Global Thermoelectric - SOFC Fuel cells (GLE:TSE) Message Board

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Gold/Mining/Energy : Global Thermoelectric - SOFC Fuel cells (GLE:TSE)

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To: John E.Quinn who wrote (862)	4/19/1999 8:02:00 AM
From: blue_chip	of 6016

This is old from the toyota site Toyota is working to develop and incorporate its new fuel cell technology into a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). Fuel cells are the same type of energy source that power rockets while in orbit. Toyota has developed a fuel cell that uses methanol to produce electricity through an electro-chemical reaction. The energy conversion rate of Toyota's fuel cell is over 60 percent – two to three times better than that of gasoline engines! Vehicles that are powered by methanol fuel cells are considered electric vehicles because they do not have any type of internal combustion engine on board. Electricity generated by the fuel cell is used to power an electric motor that drives the vehicle. Toyota is interested in methanol-fueled systems due to the ease of refueling and the availability of the fuel. Methanol is a liquid fuel and can be stored in existing underground gas station tanks and dispensed with only minimal equipment changes. That also means that refilling the vehicle can be done as quickly as with a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are not considered zero-emission vehicles because carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxide (Nox) are by-products of the fuel cell reformation process. The advantage: fuel cell powered vehicles produce less than one-tenth the emissions of a conventional gasoline-powered engine. How Does It Work? The fuel cell is comprised of four main components: The methanol storage tank, a conversion device that transforms methanol into hydrogen, a fuel cell stack and a permanent-magnetic electric motor. To begin the chemical process of generating electricity in the fuel cell, the methanol fuel is mixed with water and passed through a fuel reformer. This reformer is comprised of a vaporizer, a reformer and a CO-selective oxidizer. What comes out of the reformer is called a reformative gas and is introduced into the negative electrode side of the fuel cell. The fuel cells themselves are made up of layers of electrolyte membranes, each with positive and negative electrodes. Hydrogen is fed into the negative side and air into the positive side. A catalyst on the negative electrode ionizes the hydrogen allowing the ions to migrate through the membrane toward the positive electrode. Negative ions freed by ionization are attracted to the positive electrode, but cannot pass through the membrane. Instead, they pass through an external circuit creating electricity. Once at the positive electrode, the free electrons recombine with the hydrogen ions, reacting with the oxygen in the air to form water, which is subsequently reused in the beginning of the methanol conversion process. Excess energy developed by the fuel cell can be stored in a battery for use when the fuel cell alone cannot provide sufficient electricity for the motor. The FCEV is also fitted with a regenerative braking system to aid in battery recharging, whereby coasting and braking convert the motor to a generator that is used to recharge the batteries. Further research into fuel cell technology continues on a daily basis at Toyota. We look forward to solving the technological challenges of fuel cell technology and eventually offering this type of technology as an environmentally-friendly alternative in vehicle power.

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