Why This Hydrogen Fuel Cell is Engineering Genius
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
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Hydrogen fuel cells are a fantastic way to generate electricity from energy dense hydrogen, that can be produces using renewable energy. This means they are a great option for low carbon transportation, especially as the distances get longer! However, aviation has always been a challenge. Thankfully, ZeroAvia have been working on an amazing new technology: turbo charged air cooled high-temperature pem fuel cells. These have much higher power densities and therefore enable long distance hydrogen electric flight. I went to their labs to check it out!
Check out ZeroAvia here:
zeroavia.com/
Credits:
Producer: Ryan Hughes
Research: Sian Buckley and Ryan Hughes
Video Editing: @aniokukade and Ryan Hughes
Music: Joris Šimaitis
#engineering #hydrogen #breakthrough - Наука та технологія
This breakthrough is what happens when engineers look at a problem at a system level! Amazing work. Also, don't forget to check out the interactive courses from Brilliant! Use my link at brilliant.org/ziroth/ for 30 days FREE and 20% off a subscription!
Pro tip: don't put "insane" in your header. In 2024, it means "mediocre clickbait".
this is what happens when i allow my ideas into my surface thoughts where they can be farmed
Lighten up fr
Francis. 😅
The real question is, when will the AI videos start popping up crediting Leon Musk with this development. 😂
Another energy storage device for even the large electric planes I'm conceptualizing for the market, ones that'll be in sized with like the Boeing 737 or larger, like up to even 747 size.
Don't worry, I've figured out a power delivery system that'll be in place of the motors needed to even get the plane airborne.
Pro tip: don't put "insane" in your header. In 2024, it means "mediocre clickbait".
please @ZirothTech , listen to him, this is not the best title
Unfortunately it's what the youtube algorithm likes though.
Agree. 'Insane' is an instant 'skate over'. If something is insane then it has no place in applied technology.
'insane' 'another level'
Right like come on now, if it was, "insane" it would be broadcast like pearl harbor, moon landing or the end of world wars... The only thing insane is the need for this creator to pay his bills.. just get a normal job and be productive, youtube is a productive diverter... Like for real
Again "slapping a turbo on it" was the solution.
at least they're using turbos in a creative way, rather than just using it to replace displacement.
When in doubt.. Turbo
Just slap a turbo sticker on something and it’s better.
As an Engineering Phsicist by education, I truly appreciate everything the turbochargers can offer. The best thing they offer in cars or airplanes are red-orange blowtorches under the cowlings. Hence, my Son's dead Subaru WRX in my driveway. That I could barbecue on the hood for ~2 hours after engine shutdown.
I've flown in the back of several turbocharged twin-engined Cessnas. 340, 414 and 421. During the day everything looks "cool"/fine. At night, the terrifying orange-red glow from behind the engine in front of a 1/16" stainless steel firewall. Does not inspire confidence in engineering, design or longevity. No haters please. Properly maintained twin Cessnas are excellent if you fly them carefully, take care of the ~310-375 HP engines that are 285HP in a N/A setup. And fly them as far below gross weight as possible. The problem is they are cheap to buy and very expensive to maintain. And people overload them all of the time. Because? If there's 6 or 7 seats. Then that's what you can put in their spacious cabins. Right? Plus everybody's baggage in the nose for the vacation trip to a high altitude airport.
@@wanderingbufoon this comment makes no sense. The usage of a turbocharger to increase power was insanely creative. And it doesn't replace displacement, any displacement engine could use a turbocharger. It increases efficiency. Why waste energy out your exhaust when you can recover it, use it to compress your intake charge so you can burn more fuel.
This company seems primarily focused on the efficiency in the functioning of the fuel cell itself rather than one of the biggest problems of this application. In order to really compete on distance, you need liquid hydrogen. Liquid hydrogen is stored at -253° C and that presents some serious problems for a plane
I would like a video where all the challenges are laid bare.
A small company for small problem
You are correct! The real barrier to hydrogen-fueled airliners is NOT the efficiency or cooling-system weight of the fuel cell, but how to transport the required hydrogen. Even liquid hydrogen is very bulky (1/4 of the energy density of Jet Fuel)... to which bulk you have to add the very consequent insulation of tanks to hold the .253°C (-423°F) hydrogen in safety!
