Development of fuel cells has led to production of green vehicles. The technology has revolutionized automotive industry but still their were some flaws present in the design of the conventional fuel cell.
These fuel cells featured a complicated network of serpentine channels to combine the gases, maintain the appropriate humidity levels and eliminate water from the system. The system had to get rid of the water that was a by product of the chemical reaction between Hydrogen and Oxygen. The design was inappropriate to eliminate water which lead to irregular power output.
Jay Benziger, a Princeton professor of chemical engineering and Claire Woo, who graduated from Princeton have found a simple solution to this problem. They have designed a system in which the fuel input itself changes the size of the reaction chamber and therefore the power output can be varied accordingly. The Princeton system can manage some water in a layer at the bottom of the reaction chamber and drain rest to an external tank. Mechanism is simple as it uses height of the water level in the chamber to maintain required size for the reaction chamber. The water level can be increased or reduced by varying the flow of hydrogen into the chamber. This layer of water also helps in maintaining the needed humidity for the fuel cell reaction to take place.
Researchers have patented the design and named it auto-humidifying design and have plans to publish this invention in the February issue of the journal Chemical Engineering Science. The design ensures 100 percent fuel usage and therefore increasing the efficiency largely. The design is set to be implemented in small machines such as lawn mowers for initial testing.
Well I can not understand how a simple design like this can work so good?
Via: physorg
