Clean-mobile. (Physical News).At first glimpse First Glimpse is a monthly consumer electronics magazine published by Sandhills Publishing Company in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. The magazine was known as CE Lifestyles before a name change in early 2006. you think: space-age Batmobile--not pollution-free car. But General Motors' futuristic concept vehicle AUTOnomy is just that: Its engine is propelled not by gasoline but hydrogen, the most abundant, renewable element in the universe. Called "clean fuel," when combined with oxygen and pumped into a fuel cell (see diagram, right), hydrogen emits only water vapor and heat as byproducts. Burning gas, on the other hand, spews toxic air pollutants like carbon monoxide carbon monoxide, chemical compound, CO, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, extremely poisonous gas that is less dense than air under ordinary conditions. It is very slightly soluble in water and burns in air with a characteristic blue flame, producing carbon dioxide; (CO). Gas-guzzlers produce nearly 60 percent of all CO emissions in the U.S., claims the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and . The AUTOnomy also boasts a slim, 15.25 cm (6-in.)-high skateboard-like base, or chassis, which houses the car's fuel cells, brake system, and electric motors. "There's no engine to see over," says GM vice president of design Wayne Cherry Wayne K Cherry (b. 1937) is a noted American-born car designer is responsible for nearly all of General Motors' European designs since the 1970s, and GM's worldwide designs since the early 1990s. . The chassis is also designed to accommodate interchangeable riding cabins to suit an owner's taste. And since the car is controlled electronically by adjusting wires and levers, there's no need for a traditional steering column steering column n (Aut) → colonne f de direction steering column steer n (Aut) → Lenksäule f steering column or gas pedal. "People could literally sit wherever they're comfortable," Cherry says. GM hopes to build a working model by next year. Fuel cells: electric power from hydrogen fuel Fuel cells create electricity through a chemical process that combines hydrogen and oxygen. But vehicles running on fuel cells need to be supplied with gaseous hydrogen. This fuel could be natural gas, methanol, or even gasoline. How fuel cells work Expanded single fuel cell shown: 1. Hydrogen fuel is fed into the anode anode (ăn`ōd), electrode through which current enters an electric device. In electrolysis, it is the positive electrode in the electrolytic cell. anode Terminal or electrode from which electrons leave a system. of the fuel cell. Hydrogen atoms are split into electrons and protons. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 2. Electrons are channeled through a circuit to produce electricity. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 3. Only protons pass through a "plastic" polymer electrolyte membrane; electrons are blocked. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 4. Oxygen (from the air) enters the cathode and combines with the electrons and protons to form water. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] 5. Water vapor and heat are released as byproducts of the reaction. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fuel cell stack The reaction in a single fuel cell produces a very low voltage Low voltage is an electrical engineering term that broadly identifies safety considerations of an electricity supply system based on the voltage used. While different definitions exist for the exact voltage range covered by "low voltage", the most commonly used ones include "mains , so many cells are combined into a stack to produce the desired level of electrical power. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fuel cell car Fuel tank [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Exhaust [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Reformer Extracts hydrogen from fuel, delivers it to fuel-cell stack. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Electric motor [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sources: Ballard Power Systems Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD, NASDAQ: BLDP), located in Burnaby, British Columbia -- a suburb of Vancouver -- is a company that designs, develops, and manufactures zero emission proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells. , Fuel Cells 2000, HowStuffWorks.com |
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