Then, there is the cost! It costs, in 2024 dollars, around $3.40 per kg ONLY to liquify the hydrogen (source: www.hydrogen.energy.gov/docs/hydrogenprogramlibraries/pdfs/19001_hydrogen_liquefaction_costs.pdf?Status=Master)
Add the $4-5 per kg it WILL cost, sometime in the future (now, it is still much more expensive than that) to produce "green" hydrogen. Add the very high storage and distribution costs of liquid hydrogen, and your kg of hydrogen going into an airplane will be at least $10... vs around $0.86/kg for Jet Fuel!!! (BTW, the price of pressurized, i.e. not liquified, hydrogen at fueling stations in Europe and California is presently $16-36/kg!!!)
Sure, hydrogen contains 3 times more energy per kg than Jet Fuel... but how much more in practice, once you account for the weight of the respective containers (tanks) and associated systems? Maybe only double as much!
Sure, the efficiency of a fuel-cell + associated electric power plant is significantly higher than that of a turboprop engine! But still not nearly enough to compensate for 10+ TIMES the cost per kg! And how do make a jet engine run electric?
And finally, there is the HUGE of hydrogen safety to solve, especially in an aeronautical application!
That & Now if only we had a GIANT deposit of Platinum.... Oh right, we don't so--> useless.
@@w8stral Very good point!
There just IS NOT enough platinum for a transition of the road fleet to hydrogen fuel-cells. But for aircraft possibly. It depends how much Pt these fuel cells require. As EVs replace ICE cars, the platinum presently going into catalytic converters will become available for other uses.
While not taking anything away from this work no actual data of thermodynamic efficiency was presented, additionally the current cost of both fuel cells and electrolisers are very high. Producing hydrogen is always going to be very expensive. More energy must go in to produce the hydrogen than ca be extracted (therodynamics). A lot different to drilling a hole in the ground and getting oil out.
Clearly looking for PR and grant money.... Just that "slight" problem that this requires TONS of Platinum to make it work which --> we do not have.
@karlwithak. You are obviously challenged scientifically on the subject. Multiple gases absorb infra red radiation and re-radiate it at lower atmosphere levels causing warming. The more of those gases and CO2 and CH4 are the main anthropocentric ones the faster the planet heats up. Denying reality will not make it go away.
This is a GREAT introductory explanation of fuel cells. Thanks.
Thanks David! I learnt a lot whilst making this
When the thumbnail says, "+350% power!", it might as well be one bajillion kajillion power! You mean, more than a Tardigrade? Awful.
Can you please explain/translate your above comment as though to an 8 year old that was shaken as a baby? I've reread it 5 or 6 times now and am quite intrigued.
I wasn't award tardigrades were a unit of power. You on the pipe again, Craig?
Haven't high temp fuel cells always been more efficient? That was the big issue in fuel cell development early on. You could get plenty of reliability and power from a high temperature fuel cell, but your car had to heat up to work properly.
Also, power from fuel cells has never been the issue. It's always been that hydrogen is slippery. It can leak out of most fittings and can even squeeze in between molecules of solid objects.
@karlwithak. 37 gigatons. 74 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide was put into the atmosphere last year. An all time high btw. In order to plant enough trees just to stabilize the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, every person on the planet would need to plant 138 trees. So effectively, humanity is tossing gigatons of trees into the atmosphere. I hardly think it's inconsequential.
What bothers me are sensational environmental pieces that make people passive. They think "Oh it's ok, we've almost got this fixed." So there's nothing to worry about.
I guess aviation as a target is a lot more sensible then. Commercial aviation has a lot more maintenance and regulation for it's fuel and fuel tanks already so the premium for fuel tanks with better seals won't be so impactful. Once the planes turn on, they're on for at least an hour up to 12 hours so no short on-off cycling like a car. Airports being the only places where to tank up will make the supporting infrastructure easier: there might be hundreds more gas pumps than airports. Finally, unloading the unspent hydrogen from landed planes if they will also be feasible with the airport infrastructure.
Things still break faster even if you inspect them regularly, adding cost. Also, liquid hydrogen is a pain in the ass.
"If there were no challenges, it would be done already."
