Fuel cells

[bcps]

Slightly off topic for this group, but it is not unheard of to produce
hydrogen from photovoltaics.

Jadoo Power seems to be an aggressive manufacturer of consumer based fuel
cells. I could be wrong, but the components and stats seem to almost equal
the price of a solar system. I think they are still too high in price, but
the portability is a plus.

I've always been interested in fuel cells as an alternative to batteries and
I was hoping some of you folks might give me a hint on the up's and down's
of these things.

I'm suspecting the membrane and the catalyst don't last as long as a solar
cell or basic deep cycle battery (read "efficiency") - and, there is that
nasty problem of explosions.

I'm guessing the technology just hasn't hit it's peek yet, but it certainly
would be cool to hear some comments.

Bart

 

[Steve Spence]

Slightly off topic for this group, but it is not unheard of to produce
hydrogen from photovoltaics.

Jadoo Power seems to be an aggressive manufacturer of consumer based fuel
cells. I could be wrong, but the components and stats seem to almost equal
the price of a solar system. I think they are still too high in price, but
the portability is a plus.

I've always been interested in fuel cells as an alternative to batteries and
I was hoping some of you folks might give me a hint on the up's and down's
of these things.

I'm suspecting the membrane and the catalyst don't last as long as a solar
cell or basic deep cycle battery (read "efficiency") - and, there is that
nasty problem of explosions.

I'm guessing the technology just hasn't hit it's peek yet, but it certainly
would be cool to hear some comments.

Bart

solar to battery is 80% efficient, solar to hydrogen to electric is 40%
at best. Those numbers aren't likely to change in the near future.

 

[Steve Spence]

Hi Steve;



Of course it can be done.
But electricity has a much greater value than hydrogen
in most cases. Sure there are some niche uses such as
the Space Shuttle, in frequently used back power,
and future laptops & cell phones. Basically applications
where fuel costs are of little concern and light weight
is more important.

But certainly not for general use.


While we welcome improvements in fuel cell technology
this is not the bottle neck. The limitation is in
the generation of the hydrogen itself.



Hardly!
The battery alone is about 80% efficient at being
charged from electricity.
If you add a 15% efficient solar to electricity
PV panel your down to about 12%.


Again the solar PV panel to electric is the
dominant loss.

I suppose one could go more exotic and use the
40% concentrator cells we have been hearing about.


Those efficiencies are not remotely obtainable
if conventional solar technologies are used.

Duane

I didn't write most of that. When I wrote solar to battery as being 80%,
I was referring to 80% of the pv electric gets stored in the batteries.
40% of the solar electric makes it back to electric by way of hydrogen.
Since the solar is the same in both examples, I'm ignoring the pv panel
efficiency in both pocesses. I'm no fan of hydrogen.

 

[bcps]

I didn't write most of that. When I wrote solar to battery as being 80%, I
was referring to 80% of the pv electric gets stored in the batteries. 40%
of the solar electric makes it back to electric by way of hydrogen. Since
the solar is the same in both examples, I'm ignoring the pv panel
efficiency in both pocesses. I'm no fan of hydrogen.

I was hoping you might clear that up. When I first read it, I thought,
"Where is this guy getting his pv panels?"

Anyway, good comments about NOT getting into fuel cells at the moment.

Bart