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Fuel
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Fuel Cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device
that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity. The process
is clean, quiet, and efficient. A byproduct of the process is water,
however, which can be a problem for deployments in a polar environment.
The technology is still in its infancy, but commercial products are
becoming available. Some systems have operated under
controlled
environmental conditions for limited periods of time. Portable systems
are being provided to the military as replacements for rechargable
battery packs.
Fuel cells have been of interest because their fuel is more benign to
the environment that traditional gasoline or
diesel fuel. The hydrogen used for fuel is either provided directly
under pressure or derived from other forms, such as methane. Safety
regulations often set restrictions on the amount of fuel to be stored
or transported.
With water as a major byproduct, there is a major concern for ice
formation in polar environments. Either the use of fuel cells needs to
be restricted to warmer seasons or heaters, driven by backup power
sources, are needed to raise the temperature of the fuel cell high
enough for operation.
Fuel Cell-powered Communications Node
SRI International has been developing a communications node to support
data transfers from the Imnavait Creek research area on the North Slope
of Alaska. The node will provide terrestrial communications to the
research towers using IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network
technology. An Internet connection will be provided by a HugheNet
satellite dish and mode for broadband communications to the
geostationary satellite. This link will be schedule to operate
for as little as one half hour in the winter, when power resources are
scarce, and up to continuous operation when solar energy is sufficient
to power the system. The prime power source for winter operations
is a Smart Fuel Cells EFOY Pro 65-Watt methanol fuel cell. Pictures of
the system under development can be found
here.
Please visit the
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sections for more information on this technology.
