Boeing flies manned fuel cell-powered plane
Boeing recently flew a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
The recent milestone is the work of an engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Boeing is actively working to develop new technologies for environmentally progressive aerospace products,” said Francisco Escarti, BR&TE's managing director. “We are proud of our pioneering work during the past five years on the Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane project. It is a tangible example of how we are exploring future leaps in environmental performance, as well as a credit to the talents and innovative spirit of our team.”
A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 53.5-foot wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.
Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocaña, south of Madrid, operated by the Spanish company SENASA.
During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 3,300 feet above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Then, after reaching the cruise altitude and disconnecting the batteries, the pilot flew straight and level at a cruising speed of 62 mph for approximately 20 minutes on power solely generated by the fuel cells.
UTC Power fuel cells achieve milestone, topping 100,000 hours in space
UTC Power fuel cells, which generate all of the Space Shuttle’s electrical power, surpassed 100,000 hours of flight operation during the recently completed STS-123 mission by the Orbiter Endeavour. UTC Power is a United Technologies Corp. company and produces and maintains the Space Shuttle fuel cells under contract to United Space Alliance, NASA’s prime Shuttle contractor.
Every U.S.-manned space mission during the past four decades has used fuel cell power plants built by UTC Power. There are three fuel cells per Orbiter.
Each fuel cell is capable of producing up to 12kW and is more than 70 percent efficient. Cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen feed each of the self-contained units, which are installed under the payload bay, just behind the crew compartment.
“We are extremely proud of the durability and reliability of our fuel cells since the Shuttle era commenced in 1981,” said Jan van Dokkum, president. “While our technology roots are with the U.S. space program, ultra clean UTC Power fuel cell technology also is being effectively and efficiently applied today on the ground for buildings, cars and transit buses”.
Plug Power appoints new president, CEO
Fuel cell development company Plug Power has named Andrew Marsh as its new president and CEO, effective immediately.
Marsh, who has 25 year of experience in the telecommunications industry, was the co-founder of Valerie power and has several qualifications in electrical engineering.
“We are very impressed with Andy's record of success and results-oriented leadership. He's demonstrated the ability to bring products to market, develop customer bases and grow revenues,” said George McNamee, chairman of the Plug Power board of directors.
Marsh said that Plug Power had shown its “leadership” within the fuel cell sector and added that he was excited about future prospects for the company and its customers.
He will replace the company's previous CEO, Roger Saillant, who retired.
Recently, Plug Power announced that Bridgestone Firestone Tire would be using its GenDrive hydrogen fuel cell units to power 22 of the company's forklift trucks.
South Carolina receives first hydrogen-powered vehicle
Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a wholly owned subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc., a renewable energy company that acquires and commercially advances clean electric technologies and applications, and The Center for Hydrogen Research (CHR) unveiled the eTec Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (HICE) Silverado truck in Aiken, SC. Purchased by the CHR, the eTec HICE Silverado is the first hydrogen vehicle to be registered in South Carolina and will be used to publicly demonstrate the viability of using hydrogen in transportation. To fund this project, the CHR received a $175,000 grant from the Washington Division of URS Corp.
“As the Center for Hydrogen Research is pioneering a new wave in hydrogen research and education, we are excited to provide the eTec HICE Silverado to enhance their hydrogen research capabilities and to further demonstrate the viability of hydrogen,” said Garrett Beauregard, vice president of engineering, eTec. “The eTec HICE Silverado is one of the first hydrogen-powered vehicles to be currently available for purchase. While there are still many issues surrounding the production, storage, and delivery of hydrogen, the work of the CHR and their purchase of the eTec HICE Silverado demonstrates that hydrogen has the potential to play a role in solving our country's energy problems.”
Crown awarded almost $1 million for fuel cell research
Crown Equipment Corp., a lift truck manufacturer, was recently awarded nearly $1 million in grant money from the state of Ohio to conduct fuel cell research.
“The project is important to the technological advancement of our products, which in turn is important for our customers and to the long-term future of Crown,” said Jim Dicke III, president. “We are pleased with the State of Ohio and its overall efforts in working with Crown to maintain a strong manufacturing base here. Crown also appreciates being recognized as a leader in the progression of fuel cell technology.”
The development of fuel cells is a natural extension of Crown’s ongoing focus on environmental sustainability. Crown is committed to supporting its customers via the emerging hydrogen economy. This project expands Crown’s focus to actively participate in and support the development of environmentally friendly alternative fuels that provide power savings for its customers.
