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FCHV Fuel Cell Hybrid
Vehicles |
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Fine-N,
Toyota’s latest fuel cell hybrid vehicle (FCHV). Features
radical styling in a novel package and 4WD using four in-wheel
motors to achieve new dimensions in driving performance together
with epoch-making environmental performance.
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next step toward the ultimate eco-car after Prius will be a Fuel
Cell Hybrid Vehicle (FCHV) that uses a fuel cell instead of a
petrol internal combustion engine. |
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What is a Fuel Cell? |
A fuel cell makes electricity by
combining hydrogen and oxygen in a chemical reaction. It is a
kind of miniature power plant. Since the fuel cell generates
electricity directly, without burning hydrogen, it is both clean
and extremely efficient. Theoretically, if you calculate that a
fuel cell can convert 83% of hydrogen energy into electrical
energy, we can look forward to extremely high efficiency
compared to the maximum of 30% to 40% possible with a petrol
engine. Furthermore, in principle, a fuel cell produces no CO2
or harmful emissions; its only byproduct is water.
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Electricity from hydrogen - How does it work? |
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Fuel cells make
electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and
oxygen (from the air). Hydrogen is supplied to a fuel cell's
negative electrode, where a catalyst strips electrons from the
hydrogen atoms. The electrons flow from the fuel cell's negative
to positive electrode, thereby generating electricity.
Meanwhile, the hydrogen atoms that have shed their electrons
become hydrogen ions and travel through a polymer electrolyte
membrane to reach the positive side. There, with the help of a
catalyst on the positive electrode, the hydrogen ions and
electrons join with oxygen to form water.
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Fuel cell design |
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Several kinds of
fuel cell exist but automotive applications have focused on the
polymer electrolyte fuel cell. This has a polymer electrolyte
membrane with integrated electrodes on both sides. This
membrane-electrode assembly is sandwiched between separators
that form passageways for hydrogen and oxygen. A single cell
like this generates less than one volt, so hundreds of cells are
stacked in a series connection to raise the voltage. Such a
package is called a fuel cell stack and is what most people are
referring to when they talk about fuel cells. |
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