A 3-page paper on some aspect of current science or technology. Papers should be double-spaced, using...

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Mechanical Engineering

A 3-page paper on some aspect of current science or technology.Papers should be double-spaced, using 12-point type.
* Dynamics writing assignment.

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HYDROGEN FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY AND ITS IMPACT ON AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY Abstract Fuel cells are recognized as future of energy technology and power generation system Fuel cells underpin the conversion of chemical energy into electricity through chemical reactions Most commonly fuel cells make use of Hydrogen gas as input which is extracted from various processes like steam reforming CO2 sequestration electrolysis etc These processes involve energy consumption and emission at various stages To study and analyze these parameters a complete statistical data of environmental impacts associated with fuel cell over the course of its entire process from extraction of fuel refining operation energy conversion transmission and finally the disposal This is the first step in analyzing the impact of fuel cells This paper reviews the life cycle analysis study on hydrogen fuel cell technology The paper also investigates environmental payment of various components and processes during the preproduction stage The second stage would focus on changes in scenario after the production of fuel cell vehicles ie in running condition The market feasibility consumer popularity reliance energy feasibility and environmental consequences come under this stage After studying these factors thoroughly a fine line can be drawn between the energy potential of fuel cells and actual feasibility This paper aims at leading to an optimum equilibrium between efficiency emissions and corporate profitability of hydrogen fuel cells Such an approach in particular needs the support of both environmental and engineering informatics which has been meticulously reported in this paper Keywords Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology Life Cycle Assessment Global Warming Potential INTRODUCTION Developing an alternate renewable energy source and transforming it into an economically viable and potent source is one of the biggest challenges of mankind today The swiftly depleting fossil fuels uneconomical and largely difficult to implement renewable energy resources have invited researchers to invest in the idea of complementary power sources Hydrogen fuel cell due to its natural characteristics experimental results and efficiency has been a point of interest as an alternative fuel But there are certain difficulties with using Hydrogen fuel as prime energy source in automobiles One of them is certainly the cost while other one is its underlying effect on environment its impact on Global Warming acidification ect We need to study this and quantify from experimental results to posit some substantial inferences about impact of Hydrogen Fuel Cell on automobile industry HSTORY The first occurrence of hydrogen fuel cell dates back to 1838 Welshman researcher William Grove wrote about the development of his first crude fuel cells and published it in The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science December 1838 edition His methods consisted of a combination of sheet iron copper porcelain plates and a solution of copper sulphate and dilute acid Later in 1839 Christian Friedrich Schnbein put forth the crude fuel cell for the first ever time He experimented and wrote about the electric current generated from Hydrogen and Oxygen dissolved in water Later in 1842 William Grove published his new design of fuel cell in the same journal That new design carries a huge resemblance to the PAFCs used nowadays Almost a century later a 5kW stationary fuel cell was developed by a British researcher Francis Thomas Bacon This was the time period when fuel cell began grabbing attention and a wave of modifications for optimization began Being an implication of this ravenousness towards the intriguing way of deriving useful power from the chemical energy of ions in 1955 Thomas Grubb developed a successful model of fuel cell using sulphonated polystyrene ionexchange membrane as the electrolyte Three years later Leonard Niedrach mechanized a way to integrate platinum onto membranes that served as a catalyst for oxidation reaction of Hydrogen as well as oxygen reduction This fuel cell became famous as GrubbNiedrach fuel cell being named after the two pioneers who worked for General Electric GE firm in those days GE later collaborated with NASA and used this technology in several important projects one of them being Project Gemini In 1959 following the trend of innovations Harry Ihrig built a 15kW fuel cell increasing the power threefold This was the necessary boost required to spur the invention of fuel cell technology in automobile applications In 1991 Roger Billings successfully developed the first hydrogen fuel cell automobile thus expanding the reach of technology beyond the preset horizons TYPES of FUEL CELLS Phosphoric acid fuel cell PAFC Phosphoric acid fuel cells PAFC were first designed and introduced in 1961 by G V Elmore and H A Tanner In these cells phosphoric acid is used as a nonconductive electrolyte to pass positive hydrogen ions from the anode to the cathode A key disadvantage of these cells is the use of an acidic electrolyte This increases the corrosion or oxidation of components exposed to Phosphoric acid Proton exchange membrane fuel cells PEMFCs In the archetypical hydrogenoxide proton exchange membrane fuel cell design a protonconducting polymer membrane the See Answer

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