The Crown project will focus on addressing the technical and commercial barriers to the application of available battery replacement fuel cell power packs in industrial lift trucks. The study will facilitate the creation and growth of material handling equipment used in warehouses and distribution centers to be powered by fuel cells.
“There are several considerations to evaluate before a wide-range of lift trucks are offered with a fuel cell as its power source,” Dicke said. “In the current design, the battery provides a counterweight to the load. Fuel cells are much lighter. We need to explore solutions, and make sure all systems are compatible to ensure the critical performance characteristics of a lift truck.”
Crown intends to review the performance of each unique combination of its lift trucks with fuel cell power. This study should reveal any necessary modifications required to maintain the intended use of the lift truck while complying with industry standards.
The grant is provided by the Ohio Department of Development and Ohio's Third Frontier Commission.
Protonex awarded contract for unmanned ground vehicle power sources
Protonex Technology Corp., a provider of advanced fuel cell power systems for portable, remote and mobile applications, announced it will integrate a Protonex fuel cell power system into an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) robot under an awarded $537,249 contract with Advanced Technology Institute's Next Generation Manufacturing Technology Initiative (ATI-NGMTI), to demonstrate extended UGV functional and endurance capabilities. This program builds upon continuing developments by Protonex on extended duration power sources for small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
As part of ATI-NGMTI's program initiative, Protonex will integrate its Pulse UGV advanced fuel cell power platform into a TALON robotic UGV from Foster- Miller, Inc. (a QinetiQ company). The proposed fuel cell-battery hybrid power system will be capable of delivering approximately 200 watts of continuous power and will also meet peak power demand of the robot as needed. Protonex will combine the high power density of its fuel cell systems with a high energy density chemical hydride fuel to significantly extend the duration and mission capabilities of the existing TALON UGV robotics platforms.
Program announced for 3rd Annual Photovoltaics Summit
IntertechPira announced the speaker program for the third annual Photovoltaics Summit. Photovoltaics Summit 2008 will be held June 18–20 at the Hilton San Diego Resort in San Diego, CA. Over the course of three days, the conference program will feature two keynote presentations, 23 plenary session talks, two panels and two half-day pre-conference workshops. In all, 36 industry leaders from around the globe, including India, Australia, Japan, Germany and the U.S., will together provide a comprehensive assessment of the global market, financing and investments, developments in crystalline silicon photovoltaics (PV), the outlook for silicon feedstock and manufacturing, advances in thin films and future generation PV, balance of system (BOS) and applications.
Two pre-conference workshops will kick off the event on Wednesday, June 18. Dr. Larry Kazmerski of the National Center for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and John Thornton of Thornton Solar Consulting and an Emeritus at NREL will team up in the first workshop to introduce photovoltaic (PV) technologies, systems and applications. The second workshop, instructed by Paula Mints of Navigant Consulting, will offer a market-oriented perspective on technology development, as well as applications and regional growth forecasts.
The main conference will open on the evening of June 18 with a keynote address by Paul Maycock, President of PV Energy Systems followed by a reception to welcome all conference speakers and attendees. The next morning will begin with a keynote presentation from California Energy Commissioner Jeffrey D Byron. Speakers during the subsequent sessions on June 19–20 include:
• Dr. G. Rajeswaran, President and CTO, Moser Baer PV will discuss mass production of silicon-based PV products in India.
• Terry Jester, SAI Principal Investigator, SunPower Corp. will describe SunPower’s Solar America Initiative program and progress toward grid-competitive PV systems technology.
• Dr. K.V. Ravi, director, Solar Business Group, Applied Materials will examine challenges and opportunities for PV materials, machines and manufacturing.
• Dr. Subhendu Guha, chairman, United Solar Ovonic will address amorphous and nanocrystalline thin film silicon PV technology and manufacturing status, markets, products and future prospects.
Conference co-chairs Dr. Jean Posbic, director of projects at BP Solar, and Dr. Tom Surek, CEO of Motech Americas, will preside over the conference proceedings. The full conference brochure can be downloaded from the conference website: http://www.photovoltaicssummit.com. Registration is also available online or by contacting Mike Robert at mrobert@intertechusa.com or +1 207 781 9631.
In 2007, the Photovoltaics Summit hosted approximately 120 attendees, including investors, integrators and installers, utilities, material and equipment manufacturers, cell and module manufacturers, consultants, academics, media, associations and government personnel. |
