Hydrogen fuel cell project?

Question

I'm studying mechatronic engineering and I had been given a project title analysis hydrogen fuel cell for mobile robot. can anyone suggest what analysis can be done, because from what i've search and read from the internet, this title is more to chemical part. And i wonder, what type of analysis that can be done, that is related to my mechatronics.

Answer 1

Honda has a car with Hydrogen Fuel Cells

I gave you the link belong maybe it can answer some questions.

Answer 2

It sounds like you are supposed to consider whether hydrogen fuel cell is a good choice to power a mobile robot, as compared to other options like batteries.

So consider..

the weight of the fuel cell plant

how much current and total power it generates

how long can the system run on a 'recharge' of hydrogen as compared to a battery

is the system safe to perform tasks of battery powered robots , like fire fighting and explosive cleanup

batteries tend to provide lower voltage and lower peak current as the charge is used, is HFC better?

what is the chance of breakdown when the robot is out of reach?

I hope this helps

Answer 3

I'm a retired professional mechanical engineer and can't really help you with your project but I can enlighten you on a few facts about hydrogen projects.

The hydrogen atom is the smallest atom and will penetrate virtually anything.  There are vast distances between the molecules of any solid and the hydrogen atom can easily move between them.  Hydrogen is very explosive with the explosive limits ranging from 5% to around 96% and takes specail handling to be safe.

It takes more energy to separate hydrogen from water than you get back when it is converted back.  Remember, there's no such thing as perpetural motion.

We can however use the earths wind, sunlight, rivers and tides to produce hydrogen from water and in the future may have to do so as we deplete the coal, gas and oil we now have.

Hydrogen fuel cells show promise and deserve decent research to determine the feasibilty of them.

Good luck on you project, only wish I could help.

Answer 4

You can look at how much energy is required to run the robot and how much energy the fuel cell will be able to provide.