fuel cell technology :: essays research papers

Fuel cubicle technology 1Running head FUEL CELL applied science TRANSPORTATION AND RESIDENTAL/ COMMERICAL APPLICATIONSFuel Cell Technology Transportation and residential/ commercial message applications Monique University2A send away cell is an electrochemical sinew transition device. A fuel cell converts the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water, and in the exercise it produces galvanizingity. With a fuel cell, chemicals constantly persist into the cell so it never goes dead as long as there is a flow of chemicals into the cell, the electricity flows out of the cell. Most fuel cells in use at once use hydrogen and oxygen as the chemicals. Fuel cell provides a DC (direct current voltage that can be used to advocate motors, lights or any number of electrical appliances. The fuel cell go away compete with many other types of energy conversion devices, including the gas turbine in your citys power plant, the gasoline engine in your car and the battery in your laptop. Combus tion engines like the turbine and the gasoline engine burn fuels and use the atmospheric pressure created by the expansion of the gases to do mechanical work. Batteries converted chemical energy back into electrical energy when needed. Fuel cells should do both tasks more than efficiently. Fuel cells improve battered powered cars and gasoline powered cars more efficiently. Fuel-cell-powered electric cars are powered with pure hydrogen. It has the potential to be up to 80% 3efficient, and with todays gas prices that would be wonderful. The capability of a gasoline-powered car is surprisingly low. All of the heat that comes out as exhaust or goes into the radiator is wasted energy. The engine also uses a hand out of energy turning the various pumps, fans and generators that keep it going. So the boilersuit power of an automotive gas engine is some 20%. That is, only about 20% of the thermal-energy content of the gasoline is converted into mechanical work. The efficiency of an el ectric car is 72% for the car, 40% for the power plant and 90% for charging the car. That gives an overall efficiency of 26%. The overall efficiency varies considerably depending on what soma of power plant is used. If the electricity for the car is generated by a hydroelectric plant for instance, then it is basically free (we didnt burn any fuel to generate it), and the efficiency of the electric car is about 65%. 4Efficiency is not the only consideration, however. People will not sweat a car just because it is the most efficient if it makes them change their behavior.