Marinization and Installation of PCB Hydrogen Fuel Cell into Unmanned Surface Vessel for Demonstration

SEA-KIT的拟议项目-清洁海洋示范竞赛-Strand 2是设计、建造和测试由Bramble Energy设计的新型氢燃料电池，并对现有的无人水面船(USV)进行改造，以实现安装燃料电池作为现有柴油发动机的替代，并展示一条实现英国清洁海洋计划战略承诺的途径，该战略承诺到2050年将航运温室气体的排放量比2008年减少至少50%。SEA-KIT(SK)为近海工业提供长寿命、高性能的无人潜航器，用于勘测和建造支持工作。这艘船有一个柴油-电力混合动力双驱动系统。推进力来自由电池组提供动力的电动马达，这些马达由就地的柴油发电机充电。该项目将使用Bramble Energy(BE)的印刷电路板燃料电池(PCBFC)，PCBFC将被海水化，并围绕SK的USV进行设计。BE的PCBFC技术使用多氯联苯，而不是金属或石墨端板，更适合崎岖、咸化的环境。PCBFC系统将设计在USV内的一个外壳中，以防止海水进入和由此造成的海水腐蚀。该项目提供了一条用氢燃料电池取代其中一台柴油发电机的路线，并展示了零碳排放的海上作业。保留其中一台不会在演示期间使用的柴油发电机，大大降低了该计划的风险。使用这辆现有车辆作为演示基础的好处是，许多现有的推进硬件都可以使用，几乎不需要改装。这将使项目团队能够专注于创新的电力系统，而不是燃料电池运行所需的已经得到验证的技术。该项目之后不久的开发计划的一部分是将燃料电池安装到USV中，并演示在海洋、咸水环境中的零排放USV操作，以展示燃料电池的能力。Bramble Energy开发计划的一部分是继续进行监管认证，将FC作为标准产品销售到海运业。

SEA-KIT's proposed project - Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition – Strand 2 is the design, build and testing of a new and novel hydrogen fuel cell engineered by Bramble Energy and modification of an existing Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) to enable installation of the fuel cell as a replacement to the existing diesel engine and demonstrate a route to fulfilling the UK's Clean Maritime Plan Strategy commitment of reducing emissions of GHGs from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. SEA-KIT (SK) supply long endurance highly capable USV's to the offshore industry for survey and construction support work. The vessel has a dual diesel-electric hybrid drive. Propulsion comes from electric motors powered from battery banks that are charged by in-situ diesel generators. The project will use Bramble Energy's (BE) printed circuit board fuel cell (PCBFC), the PCBFC will be marinized and designed around SK's USV. Utilising PCBs, rather than metallic or graphite end plates, BE's PCBFC technology is more suited to rugged, marinized environments. The PCBFC system will be designed in an enclosure within the USV to prevent sea water ingress and resulting corrosion from sea water. The project provides a route to replace one of the diesel generators with a hydrogen fuel cell and demonstrate an offshore operation with zero carbon emissions. The retention of one of the diesel generators, which will not be used during the demonstration, significantly de-risks the programme.The benefit of using this existing vehicle as a basis for a demonstrator is that much of the existing propulsion hardware can be used, with little to no modification. This will allow the project team to focus on the innovative power system and not the already proven technology required for the fuel cell operation.Part of the exploitation plan soon after this project is to install the fuel cell into the USV and demonstrate zero emissions USV operations in a marine, saltwater environment to demonstrate the fuel cell capabilities. Part of Bramble Energy’s exploitation plan is to proceed with regulatory certification for selling the FC as a standard product into maritime industry.