IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v69y2014icp721-727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

NaBH4 (sodium borohydride) hydrogen generator with a volume-exchange fuel tank for small unmanned aerial vehicles powered by a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Taegyu

Abstract

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell system integrated with a NaBH4 (sodium borohydride) hydrogen generator was developed for small UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). The hydrogen generator was composed of a catalytic reactor, liquid pump and volume-exchange fuel tank, where the fuel and spent fuel exchange the volume within a single fuel tank. Co–B catalyst supported on a porous ceramic material was used to generate hydrogen from the NaBH4 solution. Considering the power consumption according to the mission profile of a UAV, the power output of the fuel cell and auxiliary battery was distributed passively as an electrical load. A blended wing-body was selected considering the fuel efficiency and carrying capability of fuel cell components. First, the fuel cell stack and hydrogen generator were evaluated under the operating conditions, and integrated into the airframe. The ground test of the complete fuel cell UAV was performed under a range of load conditions. Finally, the fuel cell powered flight test was made for 1 h. The volume-exchange fuel tank minimized the fuel sloshing and the change in center of gravity due to fuel consumption during the flight, so that much stable operation of the fuel cell system was validated at different flight modes.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Taegyu, 2014. "NaBH4 (sodium borohydride) hydrogen generator with a volume-exchange fuel tank for small unmanned aerial vehicles powered by a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 721-727.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:721-727
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2014.03.066
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544214003302
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2014.03.066?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shih, Yu-Jen & Su, Chia-Chi & Huang, Yao-Hui & Lu, Ming-Chun, 2013. "SiO2-supported ferromagnetic catalysts for hydrogen generation from alkaline NaBH4 (sodium borohydride) solution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 263-270.
    2. Avasarala, Bharat & Haldar, Pradeep, 2013. "Durability and degradation mechanism of titanium nitride based electrocatalysts for PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 545-553.
    3. Carton, J.G. & Olabi, A.G., 2010. "Design of experiment study of the parameters that affect performance of three flow plate configurations of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 2796-2806.
    4. Liu, Yongan & Wang, Xinhua & Dong, Zhaohui & Liu, Haizhen & Li, Shouquan & Ge, Hongwei & Yan, Mi, 2013. "Hydrogen generation from the hydrolysis of Mg powder ball-milled with AlCl3," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 147-152.
    5. Rakhshanpouri, S. & Rowshanzamir, S., 2013. "Water transport through a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell in a seven-layer model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 220-231.
    6. Weng, Baicheng & Wu, Zhu & Li, Zhilin & Yang, Hui, 2012. "Hydrogen generation from hydrolysis of MNH2BH3 and NH3BH3/MH (M=Li, Na) for fuel cells based unmanned submarine vehicles application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 205-211.
    7. Huang, Zhen-Ming & Su, Ay & Liu, Ying-Chieh, 2013. "Hydrogen generator system using Ru catalyst for PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell) applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 230-236.
    8. Carton, J.G. & Lawlor, V. & Olabi, A.G. & Hochenauer, C. & Zauner, G., 2012. "Water droplet accumulation and motion in PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell mini-channels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 63-73.
    9. Manoj Kumar, P. & Parthasarathy, V., 2013. "A passive method of water management for an air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 457-461.
    10. Huang, Yao-Hui & Su, Chia-Chi & Wang, Shu-Ling & Lu, Ming-Chun, 2012. "Development of Al2O3 carrier-Ru composite catalyst for hydrogen generation from alkaline NaBH4 hydrolysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 242-247.
    11. Yuan, Zhenyu & Zhang, Yufeng & Fu, Wenting & Li, Zipeng & Liu, Xiaowei, 2013. "Investigation of a small-volume direct methanol fuel cell stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 462-467.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Oh, Taek Hyun & Gang, Byeong Gyu & Kim, Hyuntak & Kwon, Sejin, 2015. "Sodium borohydride hydrogen generator using Co–P/Ni foam catalysts for 200 W proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 1163-1170.
