1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172 
FUEL-CELL BATTERY ELECTRIC?
Page 57
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By P. A. C. Brockington,
LST an output of up to 20 h,p. is equired for negotiating gradients ■ r acceleration—taking the case of 30-cwt, battery electric vehicle — necessary for propulsion on the tt a steady speed could be as low p. Standing time during the worky frequently accounts for a large lion of die working period and for r vehicle, for example. may amount per cent or more of the total. er, speeds in excess of 10 m.p.h. rely attained.
ough a fuel-cell battery could be :ed having an output suited to the )ower requirements of the vehicle. ild be far too costly to be comity acceptable for vehicle applicathe present stage of development. of a fuel battery could. however. reseen as economic in terms of L vehicle utilization, particularly if incorporated in the early stages elopment in what is called a floatttery system, the fuel battery being ied for slow-speed running and the battery for boosting the power ing to requirements for aceeleraid hill climbing.
Cost Reduction . weight and cost of the storage could be reduced substantially. y by 50 per cent, and in some ttions the operating range might be gd threefold. A relatively high lion of standing time would favour stern because the fut.!l cells could tployed to replace some of the battery capacity when the vehicle at running. The normal delivery of 20 miles might well be increased IC than 50 miles. or with some 5, could even approach 100 miles. arding to Mr. B. S. Hender, chief tr of Austin Crompton Parkinson c Vehicles Ltd.. Leicester. such a : might be developed within the ye years. or even earlier, depending progress made in development of Ii batteries. Mr. Mender points out educing the size of the storage
r by 50 per cent would cut its cost. tmple, from approximately £400 to t-ttl that -although this would not rtsate for the extra cost of the fuel 'T-the overall higher purchase price vehicle might be more than offset increased range and usage. if this ully exploited..
anventional storage battery of the :id type normally has a guaranteed four years and can be expected to c for more than five years. It is ated that ultimately the life Inca; of a fuel battery will be much
A fuel battery has a limited output, in contrast with a storage • which can give high power ; for reduced periods, making it the
s choice for the boost section of tem.
Fuel cells can operate on a wide variety of fuels, including hydrazine, methanol, zinc oxygen and barium. Most fuels which are suited to the reactions in fuel cells are expensive, but il is notable that methanol, which is a by-product of the petroleum industry, is freely available at -a relatively low cost compared with, say. petrol.
Using Methanol
A fuel battery utiliziing methanol converts the fuel to hydNgen by reacting it with steam in the presence of a catalyst, and the hydrogen is pumped by mechanical, means into the fuel .cells which have positive and negative plates immersed in a potassium hydroxide electrolyte. Air is pumped into the cells through separate inlets to provide oxygen and the reaction produces electric current and tat by-product of water, the latter being extracted front the system and released to waste. The action may be regarded as the reverse of the process of electrolysis of water.
In Mr. Mender's opinion, the floatingbattery system could offer an important means of commercializing early versions of small fuel batteries as useful Components of vehicle power systems, pending developments that would enable larger units to he produced at an acceptable cost. It may then be economic to employ a battery of fuel cells as the only power-producing agent, and it is envisaged that eventually it might be used to energize maximum-load trun king vehicles.
Progress in the design of hattery-eleetrie equipment. with or without the incorporation of a fuel cell, will continue to be of first importance to the
development Of electric vehicles, and Mr. Mender views the future optimistically. He cites controller shOrtcomings as the main obstacle to progress, but .he con7 siders that in addition to the .eventual solution of many outstanding controller problems, steady progress will he made in raising the efficiency of electric motors, 'improving transmission efficiency and in providing a foolproof charging system.
Easy-to-read .state-of-charge instrumentation, and reductions in the weight of the body structure, wheels and chassis components are also of considerable importance. In the case of controllers, the main exercise will he the development of a system that can be suitably employed in place of the low-cost and
reliable, but inefficient, electricalresistance type.
Alternatives
Alternatives include the. series-parallel motor-battery switching system, which is electrically more efficient but is costly and involves the risk of discharging the battery sections differentially, and the expensive electronic thyristor (siliconcontrolled rectifier) controller which depends on rapid on-off switching.. the inductance of the motor limiting the rate of current rise to acceptable values.
Whilst the basic -reaction of lead-acid batteries has remained unchanged. new constructional techniques have been evolved during the past 10 years or so which have provided an increase in performance of about 30 per cent for a given size and weight of battery. These improvements have made the specification of vehicles more attractive by provitling increased range, payload or speed.
•
1701..1.0WING the sharp increase in inch's-Itrial accidents in 1964 (The Commercial Almor last week) the Central Training Council has stressed the need for specific provisions for safety training to he included in the plans of Industrial Training Beards.