20:08
I just loved the phrase
No mention of hydrogen storage? How much bleed off is there? Is the tank in an aircraft somewhere in the fuselage? The tech sounds good but there is always the problem of keeping the fuel at super low temperatures.
I think pulse-tube cryocooling is used because hydrogen must need lab-level cooling to become a liquid, so it's denser!
Less of a problem in a plane than with a car. Planes do scheduled flights, so cryogenic storage, will be filled before flights.
Exactly, it then becomes a choice between H2 powered turbo-jet/prop vs fuel-cell electric propulsion systems.
Turbo wins hands down.
I wanted to focus on the fuel cell here as hydrogen storage has been covered many times before - but there may be follow up videos on the other developments in ZeroAvias power train to come!
@@ZirothTech It is a highly interesting concept they are pursuing. Efficiency of fuel cells go up with higher temperature. the band gap in the catalyst is easier to overcome. Using a turbo as cogeneration, is proper engineering = using the available waste energy for something useful. Clearly this is not a "one gimmick" startup.
thank you for sharing these awesome ideas and inventions, having an interest for renewable and clean energy, it is great to see so many new ideas popping up
Great review, thanks. Looks like the way to go..
Another awesome video - super cool to have the interviews :)
Hey @ZirothTech first time viewer but someone with decades of experience in aviation and covering clean / renewable energy. You did a fine job on a very complicated subject. Well done. Appreciated how you established that while not a widely commercialized technology, PEM fuel cells have been an operational technology in specific applications for a very long time.
It does not matter how well any hydrogen system operates. The massive problem hydrogen has is its production storage and distribution. Considering is propensity to permiate just about any material these are massive.
Yes, I am lucky to be able to talk about this with an engineer whose job is hydrogen storage.
@karlwithak.even if they were, fossil fuels have a definite end, it will come, no matter what. It's just not sustainable, dirty in acquisition and very wasteful and inefficient with energy in general. Shit makes no sense => maybe we should look for alternatives...
True true and true, it's money or/and research to get there. Now let me ask you, how can you replace natural gas or just petroleum/gas. You can't replace the cars for electric, not feasible for any grid in the world. Same for natural gas.
Even though storage is a problem ,it's a space problem, not an energy to compress the problem as hydrogen has a massively lower molar density, so it's very easily compressable.
@@bernardomacara6284 Wrong. EVs can be supplied by the grid in most countries with only small improvements. It is just like the increase in capacity required bt the widespread adoption of air conditioning in the US in the 1960s.
@@bernardomacara6284 By what stretch of the petroleum industiy's fears do you (they) reason that the world cannot replace their admittiedly extensive and expensive distribution network with the other network that is largely already in place? Further developement of home solar and localised wind generation is already having a large effect and scaring the millionaire executives right out of their cosy little nests.
Stack improvements were very cool to see. Have you heard of any promising advancements in Hydrogen storage? A long time ago I saw a lot of work in sold state storage but haven't heard much since. Seems we are still just using high pressure tanks to store the gas.
Solid state hydrogen storage was a scam.
Fascinating!... and there is even more information in the comments section!... that gives hope for the future... if we survive the ''energy wars''...
Chapters would be nice. Great episode!
Well, although that company is based in the USA, I'd have to say that it's about as international a team as you could find anywhere. Looking forward to seeing how they get on.
Insane video! Exciting to see Zero Avia from the inside!
The picture of the Boeing 787 at the beginning is misleading though as no one is expecting that size/range anytime soon. An A320/737 would have been more appropriate but a Dash-8 probably the most honest airplane to show at that point
They're talking about reducing the weight of cooling water, but planes already carry tons of fuel. What's the comparison in weight?
better fuel economy and balance
Like you said, planes carry tons of fuel. Without the extra weight of the coolant, they can carry more fuel for more range. Besides, if the plane was traveling between places like California and Utah, the pilots and crew would only put in enough fuel for the trip, plus some for loitering, not a full tank.
@@WolfeSaber9933 Good pernt.
If you listened, it’s air cooled
@@WolfeSaber9933I think you will find they do not carry lots of fuel....modern turbo-fan engines dont use fuel.........
