HYDRANGER - The Physically Integrated Hydrogen Fuel Cell - Lithium Battery Range Extender

我们目前正在进入“电化学时代”，取代化石燃料和内燃机。交通运输部门对脱碳的迫切需求导致了电池技术的重大改进和电动汽车的快速增长。锂离子电池技术已经引领了这一潮流，并大幅提高了性能，降低了成本。然而，电池的重量/尺寸、充电时间和成本对于中型和重型商用车来说是一个挑战。混合燃料电池与电池提供了一个“两全其美”的方案，可以满足这一领域的需求。燃料电池是一种电化学能源技术，具有最高的已知效率，将化学燃料转化为电能。它们通过电化学分裂燃料分子（例如氢），从而产生电流。聚合物电解质燃料电池（PEFC）不涉及燃烧或运动部件，在50- 80 ℃的温度下以氢燃料运行，被认为是最有前途的汽车应用燃料电池类型。虽然PEFC在性能（效率、功率密度等）方面表现出很大的潜力，但它在汽车应用中的应用前景并不乐观。它仍然需要降低成本、大规模制造的手段和延长寿命。Bramble Energy的技术使用印刷电路板（PCB）材料和制造技术来实现低成本、重量轻、坚固耐用的系统，其基本优势使其具有高度的设计灵活性和耐用性。Bramble Energy方法以不同的方式考虑燃料电池的结构。传统的燃料电池需要资本密集型的定制制造技术，专门针对每种应用。Bramble Energy燃料电池仅使用标准PCB材料和制造技术，因此原则上可以在全球任何PCB生产工厂进行生产。2017年，全球商用公路车辆市场价值1.32万亿美元，是二氧化碳排放的主要来源。氢燃料电池为这一领域提供了脱碳的机会，由于重量和范围的要求，单独使用锂离子电池是非常困难的。该项目将演示如何将燃料电池纳入传统的锂离子电池模块，并在可操作的“骡子”车辆中演示该方法，以便燃料电池有效地成为车辆内电池组空间的一部分。这将显著提高燃料电池集成在电动汽车内的能力，提高可制造性，系统重量/体积性能和成本。

We are currently entering the 'age of electrochemical power', displacing fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine. The critical need to decarbonise the transport sector has led to major improvements in battery technology and the rapidly growing uptake of electric vehicles. Li-ion battery technology has led the way and resulted in massively improved performance and reduced cost. However, the weight/size, recharging time and cost of batteries are a challenge for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Hybridising fuel cells with batteries deliveries a 'best of both worlds' scenario that can deliver the needs of this sector.Fuel cells are an electrochemical energy technology that has the highest know efficiency for conversion of chemical fuel into electricity. They work by electrochemically splitting fuel molecules (e.g. hydrogen), with the consequent passage of electrical current. There is no combustion or moving parts involved, and the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), which operates on hydrogen fuel at a temperature of 50-80C, is considered to be the most promising fuel cell type for automotive applications.While the PEFC shows great promise and delivers in terms of performance (efficiency, power density, etc.) it still requires cost reduction, a means of large-scale manufacture and improvements to longevity. Bramble Energy's technology uses printed circuit board (PCB) materials and manufacturing techniques to realise a low-cost, light-weight, rugged system with fundamental advantages that make it highly design flexible and durable. The Bramble Energy approach thinks about the structure of a fuel cell in a different way. A traditional fuel cell needs capital intensive, bespoke manufacturing techniques tailored specifically to each application. A Bramble Energy fuel cell uses only standard PCB materials and manufacturing techniques such that its production can be done, in principle, at any PCB production plant worldwide.The global commercial road vehicle market was valued at USD 1.32 trillion in 2017 and is a major source of CO2 emissions. Hydrogen fuel cells offer the opportunity to decarbonise this sector, which, due to weight and range requirements, is exceedingly difficult to electrify using lithium-ion batteries alone. This project will demonstrate how fuel cells can be incorporated within conventional lithium-ion battery modules, and demonstrate the approach in an operational 'mule' vehicle, such that the fuel cell effectively becomes part of the battery pack space within a vehicle. This will significantly improve the ability of fuel cells to be integrated within electric vehicles, improve manufacturability, system weight/volume performance and cost.