Boeing's HALE (high altitude long endurance) unmanned aircraft runs on hydrogen fuel.
(Credit: Boeing)Boeing is reporting progress in simulation tests of its HALE (high altitude long endurance) aircraft, an unmanned plane that runs on hydrogen.
While it has not yet gone aloft, the propeller-driven HALE aircraft was able to run for a total of three days in a chamber that simulated flight at 65,000 feet. The eventual goal is to get it to fly for more than a week at a time with a one-ton payload.
The turbocharged hydrogen combustion engine, which was developed by Ford Motor, managed to maintained proper torque control while getting better than expected fuel usage, according to Boeing. Boeing was particularly impressed with the aircraft's endurance, according to a company statement this week.
The gasoline version of the engine is used in the Ford Fusion and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles, according to the automaker.
The HALE aircraft is a drone that could be used as a tool for border patrol, communication, telecommunications, general surveillance, battlefield intelligence gathering, reconnaissance missions, and port security.
UAVs are a hot field for development and actual use these days as an economical alternative to manned aircraft. The Pentagon is especially drawn to them: Just last month, the Air Force began flying the Reaper UAV--a bigger, more heavily armed version of the Predator--on missions in Afghanistan. The aircraft have civilian uses, too: NASA has its own (unarmed) version of the Predator, called Ikhana, that is being used to monitor fires in California.
Successful testing of the Boeing HALE aircraft could help convince people that hydrogen power is a viable option for aircraft, Boeing said.
Ecotality is lending its hydrogen technology expertise to a municipal electricity project that aims to squeeze natural gas from coal without emitting carbon dioxide.
The company is partnering with the Arizona Public Service public utility company, which received $8.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy for its Advanced Hydrogasification Project (AHP), according to Ecotality.
Hydrogasification is a process in which natural gas is made from coal without releasing the pollutant carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
For the AHP project, Ecotality will contribute its so-called Hydrality technology, a process it developed in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory that produces hydrogen from magnesium pellets and water, with water as the only byproduct. The company has previously used the Hydrality process as an inboard source of power for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
In this case, the Hydrality process will be examined to figure out reactor and storage dynamics for large-scale hydrogen production. The hydrogen will be used in a high-temperature and high-pressure reaction with coal to produce methane.
Ecotality has been expanding its interests beyond hydrogen fuel and electricity. In September, the company purchased Innergy, a San Diego, Calif.-based company that makes mobile solar power technology, and in June it bought the fuel cell retailer Fuel Cell Store.
Las Vegas adds two Ford H2 Ice E-450 buses to its fleet.
(Credit: Ford Motor)Here's something you can brag about to your family the next time you get back from Las Vegas.
The city has added two hydrogen fuel buses from Ford Motor to its downtown bus routes. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman hosted an inaugural launch for the press on Monday.
The city of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Valley Water District's Springs Preserve have already been participating in municipal hydrogen pilot programs. The Springs Preserve hydrogen filling station makes its own hydrogen from water and electricity generated by the station's solar panels.
Now tourists and citizens interested in hydrogen as an alternative fuel source can test out what it's like to ride in such vehicles themselves. The buses will be part of the City Ride program and offer express rides between the city's downtown area and the Las Vegas Premium Outlets shopping district.
The Ford E-450 model, referred to as the Ford H2 Ice, is not a hybrid using hydrogen to power fuel cells, but a vehicle with a 6.8-liter V10 engine that has been converted to run on hydrogen fuel. Las Vegas already has some trucks in its city fleet that were combustion engine vehicles converted to run on hydrogen fuel, but these are the first that will be frequented by tourists and average citizens.
The two buses, which are being leased for two years from Ford for $500,000, are being paid for by a U.S. Department of Energy grant that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helped Nevada to get.
"First, they will encourage people to use public transportation downtown. Second, they rely on clean energy that won't pollute our air. I am proud to see the city of Las Vegas taking even more steps to reduce Nevada's reliance on oil," Reid said in a statement.
GM's hydrogen fuel cell Volt, shown at the Shanghai Auto Show.
(Credit: General Motors Photo/ Natalie Behring)Hydrogen is lightweight and efficient as a fuel. When it burns, you get water as the exhaust, and the fuel cell technology that burns the gas is well developed. The major hang-up has been how to produce hydrogen without needing lots of fossil-derived energy.
Apparently, the way to cheap hydrogen is through aluminum. Purdue researchers earlier this year announced they'd found a way to use aluminum to get hydrogen from water. Today a Chinese ceramicist who did graduate work in Portugal says there's an even simpler way to derive hydrogen. This process uses powdered aluminum at room temperature, under normal atmospheric pressure. This use of modified aluminum powder could promise a cheap way to produce hydrogen for fuel cells.
