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February 2004 The project was conceived, organized, and is led by Vehicle Projects LLC of Denver, USA, and is funded and administered by the US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command's National Automotive Center (NAC), Warren (MI), USA. Fuelcells
are solid-state devices that directly convert the energy of
a fuel into electric power. Based on electrochemistry rather
than combustion, they are efficient and quiet and give rise
to zero emissions.
Conceptual
design of the fuelcell locomotive’s fuel system: Onboard
metal-hydride storage (orange),
Fuel identity is a major issue impacting eventual commercialization of fuelcell locomotives. Probably no single fuel is practical for all rail applications, which range from subway transit to line-haul freight. Our approach is to examine two promising fuels that can provide hydrogen for locomotive fuelcells: (1) reversible metal hydrides for onboard storage and (2) anhydrous ammonia for offboard hydrogen generation and possible future onboard storage.
With the objective of possibly migrating the system onboard a future ammonia-fuelcell locomotive, ammonia is used for offboard hydrogen generation and, concurrently, demonstration of ammonia fuel to the rail industry. Ammonia, as feedstock for catalytic dissociation to hydrogen, is a non-carbon-based, renewable commodity that is typically transported by rail tank car. Ammonia-based hydrogen generation produces a mixture of 75% hydrogen and 25% nitrogen, the predominant component of the Earth’s atmosphere. The nitrogen is separated and harmlessly exhausted to the atmosphere, whereas the hydrogen is compressed to 160 bar for storage in an offboard tube-cluster reservoir between refueling operations. The
locomotive is a “road-switcher,” a type commonly
used for both switching and light line-haul work, to be derived
by retrofitting an Army diesel-electric GP-10 locomotive with
a fuelcell powerplant. Minor body-shell modifications will
update and distinguish the fuelcell version from the original
diesel-electric. The proposed 1.2 MW fuelcell powerplant consists
of eight identical 150-kW stand-alone modules powered by proton-exchange
membrane (PEM) fuelcells. Modules can be swapped in the field
like memory boards of a computer. Onboard metal-hydride storage
of 250 kg of hydrogen allows operation of the locomotive as
a switcher for 30-40 hours under its normal duty cycle.
Conceptual
design of fuelcell road-switcher employing 1.2 MW PEM fuelcells
(blue)
Four contractors to Vehicle Projects LLC have been selected to provide the major components and integration of the system: AeroVironment Inc, Monrovia (CA), USA, will lead the detailed design and integration of the modular powerplant. HERA Hydrogen Storage Systems Inc, Longueuil (QC), Canada, and Ringwood (NJ), USA, will design and provide the onboard hydride-storage system. MesoFuel Inc, Albuquerque (NM), USA, will design and provide the offboard MesoChannelTM ammonia-based hydrogen generation plant. MesoFuel was chosen because of the compactness and efficiency of its hydrogen generation system. Nuvera Fuel Cells, Inc., Cambridge (MA), USA, and Milan, Italy, will provide its FORZATM Power Modules to generate 1.2 MW of power for the locomotive. Nuvera’s FORZATM will provide the hydrogen-fueled PEM fuelcell stacks for the eight powerplant modules of the locomotive. Nuvera’s stacks were chosen because of the ruggedness and compactness of their metal bipolar plates and the simplicity of the proprietary direct-water-injection system of cooling and membrane humidification. AeroVironment, HERA, and Nuvera have similar roles in another project of Vehicle Projects LLC – development of a 23 metric-ton, 150 kW fuelcell-battery hybrid mine loader supported by the US Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada. Other project participants who contributed to conceiving a practical locomotive conceptual design include Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, Ft. Worth, USA; Defense NTG & Rail Equipment Center, Hill Air Force Base (UT), USA; Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane (IN), USA; New York City Transit, New York City, USA; Railway Technical Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan; Regional Transportation District – Denver, Denver, USA; Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA; Transportation Technology Center, Inc (TTCI), Pueblo (CO), USA; US Army CERDEC, Army Power Division, USA; and Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Research Special Program Administration, US Department of Transportation, Cambridge, USA. By advancing the commercialization of both military and commercial fuelcell vehicles, major benefits of the project include increased energy efficiency of the transportation sector, increased national energy security by reducing dependency on imported oil, improved environmental quality, and positioning the project partners into leadership roles in advanced rail transportation. For additional information, please contact the project spokesperson:
Arnold R. Miller, PhD
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