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Whatever Happened to Fuel Cells?

Posted on 04/22/2024 10:32:26 AM PDT by Freedom4US

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To: Freedom4US
Regarding the efficiency and efficacy of Fuel Cells:

The Laws of Thermodynamics Must be Followed

For further explanation, see “energy vector transition”

21 posted on 04/22/2024 10:55:07 AM PDT by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater & Thomas Sowell in 2024)
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To: Freedom4US

later


22 posted on 04/22/2024 10:58:42 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
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To: BradyLS

13 had a defective tank, that had been dropped, and wouldn’t vent, and so they “boiled” it out, considered acceptable. The internal wiring that was exposed to 65 volts was only rated for 28 volts DC. Oops. They were lucky that thing didn’t blow up at any other time, including on the pad. It was a bomb waiting to go off.

None or this has anything to do with the practicality of fuel cells in general. I don’t believe it would pencil out any efficiency”. There isn’t anything “efficient” about trying to keep beer cold in the desert in the first place.


23 posted on 04/22/2024 10:58:44 AM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: Freedom4US

Same thing that happened to flying cars. 🤡


24 posted on 04/22/2024 10:59:26 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: Freedom4US

The effluent from fuel cells is dihydrogen monoxide, a dangerous gas that contributes the most to climate change.


25 posted on 04/22/2024 11:01:13 AM PDT by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: Freedom4US
Micro Fuel Cells were going to be "the next big thing" for powering your electronics. I interviewed with a startup company commercializing them (didn't get the job). You'd have a small cartridge of methanol fuel that you would plug in. No recharging -- just swap out the spent fuel cartridge for a new one. That fizzled.

Micro Fuel Cells: A Novel Breakthrough in Portable Power
By Smita Shukla
March 31, 2013

26 posted on 04/22/2024 11:05:55 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“When exposing a crime is treated like a crime, you are being ruled by criminals” – Edward SnowdenA)
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To: Freedom4US

Oh, the humanity!

27 posted on 04/22/2024 11:07:06 AM PDT by x
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To: nesnah

Details on the considerable dangers of DHMO can be found here:

https://www.dhmo.org/


28 posted on 04/22/2024 11:07:27 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Freedom4US

It’s not ‘dead’ at all. At least for where it makes sense - which is Class 8 trucks. The loads they’re required to pull is not well suited for EV solutions on batteries alone. They’re too heavy and limited in range, requiring far too long a recharge cycle.

Hydrogen fuel cells make an interesting technology intersection in this space. Toyota and PACCAR are still working on them (which is public). There’s other, less public, things I’m aware of.

https://pressroom.toyota.com/paccar-and-toyota-expand-hydrogen-fuel-cell-truck-collaboration-to-include-commercialization/


29 posted on 04/22/2024 11:09:36 AM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: x

I had a cousin who was an eyewitness to that. He was five years old, living near Lakehurst. His parents thought it might be fun to take the kids to see the Hindenburg land and the rest is history.


30 posted on 04/22/2024 11:11:51 AM PDT by Ciaphas Cain (America needs deliberalization like Germany needed denazification.)
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To: Freedom4US

https://wattfuelcell.com/

https://www.imarineusa.com/Efoy151-000-210.aspx?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhLvv8bXWhQMVfRCtBh00kgpGEAQYASABEgJzVPD_BwE (alcohol, marine rated)

sells RV/boat fuel cells. Off the shelf.

Google is your friend, if you bother to use it.


31 posted on 04/22/2024 11:12:49 AM PDT by ASOC (This space for rent)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Exactly. Cars in the hands of sober, law-abiding drivers are dangerous enough.


32 posted on 04/22/2024 11:12:55 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Freedom4US

Government subsidies ended and the business gave up. They just don’t work in any practical sense. The ones I worked on were methanol based. Worked in a lab setting. But too hot, too cold, too anything, they didn’t work. Not sure how the NASA ones worked. But they would have been planned and proved to the gram of fuel.

As for off grid RV... Stick with a trusty old style absorption system. My friend had the Dometic 12v compressor and it had nothing but problems with the control electronics. There’s nothing to break on absorption units other than the occasional clogged orifice.


33 posted on 04/22/2024 11:13:07 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: Freedom4US

I’m not going to a DC fridge for the reason you give, but I sure wish someone other than those European pricks Dometic would make a decent one. They quoted me over $1000 for the controller module I’m replacing today, which I finally got for a bit over $200 but had to ask a buddy in the UK to put and re-ship it as the distributor evidently had never heard of international shipping. Pisses me off to be at the mercy of some outfit that owns the market but doesn’t give a damn about service after the sale.


34 posted on 04/22/2024 11:17:26 AM PDT by bigbob
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To: exDemMom

I think the idea is that hydrogen would be for energy storage and transport, not an energy source in itself. In particular it would be a good way to store energy generated during times when people aren’t using much electricity, like at night. You’d use the excess power for hydrolysis and store the resulting hydrogen for use in vehicles with fuel cells. It seems like a good way to match supply with demand, ideally with nuclear as the energy source. IMO the problem would be in the mechanics of handling pressurized hydrogen but I get the impression that it’s a manageable problem.


35 posted on 04/22/2024 11:42:59 AM PDT by Yardstick
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To: FreedomPoster

That’s awesome!


36 posted on 04/22/2024 11:43:03 AM PDT by nesnah (Infringe - act so as to limit or undermine [something]; encroach on)
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To: Freedom4US
I want lots of juice, and potable water. It sure looks like a technical solution that would scale down. Not having to fvck with Solar or Generators would be fine with me, too.

Put together a NASA-sized budget and this will easily be within your reach

37 posted on 04/22/2024 11:43:42 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
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To: Freedom4US

There several kinds of “ Fuel Cells” out there. Fuel cell is a generic term. Race cars have a fuel cell that is basically a fuel tank. You can use hydrogen and air to run an internal combustion engine but why? You can use dc electrical current to produce hydrogen and water in a fuel cell. I would use propane as there are propane or 12 volt absorption refrigerators and propane generators.


38 posted on 04/22/2024 11:44:58 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well those that did not make it back.)
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To: Freedom4US

Fuel cells may have been the cheapest option or even the only viable in space. They aren’t on earth. They couldn’t compete.


39 posted on 04/22/2024 12:18:43 PM PDT by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: BradyLS
Apollo 13 had a fuel cell failure...

No. Simply put, it was an internal short circuit of an oxygen tank, NOT the fuel cell.

You can find the details with a quick search.

40 posted on 04/22/2024 12:26:38 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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