Incredible, thank's so much for the excellent video, the content alone is incredibly informative and valuable but your narration, editing and videography skills are fantastic. It would be so cool to see this technology applied for marine applications as well, the heat is incredibly useful for things like heating living quarters, water makers, and generators because the power to weight ratios are less demanding in such an application space.
Good watch ty for sharing.
Interesting video. It would be nice to see a diagram or animation about how the turbo is integrated into this design and how the propulsion is achieved. I'm struggling to understand how the energy is transported and managed in this engine - even though I understand turbos and fuel cells independently.
This is a wonderful development
The ultimate fuel cell is Methane solid oxide fuel cells - they can hit 95% chemical to electrical energy conversion without breaking a sweat! Only issue is they're expensive. But I'd be willing to bet that will change soon.
Doesn‘t this create CO2 emissions? Is there or will there be ‚green‘ methane?
@@RichelieuUnlimited the water vapor from the H2 fuel cell is as much or more of a contributor to warming as methane and way more than CO2
@@terryevans1976 Well, we will need a net negative in greenhouse gas emissions at a point in the not so distant future, if hydrogen isn’t a viable alternative, than we will just have to ban flying. Or we don’t release water vapor into the atmosphere, instead storing and condensing it onboard.
Don't release water vapor?! So no breathing either 😂 @@RichelieuUnlimited
@@RichelieuUnlimited Methane makes the least CO2 of any carbon-based fuel, but if you're worried about CO2 yes there are many renewable methane sources.
Great video but the key metric that they ‘forgot’ to tell us is the efficiency. The Mirai fuel cell is less than 50%.
It is not the whole truth about FCs. Fuel cell efficiency strongly depends on the power rate. At 20% of maximum power it could have more than 60% efficiency.
@@Torx-uh3uo20% max power is not much use for an aircraft.
Very well-done video. Clear and detailed. The chap said the system power density was 2Kg/kW. A Lycoming IO360 engine is described as 250g/kW (although wikipedia data suggests more like 850g/kW. I'm guessing that system power is the whole fuel cell with ancilliaries, but doesn't include fuel tanks, which is obviously much heavier for hydrogen than avgas. Some more detail from people who know about aero engines on how this power density compares with existing engines (piston, turboprop, turbofan). Obviously what actually matters is the whole system motor+fuel cell+tanks+ancilliaries. Also what do we know about volumetric power density? I must admit to having no idea what the factor of power density increase is from a piston engine to a turboprop engine to a turbofan engine. It does look like these things can compete with the piston engines, which is an excellent start, but I'm guessing we have a way to to go for the jets?
They archived 2kw/kg density ? well guess the energy density of jet fuel with modern jet engines its between 10kw-12kw/kg.
Really think of SOFC when talking high temperature. How are they getting around the low volumetric energy density of hydrogen? Isn’t most of their test vehicle fuel tank?
FYI: Alaska Airlines is NOT a "regional" airline. It flies internationally. Not a complaint, just a correction.
Thanks for the clarification!
Kontak Hydrogen Storage has patented technology that stores hydrogen on ammonia at 7 BAR. Our compact Reactor is 80% efficient and stores twice as much hydrogen as compressed and 43% more than liquid without cryogenic temperatures. As ammonia is converted, the aircraft becomes significantly lighter since the storage vessels are much lighter. Refueling times to 100% of capacity are far shorter than battery recharging.
wonderful video ziroth! :)
This is a seriously great video. This looks like very promising tech.
Manufacturing and storing hydrogen is not easy, much less cheap, and can only be obtained on an industrial scale in a few places on Earth. It's looking like another promise to save humanity without much practical basis.
Nothing good comes easy !
Great to see improvements in fuel cell technology.
I am looking forward to seeing someone develop a hydrogen generator that can produce sufficient hydrogen for the fuel cells consumption without having to store large amounts of a dangerous substance. i.e. produce it as required?? that would be a real breakthrough.
It sounding promising, but feeling that I’m missing key info here.
Main interest:
- cost per flight
- initial cost
- safety after wear & tear
- cost & frequency of maintenance
- complexity of repairs (emerging markets, global coverage)
These offset to traditional methods. And prognosis by a non-biased source.
That would be investor’s journalism.
Very interesting !
What is the exhaust flow that is spinning the turbo? Is it the water vapor biproduct of the fuel cell?