It's long been engineers' hope to power everything from portable devices to cars with power cells. We have video of experimental hydrogen-powered cars here.
The Chevy Equinox
(Credit: GM)General Motors looks like it is serious about this whole hydrogen fuel cell business. The company announced today that it had moved over 500 engineers from development duties over to groups focused on the production of fuel-cell-powered vehicles.
According to GM, more than 400 of its fuel cell engineers will now report to its Powertrain Group to begin production engineering of fuel cell systems. A further 100 fuel cell experts are being moved to a separate group focused on integrating fuel cells into future models.
While GM has already committed itself to putting 100 fuel-cell-powered Chevy Equinoxes on the road this year as part of its Project Driveway program, the sheer number of engineers that it is reallocating suggests that the company has its sights set on a much bigger deployment of hydrogen fuel cell cars in the foreseeable future.
There has been much hoopla around hydrogen fuel cell development of late, with the likes of Honda, Mercedes, and Ford trotting out prototypes and concepts to feed the demand for alternatives to gas engines, but GM's announcement represents one of the biggest commitments to developing the technology for the real-world market.
Today's news follows last month's news from Purdue University that scientists there had found a potentially new method for onboard creation of hydrogen in cars.
Ecotality, a maker of onboard hydrogen fuel generators, has acquired Fuel Cell Store, Ecotality announced Thursday.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquired online fuel cell retailer currently has distributors in Japan, Russia, Italy and Portugal, as well as in the U.S.
Ecotality said in a statement that the deal will help expand its relationships with universities and leading fuel cell manufacturers as well as the hydrogen technology industry.
More to the point, Fuel Cell Store's network of distributors and retailers could help Ecotality develop customers for its Hydratus, a type of generator used to power
Ecotality showcased a municipal concept bus to promote the company's projects in February. It did not have the Hydratus installed but promoted hydrogen fuel as a viable energy alternative. Hydrogen fuel cell buses outfitted with the system will cost about $500,000 on the commercial market, according to a company estimate.
The fuel cell-powered Honda FCX
(Credit: CNET Networks)In what looks like an example of modern-day alchemy, scientists at Purdue University in Indiana have come up with a way of turning water in hydrogen using an aluminum alloy. If the process is replicable on a large scale, it could have a massive impact on the market for hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars, which could use the technology as a source of onboard hydrogen generation.
The process relies on the use of aluminum pellets, which are mixed into liquid gallium (a metal that liquefies at just over room temperature) to produce a liquid aluminum-gallium. When water is added to the compound, the aluminum reacts with the oxygen to form a gel along with free-standing hydrogen, which can be collected and used to power a fuel cell. According to EDN, an Indiana-based start-up already has a license to commercialize the technology.
Many of the major automakers, including Honda, and General Motors, have invested heavily in developing fuel cell-powered cars. However, to date hydrogen has faced significant obstacles to becoming a viable alternative to gasoline, principally the expensive (and often carbon-fueled) process of isolating it, and the lack of a fueling infrastructure. The Purdue development has the potential to address both of these issues.
The Purdue announcement is the latest development in the race to create sustainable, on-demand sources of hydrogen. Earlier this year, a start-up company called Ecotality announced that it had enlisted the help of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to develop an advanced hydrogen-production process using magnesium and water.
Via EDN
An earlier picture of the Chevrolet Sequel in California.
(Credit: CNET Networks)We're envious. The editors over at AutoblogGreen got to take a 300-mile trip in the Chevrolet Sequel hydrogen fuel cell car. We don't just envy the driving experience, which in a fuel cell car involves completely smooth and quiet acceleration. And it's not just the length of the drive, which might be some sort of record given that the cars were on public roads. We also would have liked to spend time in a car that uses in-wheel motors, four-wheel steering, and all sorts of other revolutionary platform technology. For a full account of the drive, read AutoblogGreen's write-up.
Hydrogen cars rallying, Vancouver, Canada
(Credit: International Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Conference)Biofuel. Hybrid cars. Electric cars. Hydrogen. Those are some of the bright ideas in the future of car tech. Many proponents of the hydrogen fuel cell gathered in Vancouver, Canada, recently to discuss their problems and the promises.
This video from that conference shows hydrogen cars on the road. Models from four manufacturers made a 150-mile round trip during the meeting. DaimlerChrysler predicts that by 2015 there'll be millions of hydrogen cars on the road. The company claims that's not just a lot of hot air.
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