    2. Zhixing Ji & Fafu Guo & Tingting Zhu & Kunlin Cheng & Silong Zhang & Jiang Qin & Peng Dong, 2023. "Thermodynamic Performance Comparisons of Ideal Brayton Cycles Integrated with High Temperature Fuel Cells as Power Sources on Aircraft," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Park, Kilsu & Kim, Myoung-jin & Kwon, Soon-mo & Kang, Shinuang & Kim, Taegyu, 2023. "Performance evaluation of solid NaBH4-based hydrogen generator for fuel-cell-powered unmanned autonomous systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    4. Oh, Taek Hyun & Jang, Bosun & Kwon, Sejin, 2015. "Estimating the energy density of direct borohydride–hydrogen peroxide fuel cell systems for air-independent propulsion applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 980-986.
    5. Netskina, O.V. & Komova, O.V. & Simagina, V.I. & Odegova, G.V. & Prosvirin, I.P. & Bulavchenko, O.A., 2016. "Aqueous-alkaline NaBH4 solution: The influence of storage duration of solutions on reduction and activity of cobalt catalysts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1073-1081.
    6. Oh, Taek Hyun & Jang, Bosun & Kwon, Sejin, 2014. "Performance evaluation of direct borohydride–hydrogen peroxide fuel cells with electrocatalysts supported on multiwalled carbon nanotubes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 911-919.
    7. Meng, Kai & Zhou, Haoran & Chen, Ben & Tu, Zhengkai, 2021. "Dynamic current cycles effect on the degradation characteristic of a H2/O2 proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    8. Kwon, Soon-mo & Kim, Myoung Jin & Kang, Shinuang & Kim, Taegyu, 2019. "Development of a high-storage-density hydrogen generator using solid-state NaBH4 as a hydrogen source for unmanned aerial vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Cai, Haokun & Liu, Liping & Chen, Qiang & Lu, Ping & Dong, Jian, 2016. "Ni-polymer nanogel hybrid particles: A new strategy for hydrogen production from the hydrolysis of dimethylamine-borane and sodium borohydride," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 129-135.
    10. Oh, Taek Hyun, 2016. "A formic acid hydrogen generator using Pd/C3N4 catalyst for mobile proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 679-685.
    11. Gang, Byeong Gyu & Kim, Hyuntak & Kwon, Sejin, 2017. "Ground simulation of a hybrid power strategy using fuel cells and solar cells for high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1547-1554.
    12. Pan, Z.F. & An, L. & Wen, C.Y., 2019. "Recent advances in fuel cells based propulsion systems for unmanned aerial vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 473-485.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Loghmani, Mohammad Hassan & Shojaei, Abdollah Fallah, 2014. "Hydrogen production through hydrolysis of sodium borohydride: Oleic acid stabilized Co–La–Zr–B nanoparticle as a novel catalyst," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 152-159.
    2. Chou, Chang-Chen & Liu, Cheng-Hong & Chen, Bing-Hung, 2014. "Effects of reduction temperature and pH value of polyol process on reduced graphene oxide supported Pt electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 231-238.
    3. Huang, Zhen-Ming & Su, Ay & Liu, Ying-Chieh, 2014. "Development and testing of a hybrid system with a sub-kW open-cathode type PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell stack," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 547-553.
    4. Li, Fang & Arthur, Ernest Evans & La, Dahye & Li, Qiming & Kim, Hern, 2014. "Immobilization of CoCl2 (cobalt chloride) on PAN (polyacrylonitrile) composite nanofiber mesh filled with carbon nanotubes for hydrogen production from hydrolysis of NaBH4 (sodium borohydride)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 32-39.
    5. Oh, Taek Hyun & Gang, Byeong Gyu & Kim, Hyuntak & Kwon, Sejin, 2015. "Sodium borohydride hydrogen generator using Co–P/Ni foam catalysts for 200 W proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 1163-1170.