Great work ZeroAvia. You are developing a power source for the future of the world. I wish you all the success possible.
Bonus that the (waste) heat can be used now - curious if the platinum can be recycled out of the stack at the end of life. Pretty cool stuff.
Global hydrogen car sales fall 30.2% in 2023. According to Korean research company SNE Research, 14,451 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) were sold worldwide in 2023. This is 30.2% less than in 2022.
21:35 new type of propeller? nope, it's not new. i first heard about this "new" type of propeller decades ago in germany, and i doubt it was new even back then.
Good spot - I actually talk about the history of it in the video! What I meant to say was a new design of an existing propeller!
Problem with Hydrogen is not the energy generation, its the creation and transport. Japan is investigating in red Hydrogen, but they are the only country that is investigating in its infrastructure.
Creation of hydrogen is a separate problem compared to energy density. While it’s not very sustainable to generate hydrogen it still has the added benefit of being very energy dense compared to batteries and basically 0 emissions. So while the Creation of hydrogen is still a problem, it is the key thing that could enable more sustainable aviation. Battery aviation is just not an option at the moment with current battery tech, especially long distance. Practical long distance aviation is the nut they are trying to crack.
Once we figure out how to enable hydrogen use in aviation, more sustainable ways of creation will come along. There needs to be a market first.
@@King_Cole useful hydrogen, aka compressed hydrogen storage, is not energy dense it is around 600 wh/kg and 300 wh/l at 5000 psi. If you increase the psi, you increase wh/l but decrease wh/kg.
@@King_Colefunny how people think there will not be major advances in tech and incentives for change when the cost and regulations hit a certain threshold.
Like gas pumps and supply chains just appeared out of nowhere and never posed any challenges or increases in safety, efficiency and cost reduction.
@@nameberry220 I think your estimates are way off. A real world example is the Hydrogen powered Toyota Mirai which operates at ~10,000 PSI and a hydrogen energy density of about 20000 wh/kg. That's way different than what you quoted. That is about 5-10 times more energy dense than lithium for perspective.
However, I don't think Hydrogen is the answer to everything. It's just another option especially when it comes to long distance like aviation or shipping.
The "green hydrogen" problem definitely still needs to be solved before this can become fully sustainable and readily available.
@@lucbloomThere are certain physical limits, you cannot cheat the laws of physics.
But, I think for aircraft where cost is less of an issue, pressurized cooled hydrogen will probably be the answer.
Where does all the Platinum come from at scale?
From all of the catalytic converters in ICEs that are no longer required.
Emerald Tailor is such a high tier name. Her green sparkly outfits must be amazing. 😂
An additional source of application is the space industry and of course the Military for a power source for electro rocket fuel for attitude trusters and short term controlled propulsion.
Seems great for power output but did I miss the efficiency figures?
Nice. Would be great even for scaling down where paramotors can run off hydrogen instead of heavy batteries.
Intresting Product would however like to understand the Delta between the existing systems available today. While i understand this will be better. How much better are we talkin about?
is it only the Thermal Regulation system weight reduction the benefit or is there more to it. Simple example between the 2 systems being installed in an airplain would help to visualize this.
Those are some sweet animations
Wishing them luck!
Just go for it - your dedication is amasing❤️
Technologies we were dreaming about three years ago are coming into reality now at an alarming speed of invention and no controls.
There has been a recent discovery of several natural hydrogen (deposits)..if I’m not mistaken, anyone know more about the quality and cost of collecting natural hydrogen?
Mixed up with all sorts of other stuff and there is nowhere near enough of the stuff anyway.
You don't need more power density, you need more volume density. You can already use batteries or other assistance for takeoff, then recharge the batteries slowly with a normal temperature fuel cell. You need the batteries anyway to heat the fuel cell.
Lots of words on many topics except one - exactly how much better/worse is it than what we have currently (in %). Too much hype!
This is the kind of video that makes me very happy. First of all because of the hopeful technology that can really change our carbon footprint. But also because the video is very clear and made very well. I don't see any room for improvement, and if you would have read my other comments on UA-cam video's (which I don't think you could), you would know that this is a rare thing. It's just so sad that I can give only one thumbs up.
