Barge with hydrogen electric traction. Free Technical Library News

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Barge with hydrogen electric propulsion

03.10.2011

Four years ago, British engineers from the University of Birmingham decided to see if the river fleet could be modernized, namely, replacing diesel engines with hydrogen-powered electric ones.

No sooner said than done. They took an old barge, installed a 10 kW electric motor and 47 kWh lead (that is, cheap) batteries, which powered the electric motor during the voyage. To pump electricity into the batteries, a fuel cell with a power of 1 kW was installed on board, and a hydrogen storage of 50 kWh was installed to it. Not without a solar panel with a capacity of 320 watts.

The hydrogen storage is one of the main elements of the facility. It was made from a mixture of powders of hydride-forming elements - titanium, zirconium, vanadium, manganese and iron, placed in a steel shell. When heated, this element releases hydrogen, which is used to generate electricity.

Tests have shown that the barge runs 4-6 hours every day, consuming an average of 14-18 kWh of energy per trip. And the fuel cell works around the clock and successfully replenishes this reserve, and even feeds the ship's instruments, computers and crew cell phones. The solar battery also contributed.

However, to save hydrogen, the batteries were also recharged from the network during stops. As a result, the barge, to the delight of the crew, became almost silent, stopped poisoning people and the environment with stinking diesel exhaust, and in addition reduced carbon dioxide emissions (if hydrogen is obtained without the use of fossil fuels).

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