen bonds with oxygen. To stabilize the voltage output from the hydrogen gasoline cell, a DC-to-DC buck converter feeds electrical energy at a relentless voltage to lithium-ion battery cells. These act like capacitors to account for peaks in energy demand that exceed the output of the hydrogen gasoline cell.

Ollero mounted all of these elements inside a field that attaches onto the mattress of an RC truck. The ability output wires connect to the RC truck’s commonplace battery enter. This labored effectively and the RC truck drove round with none points. However the RC truck is only a demonstration and this hydrogen gasoline cell setup might be helpful for a lot of different purposes.