    6. Guo, Hang & Liu, Xuan & Zhao, Jian Fu & Ye, Fang & Ma, Chong Fang, 2016. "Effect of low gravity on water removal inside proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with different flow channel configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 926-934.
    7. Parnian, Mohammad Javad & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Gashoul, Fatemeh, 2017. "Comprehensive investigation of physicochemical and electrochemical properties of sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) membranes with different degrees of sulfonation for proton exchange membrane fuel ," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 614-628.
    8. Rahnavard, Aylin & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad & Amirkhanlou, Gholam Reza, 2015. "The effect of sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) as the electrode ionomer for self-humidifying nanocomposite proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 746-757.
    9. Alipour Najmi, Ali & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad, 2016. "Investigation of NaOH concentration effect in injected fuel on the performance of passive direct methanol alkaline fuel cell with modified cation exchange membrane," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 589-599.
    10. Díaz, Manuel Antonio & Iranzo, Alfredo & Rosa, Felipe & Isorna, Fernando & López, Eduardo & Bolivar, Juan Pedro, 2015. "Effect of carbon dioxide on the contamination of low temperature and high temperature PEM (polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cells. Influence of temperature, relative humidity and analysis of regener," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P1), pages 299-309.
    11. An, Myung-Gi & Mehmood, Asad & Hwang, Jinyeon & Ha, Heung Yong, 2016. "A novel method of methanol concentration control through feedback of the amplitudes of output voltage fluctuations for direct methanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 217-226.
    12. Wang, Luwen & He, Mingyan & Hu, Yue & Zhang, Yufeng & Liu, Xiaowei & Wang, Gaofeng, 2015. "A “4-cell” modular passive DMFC (direct methanol fuel cell) stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 229-235.
    13. Li, Dazi & Yu, Yadi & Jin, Qibing & Gao, Zhiqiang, 2014. "Maximum power efficiency operation and generalized predictive control of PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 210-217.
    14. Borghei, Maryam & Scotti, Gianmario & Kanninen, Petri & Weckman, Timo & Anoshkin, Ilya V. & Nasibulin, Albert G. & Franssila, Sami & Kauppinen, Esko I. & Kallio, Tanja & Ruiz, Virginia, 2014. "Enhanced performance of a silicon microfabricated direct methanol fuel cell with PtRu catalysts supported on few-walled carbon nanotubes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 612-620.
    15. Shao, Meng & Zhu, Xin-Jian & Cao, Hong-Fei & Shen, Hai-Feng, 2014. "An artificial neural network ensemble method for fault diagnosis of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 268-275.
    16. Lee, Chi-Hung & Chen, Szu-Hsien & Wang, Yen-Zen & Lin, Chao-Chien & Huang, Chih-Kai & Chuang, Ching-Nan & Wang, Chih-Kuang & Hsieh, Kuo-Huang, 2013. "Preparation and characterization of proton exchange membranes based on semi-interpenetrating sulfonated poly(imide-siloxane)/epoxy polymer networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 905-915.
    17. Arlt, Tobias & Klages, Merle & Messerschmidt, Matthias & Scholta, Joachim & Manke, Ingo, 2017. "Influence of artificially aged gas diffusion layers on the water management of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells analyzed with in-operando synchrotron imaging," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 502-511.
    18. Blal, Mohamed & Benatiallah, Ali & NeÇaibia, Ammar & Lachtar, Salah & Sahouane, Nordine & Belasri, Ahmed, 2019. "Contribution and investigation to compare models parameters of (PEMFC), comprehensives review of fuel cell models and their degradation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 182-199.
    19. Sayadi, Parvin & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad, 2016. "Study of hydrogen crossover and proton conductivity of self-humidifying nanocomposite proton exchange membrane based on sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 292-303.
    20. Yin, Cong & Gao, Jianlong & Wen, Xuhui & Xie, Guangyou & Yang, Chunhua & Fang, Honglin & Tang, Hao, 2016. "In situ investigation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance with novel segmented cell design and a two-phase flow model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1071-1089.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:69:y:2014:i:c:p:721-727. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.