These are better than the fuel cells on the Space Shuttle. Wild
The space shuttle is over 40 years old.
if it's generating so much heat, I wonder if a thermoelectric casing might be viable some day (they're working on higher-efficiency, lower temp TEG's so 🤷)
Hydrogen is the answer !
Agreed 100%
Thank you for your work in this field ❤
Interesting here are some thoughts.... The fuel cell with hot water leaving cell could be built into heat engine piston which could allow for pulsed high temperature and cooling cycles. This allows higher peak temperatures with lower average temperatures, so get electricity from fuel cell, and heat engine also provides comprssion and maybe some extra electricity.
Ballard had civic buses on fuel cells. BC also had first in service electric Cesna sized plane.
One of the challenges will be nitrogen oxide formation at high temperatures... the main reason why catalytic converters were added to cars 50+ years ago.
How the hell can the fuel cell be developed in the 1960s and now sixty years later the we have not really progressed with this technology ??? Finally others are picking up the torch and going forward. Good luck to you guys !!!!
I'd argue this technology is insane! I mean if some guy came up to me and started babbling techno speak at me and saying it would change the world I'd assume he was insane. 😅
I first learnt about this 'change the world' thing 50 years ago, it will be around for some time.
INCREDIBLE! How there are people out there really working for a better world! Imagine a world without the pollution of Airplane Engines?!
That still doesn’t address the volatility of hydrogen, particularly in a crash situation! I still see no future of hydrogen in aviation unless the volatility can be managed and fully controlled in a crash situation! To develop a powerful turbine is the least of all challenges!
What is the turbine/solar panel to propulsion efficiency?
110% derpa derpa
@@billbaden742
I think the person who states that 110% is an engineering thing is a redneck mate.
useful hydrogen, aka compressed hydrogen storage, is not energy dense it is around 600 wh/kg and 300 wh/l at 5000 psi. If you increase the psi, you increase wh/l but decrease wh/kg.
It's very interesting. How does it compare efficiency-wise to just burning the hydrogen in a modified jet turbine?
Good question. Modern jet engines are around 70% efficient I believe.
Current "conventional" fuel cell systems are in so many ways a few times, to orders of magnitude worse than turbine engines for powering flight. Sure, increasing the temperature gives you a number of interesting potential benefits, decreasing the number of times worse and orders of magnitude worse some aspects are compared to turbine engines. Developing such systems is closer to basic research than commercialization of known technologies. The basic fact that Toyota et. al. haven't chosen that route, with their billions of dollars spent on R&D suggests it's not realistic that some startup will figure out how to design a system that's much better than low temperature systems. And, just a few times better still won't make it fuel cells viable for powering airplanes.
If they can achieve 2 kW/kg on a system level, fuel cell system, not including tanks, or motors, but everything needed to turn hydrogen into power, and make it reliable, with reasonable energy efficiency, that would be very impressive, but still really really bad for aviation.
One of many issues with fuel cells is that each molecule of oxygen and hydrogen needs to find it's "partner" to react with, from either side of a membrane, on a molecular level. That is a huge fundamental issue, and among other things, that means, for any given system, the higher the power output the lower the efficiency will be, which makes aviation the worst possible application for fuel cells.
A comparison, for jet engines, it depends in the engine and size of the bird if the motor ingesting a bird is a significant issue or not. For fuel cells, even grains of pollen invisible to the naked eye that gets into the fuel cell is an issue that will reduce performance and efficiency. For a jet engine, pollen that gets sucked in are bonus fuel.
While hydrogen isn't a very practical fuel for anything that needs to have reasonable cost, and turbine engines are not easy to develop, developing a hydrogen turbine engine electric hybrid system could be considered very reasonable, compared to fuel cell based system, for aviation.
Stupid idea , but cant you use te heat in the exaust and inject it with the 0² produced into the hot air to create steam before the turbo that will increase the pressure in the turbo making it spin faster ?
Wonder if this can be used for Shipping??
How do you store it?
How much power needed for electrolysis ?.
how energy efficient is it compared to a toyota mirai?
What is the final efficiency reached?
+350% from what to what efficiency.
Is NOx an issue with high temperatures in a fuel cell?
