FUEL CELLS have enormous potential and efficiency to power cars, trucks and buses without emitting harmful tailpipe emissions. This can capture 40 to 60 per cent or more of a fuel’s energy to power vehicles with low or zero emissions.
A senior professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K) Dr Avinash Kumar told Hindustan Times that vehicles powered by the fuel cells would be cleaner and more energy efficient than those powered by the internal combustion engines. These cells may also provide energy to factories and houses without creating smokestack pollution.
Referring to the efficiency of the internal combustion engine he said that these engines converted less than 20 per cent of the energy in gasoline into power that moved the vehicles. The automotive engineers have found ingenious ways to make internal combustion engines run more cleanly and efficiently. But there was a limit to add efficiency to these engines as compared to fuel cell system, he added.
Dr Agarwal, however, said that there were certain cautions to be ensured while putting the fuel cells in use. The use of fuel cells in vehicles required intensive research because the fuel cell technology was still very new as compared to the combustion engines, which have a long history of 120 years. During such a long period the results of trial and error made the technology perfect.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Agarwal, however, said that there were certain cautions to be ensured while putting the fuel cells in use. The use of fuel cells in vehicles required intensive research because the fuel cell technology was still very new as compared to the combustion engines, which have a long history of 120 years. During such a long period the results of trial and error made the technology perfect.
{{/usCountry}}He said there was need to reduce the cost of production of the fuel cell stacks and to reduce the size and weight of all the components of a fuel cell power system to improve overall fuel efficiency.
Besides, make the fuel cells start faster and to respond better to rapid changes in power requirements. Above all the processing systems that converted hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen or the fuel cell be improved.
Dr Agarwal said that researchers at the IIT-K and other institutes were working to bring all the benefits of fuel cell power to the other forms of transportation including heavy on road trucks and off road heavy locomotives.