Hydrogen fuel cell

There's a full-page plug, thinly disguised as a feature (although they do put a disclaimer at the end) in the current Jaguar Enthusiast magazine, for a "hydrogen fuel cell" which claims to reduce emissions to zero, increase engine performance and eliminate carbon deposits. Oh, and by the way, on trial in an S-Type 3 litre the mpg went from 25.2 to 38.87, a 54.2% improvement. Mine for a mere £599 + VAT. The people behind it are De Verde Technologies; a quick Google indicates that they seem to be registered at a private house in Devon, and they have not filed any company accounts since they were incorporated in October 2008.

Do I detect a slight whiff of snake oil here? Lead pellets, magnetic fields and all the other things the major manufacturers seem to have unaccountably overlooked?

GMacK

Reply to
Geoff Mackenzie
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"Geoff Mackenzie" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

This mob...

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Yes, it definitely looks fishy. Isn't this just a re-hash of the old HHO "Brown's Gas" snake-oil from a year or three ago?
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Best summed up by the Wikipedia heading...

Water-fuelled car See also: Perpetual motion

But to suggest that the fuel cell's been overlooked isn't quite right - they haven't. Several manufacturers have been working on hydrogen fuel cells - but as a primary source, not as a strap-on.

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Reply to
Adrian

Sadly many such magazines don't enquire into the validity of the ads they carry. Car Mechanics carried adverts for the tin pellet devices long after others had banned them.

Their claims are pure lies. To produce hydrogen by electrolysis takes more energy than it produces. So only viable with a cheap source of electricity. Not inefficiently produced by a car alternator driven off the engine.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Boeing Unveils Unmanned Phantom Eye Demonstrator

ST. LOUIS, July 12, 2010 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today unveiled the hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye unmanned airborne system, a demonstrator that will stay aloft at 65,000 feet for up to four days.

"Phantom Eye is the first of its kind and could open up a whole new market in collecting data and communications," Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, said today at the unveiling ceremony in St. Louis. "It is a perfect example of turning an idea into a reality. It defines our rapid prototyping efforts and will demonstrate the art-of-the-possible when it comes to persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The capabilities inherent in Phantom Eye's design will offer game-changing opportunities for our military, civil and commercial customers."

Later this summer, Phantom Eye will be shipped to NASA?s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to begin a series of ground and taxi tests in preparation for its first flight in early 2011. That debut flight is expected to last between four and eight hours.

"The program is moving quickly, and it?s exciting to be part of such a unique aircraft," said Drew Mallow, Phantom Eye program manager for Boeing. "The hydrogen propulsion system will be the key to Phantom Eye's success. It is very efficient and offers great fuel economy, and its only byproduct is water, so it's also a 'green' aircraft."

Phantom Eye is powered by two 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each. It has a 150-foot wingspan, will cruise at approximately 150 knots and can carry up to a 450-pound payload.

Key Phantom Eye suppliers and partners include Ford Motor Company (engines); Aurora Flight Sciences (wing); Mahle Powertrain (propulsion controls); Ball Aerospace (fuel tanks); Turbosolutions Engineering (turbochargers); the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; and NASA.

Reply to
Rob

[snip]

No details on how it works, or the source of the hydrogen. And costs never worry the military. I'm not disputing hydrogen can be a good energy source - this has been known for years. The problem is producing it economically. If you have 'free' electricity that's one thing, but you don't onboard a car.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I thought its was an interesting news release from Boeing in that they have made it work somehow.

Reply to
Rob

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rob saying something like:

Giant magnets, bought from Eco-Tech Magnetic Car Snakeoil Products, of course. If you make the magnets big enough, they create fuel.

Seriously, I'd be interested in seeing how they do it.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Made what work somehow?

Making an engine run off a tank of liquid hydrogen isn't much different to making it run on petrol, ethanol, methanol, butane (LPG in warm areas), methane (CNG), propane (LPG in cooler areas) or any other combustible liquid/gas. Filling a cryogenic tank just before takeoff with the boil off being burnt immediately by the engine is a quite light and low cost route as the tank doesn't have to be a thick wall pressure bottle. Just very bulky with insulation as that controls the boil off rate, too little insulation fuel would have to be vented to stop the tank pressure rising. Utterly useless for cars/trucks as it would have to vent the boil off when not running or run the engine to drive a cooling system to reduce the boil off rate. You can't store liquid H2 for free.

Making a HHO generator produce gas with more energy content than the electric power input is impossible.

Reply to
Peter Hill

This is the bit that got me.

Phantom Eye is powered by two 2.3-liter, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 horsepower each. It has a 150-foot wingspan, will cruise at approximately 150 knots and can carry up to a 450-pound payload.

The above figures show its not very efficient.

Ford make a hybrid car now with a 4 cylinder motor and these are used for taxi cabs in New York.

r
Reply to
Rob

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