As I understand, simply heating gaseous nitrogen in presence of oxygen will not form NOx gasses! This can be done with molecules containing Nitrogen (like Aluminium Nitrate), but not gas. ICE engines produce NOx due to the explosive combustion process in the cylinders.
18:59 or so: This is honestly where this tech is more important. Airplanes are unlikely to be improved by this, synthetic fuels are probably a better answer there. But heavy machinery and large land-based vehicles are harmed less by their fueling system needing to be larger - which is the primary problem with using hydrogen.
Flying will always need a lot more energy than making a train rolling. The future of aviation is a hundred time less aviation
Really excellent technical content. Don't be afraid to touch on the history a little more, like Sir William Grove and Francis Thomas Bacon, as it provides context to how fuel cells have evolved. It should have a wider audience appeal too.
How does the catalyst hold up in practice?
As far as fuel cell tech goes, the biggest issue is platinum usage.
But in terms of hydrogen broadly the issue is still one of storage. Liquid hydrogen is incredibly dense but needs to be insulated and ventilated to prevent a high pressure gas explosion as the cryogenic liquid heats up. Compressed gas doesn't need to be kept cold, but it is way less dense and the tanks need to be strong and heavy to contain the pressure.
Solid state hydrogen is a joke. It is stable and very safe but has a very poor energy density for its weight.
This is certainly interesting and exciting but I don't think it does much to solve the core issues. It may help mitigate some of the other issues though so I wish them the best.
I 'm always wondering why they don't uses Stirling engine instead of turbo to recycle the heat coming from the exhaust water. Is it too complicated ?
I wonder if they have even installed a cold air intake to condense the free oxygen content of air to increase reactions
*It makes more sense to burn the hydrogen in a gas turbine powering a large propeller!*
The problem with hydrogen still exists of it taking a decent amount of electricity to make in high quantities considering a lot of the worlds power still uses things like coal it is not a green as everyone thinks but maybe renewable energy could possibly cover it one day
I know what you can use the "extra" heat for. I live in Northeast America, and this heat can keep my feet and fingers warm and deice my windshield, while I drive around in the snow in winter :)
This system gets rid of co2 from aircraft, so cool.
What is the component of the atmosphere that creates global warming more than anything else?
Water vapour, the very thing that exhausts from these fuel cells.
Hydrogen is about 25% of the efficiency of battery storage, so we should really only be using it in applications where batteries absolutely fundamentally cannot get the job done, which is not personal transportation...
Pity politicians aren't as smart as these people.
Even if the hydrogen is dirty, it'll be better than having every single plane spread pollutant in the air. At least the focus can be on power plant efficiency while the planes in the air are not polluting.
Great video
Hydrogen is a notorious element to store. Whoever cracks a low loss or even a no loss method of hydrogen storage will be the winner in the coming decades.
I'm a Huge proponent of H2 as a power-storage medium, so this technical development is very exciting, just in general terms. However, I remember a technical analysis from a decade ago, re: using H2 for aviation - in this, the analysts stated that there is a serious technical problem with dumping water vapor (in quantity) into the high troposphere/low stratosphere. Supposedly, there is a fundamental problem with the interaction between high-altitude water vapor and the Ozone layer (something to do with the formation of Stratospheric clouds, when temperature drops below some threshold) - apparently, this Is A Bad Thing... Just something to mention...
Forget Hydrogen cells... They need to make them run on water!
I wonder if there’s enough energy coming out of that exhaust turbine shaft to power a small refrigerator unit? Now we’re getting that cool air for free.
Would like to have seen something in action to get a bit of picture of the whole story, a good animated picture of how it all works would be nice, otherwise I just seen a lot of things, 😮
I’d love a 200 hp fuel cell and supporting equipment that fits in the volume of a Lycoming IO360, and provides 4 hours of endurance on tanks of H2, the outer mold lines of the set of tanks occupying no more than the equivalent of 60 gallons of 100LL at standard atmosphere and pressure.
You might be waiting a while. 😊
So efficiency?
GO HYDROGEN IF YOU WANT TO WASTE 66% ENERGY 😂
Since they're not claiming any efficiency benefits, assume it's the same as currently available fuel cells.
@@sciencetestsubject Nah he would have said something about it if it where at least as good. So its probably worse