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Hydrogen As A Secondary Energy Storage System:
Abstract:
Hydrogen is an environmentally-friendly medium for storage of solar energy, however, it has low efficiency. The goal of this project is to successfully design and utilize a hydrogen energy storage system for use in a standalone solar cabin. By no means is hydrogen a source of energy, but rather a medium for storing energy. Using compressed hydrogen, we can store solar energy gathered from solar panels, and then use the hydrogen, in a fuel cell or as a combustible source, to power motors and/or provide heat or electricity. For this project we will not be using fuel cells but hydrogen only as a secondary energy storage system for use as a combustible fuel. Hydrogen is only a “secondary” energy storage system because it has a lower efficiency than batteries. Typical applications for combustible hydrogen are anything that can be powered by gasoline, but we will concentrate on easily converted equipment such as powering a weed whacker, a lawnmower, or even a gas grill for food. By using hydrogen, we eliminate the environmental pollutants and greenhouse gases from gasoline combustion (SO2, NOx particulates, and CO2) content generated from gasoline. The goals of this project are:
1.
To utilize hydrogen as a supplementary energy storage method
2.
Develop an effective control system for supplementary hydrogen energy generation, specifically:
2a. Create a monitoring system in Labview that will analyze power data from solar panels and batteries.
2b.Create a control system using Labview that will use the data from the monitoring device to control the lights availability as well as turn the HoGEN 300 on and off.
3.
Demonstrate the utility of hydrogen through design and successful conversion of combustion engines and cooking equipment.
4.
To inform the people through the EPA P3 competition that hydrogen is a cleaner and safe fuel
For more information, see:
attached file
www.etown.edu/p3
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