[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Top]
Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Water-powered Sub...
Actually, it is quite feasible if the PEM Fuel
cells would last a bit longer. Who ever said you needed to store the hydrogen?
If you had a high enough production and a few stacks, you could generate real
time. And who said if you did store the hydrogen that you had to chill the
entire sub to do it? That's what cryogenic containers are for. Just put them
behind a bulkhead or something. And who said you had to use electrolysis to
seperate water into hydrogen and oxygen? There are biocatalysts which don't
require electricity. Sure, they aren't as efficient, but they still work.
Instead of thinking we shouldn't bother because it's only a "nice toy for
experimenters and hobbyists" maybe we should just try it and say "why not".
Maybe then we could ditch our addiction to existing technology and embrace new
ones. It just might be the solution to our dwindling petroleum reserves, plus
reduce atmospheric pollution and its associated trappings. Hydrogen is the wave
of the future, along with Fusion power. How will you charge those batteries to
begin with? Just some thoughts... If I'm not mistaken, they thought Tesla
himself was a lunatic, but then again, there's a reason the government
confiscated most of his research and experiment with it in top secret facilities
every day. It's called, VISION! Happy subbing!
- Jacob Lauser
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 10:18
PM
Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST]
Water-powered Sub...
In a message dated
4/4/02 3:45:24 PM Pacific Standard Time, sirius@riverstyx.com
writes:
Is anyone interested in a water-powered sub? All you have to do
is hook
either a fresh-water tank or an intake/desalinization line into a
hydrogen
generator ( http://www.eren.doe.gov/RE/hydrogen.html
,
http://www.nature.com/nsu/011206/011206-11.html
), pump the output into a
PEM Fuel cell (
http://www.ballard.com/portable_app.asp ), hook the
batteries up, and
you're ready to jam. Imagine being restricted in your sub
dives only by
the amount of food on board and the sanity of the crew! You
could tap the
freshly desalinated water for drinking and sanitation, and
bleed off
oxygen from the hydrogen generator for breathing. Hey, the Navy
does
it... Isn't it about time the technology became widespread? Of
course,
something like this would only be worth putting in a sub like
CSSX because
of the cost... Give it 5 years though... You'll see
;)
- Jacob Lauser
University of
Arizona
Nice idea, in theory, but mostly useless
in actual operation.
Hydrogen needs electricity to be generated from
water, which means that if you generate electricity, split the water, put the
hydrogen through a fuel cell, charge your batteries then run your motors,
you've lost something like 75% of the power, depending on the efficiency of
all the gear. Just charge the batteries instead.
There are cases when
Hydrogen is practical, such as when you need more range or power than
batteries might offer, but you'd have to store the Oxygen onboard for
underwater runs. An advanced version of the old diesel boats would work
better.
There are three ways to store hydrogen:
Cryogenics,
which will turn you into a popsicle (and your sub into an iceberg, in all
likelyhood) if it bursts, but ounce-for-ounce stores more power than Gasoline
(not, however, by volume, which is something to consider).
High
pressure, which can have a fairly high storage density, although is prone to
blowing up if abused, just like a SCUBA tank.
Or there are Hydrides,
which are very heavy (400lbs for a tank the size of a spare tire), but have
the same hydrogen density as cryo, minus the freezing and explosion hazards
(handling a .50 tracer round with no leakage is pretty impressive).
For
now, Hydrogen is a nice toy for experimenters and hobbyists, although I
suspect that it may never go beyond that due to how battery technology is
advancing. We'll see.
Anthony