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June 29, 2009 I ran
across the following articles:
Posted on August 20th, 2008
by admin
Hydrogen fuel injection has been a topic of intense debate. Critics
say that since they can’t wrap their heads around how it works, this
means it simply can’t work. But, hydrogen
generators for cars and trucks do work and the U. S.
Department of Transportation (DOT) acknowledged this fact a year ago.
In November 2007, the U. S. DOT, published a 94-page report
titled, “GUIDELINES FOR USE OF HYDROGEN FUEL IN COMMERCIAL VEHICLES Final
Report” that was targeted towards safety issues surround handling
hydrogen. The report also focuses on diesel trucks more than
gasoline-powered cars and covers hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, internal
combustion vehicles and hydrogen on demand technology.
Here are some excerpts from the document with the bold and italics
added for emphasis:
“Today, virtually all commercial trucks are powered by diesel fuel,
while private cars are fueled by gasoline. Supported by our National
Energy Policy, a new generation of technologies is currently being
developed that allow the use of
hydrogen as a fuel to power cars and trucks. In the future,
hydrogen may be used in one of three ways to power vehicles:
• To produce electricity in a fuel cell,
• As a replacement for gasoline or diesel fuel in an internal combustion
engine, or
• As a supplement to
gasoline or diesel fuel used in an internal combustion engine.”
“There are several ways that hydrogen can be used as a motor fuel. It
can be used to directly replace gasoline or diesel fuel in specially
designed internal combustion engines (ICEs), or it can be used to supplement these
typical fuels in existing engines. In either of these
cases, the vehicle drive system will be identical to those used on most gasoline-powered
or diesel-powered vehicles. The engine will drive the vehicle’s wheels
through a transmission, drive shaft, and front or rear axle.”
“Several fuel cell buses have been demonstrated that “reform,” or
extract hydrogen from, liquid methanol onboard (Georgetown University,
2003), and there are fuel cell APU systems under development that will
derive their hydrogen from onboard reforming of diesel fuel or gasoline
(Delphi, 2005). In
addition, there are several commercial ‘hydrogen injection’ systems
available for retrofit on diesel engines (CHEC, n.d.).
These systems produce small amounts of hydrogen by electrolysis of water
carried on the vehicle, which is injected into the diesel engine along
with the diesel fuel.”
“A hydrogen injection
system for a diesel engine produces small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen
on demand by electrolyzing water carried onboard the vehicle. The
electricity required is supplied by the engine’s alternator or 12/24-volt
electrical system (see Section 1.5 for a description of electrolysis).
The hydrogen and oxygen are injected into the engine’s air intake
manifold, where they mix with the intake air. In theory, the combustion
properties of the hydrogen result in more complete combustion of diesel
fuel in the engine, reducing tailpipe emissions and improving fuel
economy (CHEC, n.d.).”
“A hydrogen injection
system for a diesel engine produces and uses significantly less hydrogen
than a hydrogen fuel cell or hydrogen ICE, and does not require that
compressed or liquid hydrogen be carried on the vehicle. The system is
designed to produce hydrogen only when required, in response to driver
throttle commands. When the system is shut-off, no hydrogen is present on
the vehicle.”
“Limited laboratory
testing of a hydrogen injection system installed on an older diesel truck
engine operated at a series of constant speeds showed a 4 percent
reduction in fuel use and a 7 percent reduction in particulate emissions
with the system on (ETVC, 2005).”
Hey, DOT, you’ve got some more work to do on this last one. The
Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company is guaranteeing a minimum improvement of
at least a 10-percent reduction in fuel use with reports of up to
30-percent reduction for some vehicles. In addition, the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) reports that Hy-Drive
Technologies hydrogen fuel injection systems will reduce fuel consumption
12 to 50-percent over a range of torques.
Even though the U. S. Government has been slow to come around in
acknowledging hydrogen gas savers,
at least they have taken an important step forward. Validation of this
key emerging technology will go a long way towards widespread commercialization
and rollout of these aftermarket devices that will save gas, reduce
emissions and help us all breathe a little easier.
Posted on August 21st, 2008
by admin
Yesterday, I talked about the U. S. Department of Transportation
document that says hydrogen
injection, as they call it, is a viable source for
supplementary fuel. Because this topic is so important I want to continue
speaking of the DOT
document and providing excerpts that show how seriously
our government is taking this new, emerging technology.
Here are the excerpts (once again bold and italics are added for
emphasis):
“There are five ways that the hydrogen can be stored on the vehicle:
• As a high-pressure gas,
• As a very low temperature liquid,
• Chemically bound or physically absorbed onto a material such as a solid
‘hydride,’
• As a component of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel (which is reformed), or
• As a component of water
(H20) (which is hydrolyzed).”
“The most abundant
source of hydrogen on earth is water—every molecule of water contains one
oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. It is relatively simple to separate
the hydrogen in water from the oxygen using electricity to run an
electrolyzer. An electrolyzer is a galvanic cell composed of an anode and
a cathode submerged in a water-based electrolyte. In many ways, the
operation of an electrolyzer is the opposite of operating a hydrogen fuel
cell. In a fuel cell, hydrogen and oxygen are supplied to the anode and the
cathode, and they combine to form water while creating an electrical
current that can be put to use (see Section 1.2.1 and Appendix A). In an
electrolyzer, an electrical current is applied between the anode and the
cathode, which causes the water in the electrolyte to break down, releasing oxygen gas at the anode and hydrogen
gas at the cathode (see Figure 12).”
“Onboard electrolyzers are used with hydrogen injection
systems for diesel engines (see Section 3.5). In this case, only a small
amount of hydrogen and oxygen are produced to supplement, not replace,
the diesel fuel used in the engine. The electricity to operate the
electrolyzer is typically supplied by the engine’s alternator or
12/24-VDC electrical system.”
“A hydrogen injection
system for a diesel engine produces and uses significantly less hydrogen
than a hydrogen fuel cell or hydrogen ICE, and does not require that
compressed or liquid hydrogen be carried on the vehicle. The system is
designed to produce hydrogen only when required, in response to driver
throttle commands. When the system is shut off, no hydrogen should be
present on the vehicle.”
Like I had talked about yesterday, this document should quiet many of
the critics who say that hydrogen fuel injection doesn’t work. The
criticisms are based upon theory (flawed theory) and not actuality. The
critics who say that hydrogen on demand technology cannot work have not
actually tried this technology for themselves. They simply pontificate
about theory, while thousands of others are doing the dirty work of
getting under the hoods of their cars and making it happen.
Fran’s comments:
It’s about time the government acknowledges our technology.
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