Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Performance Prediction of Scalable Fuel Cell Systems for Micro-Vehicle Applications.

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    StClair_umd_0117N_11867.pdf (6.165Mb)
    No. of downloads: 3115

    Date
    2010
    Author
    St. Clair, Jeffrey Glen
    Advisor
    Cadou, Christopher P
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Miniature (< 500g) bio-inspired robotic vehicles are being developed for a variety of applications ranging from inspection of hazardous and remote areas to environmental monitoring. Their utility could be greatly improved by replacing batteries with fuel cells consuming high energy density fuels. This thesis surveys miniature fuel cell technologies and identifies direct methanol and sodium borohydride technologies as especially promising at small scales. A methodology for estimating overall system-level performance that accounts for the balance of plant (i.e. the extra components like pumps, blowers, etc. necessary to run the fuel cell system) is developed and used to quantify the performance of two direct methanol and one NaBH4 fuel cell systems. Direct methanol systems with water recirculation offer superior specific power (400 mW/g) and specific energy at powers of 20W and system masses of 150g. The NaBH4 fuel cell system is superior at low power (<5W) because of its more energetic fuel.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/11285
    Collections
    • Aerospace Engineering Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility