Design Brief
Gantt Chart
Definitions:
Hydrogen Fuel Cell:
A sort of generator which uses hydrogen, oxygen, and a electrolyte to produce electricity. It always need a kickstart amount of power but then it is able to sustain itself as long as it has oxygen and hydrogen available. It is often considered extremely environmentally friendly because its only waste product is pure water, but it unfortunately tends to have a low power output.
Solar Cell:
Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic panels or solar panels, use light, heat, and UV rays to produce current and electricity. Their working surface is always a semiconductor which takes the Sun's rays and converts them directly into electric energy.
A sort of generator which uses hydrogen, oxygen, and a electrolyte to produce electricity. It always need a kickstart amount of power but then it is able to sustain itself as long as it has oxygen and hydrogen available. It is often considered extremely environmentally friendly because its only waste product is pure water, but it unfortunately tends to have a low power output.
Solar Cell:
Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic panels or solar panels, use light, heat, and UV rays to produce current and electricity. Their working surface is always a semiconductor which takes the Sun's rays and converts them directly into electric energy.
Sketch/Circuit Connections
Power Calculations:
Battery:
In Series- 2.45 V and 1.85 A
In Parallel- 1.3 V and 1.15 A
Hydrogen:
.02 V and .01 A
Solar:
2.99 V and 3.04 A
In Series- 2.45 V and 1.85 A
In Parallel- 1.3 V and 1.15 A
Hydrogen:
.02 V and .01 A
Solar:
2.99 V and 3.04 A
Reflection:
Out of all 3 methods(Using a battery, hydrogen, and solar), we found that a battery in series was the most effective for powering the vehicle. This is because solar and the fuel cell could not produce enough power to get our vehicle moving, and because in series there is less resistance, allowing the current to flow regularly. This is why we chose series over the parallel variant, and we also found that voltage and current were the determining factor for which source worked the best, though we could not figure out why the 2.45V battery could turn the motor and not the 2.99V producing solar cell since that would have meant the solar cell would have worked better.
To get the same performance as the two AAA batteries in series in terms of solar panels, we only need one in series with the circuit board and motor since we got more power out of the panel. The only things I can think of that would be the reason for the solar panel having more power yet still not moving the car is that we either got a false measurement on the panel or one of the components were faulty in our circuitry.
To get the same performance as the two AAA batteries in series in terms of hydrogen fuel cells we would need 123 modules. This was found by dividing the AAA series voltage by the fuel cell voltage, and the way I would hook it up is in a parallel fashion since, despite having more resistance, it is less likely to have a total failure since if one device stops working you still get most of the power.
For an average driver and their car, I would implement a system with shielded or retractable solar panels on the outside roof of the car which are connected in parallel to a big rechargeable battery where the fuel tank would be. You also should have a charging port on the side of the car just in case, and once the battery reaches a full charge it automatically opens the circuit where the charging port and solar panels are connected so it can't be over charged. Also the battery should have a cooling system in place while the motor of the car which turns the wheels is connected from the battery and not to any other charging methods. I feel the hydrogen has such a low power output that it would either not be included at all or serve as a backup generator.
A photovoltaic cell works by letting sunlight hit a semiconductor, and on the atomic level the photons from the sun knocks electrons out of the semiconductor atoms' orbits which then creates an electric current. I honestly knew this information off the top of my head from a year or two back by being taught it.
In electrolysis, "Water reacts at the anode to form oxygen and positively charged hydrogen ions (protons). The electrons flow through an external circuit and the hydrogen ions selectively move across the PEM to the cathode. At the cathode, hydrogen ions combine with electrons from the external circuit to form hydrogen gas." (Quote directly from https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis ) In a fuel cell, the way electricity is produced when hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water is that hydrogen gets stripped of its electrons when entering the annode, and those electrons go through a circut before coming back to the cathode. There, the positively ionized hydrogen atoms get back with the electrons after traveling through the membrane in between the anode and cathode. Finally the ionized hydrogen and free electrons bind with the present oxygen, which thus forms water as the waste. (Information from http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm )
To get the same performance as the two AAA batteries in series in terms of solar panels, we only need one in series with the circuit board and motor since we got more power out of the panel. The only things I can think of that would be the reason for the solar panel having more power yet still not moving the car is that we either got a false measurement on the panel or one of the components were faulty in our circuitry.
To get the same performance as the two AAA batteries in series in terms of hydrogen fuel cells we would need 123 modules. This was found by dividing the AAA series voltage by the fuel cell voltage, and the way I would hook it up is in a parallel fashion since, despite having more resistance, it is less likely to have a total failure since if one device stops working you still get most of the power.
For an average driver and their car, I would implement a system with shielded or retractable solar panels on the outside roof of the car which are connected in parallel to a big rechargeable battery where the fuel tank would be. You also should have a charging port on the side of the car just in case, and once the battery reaches a full charge it automatically opens the circuit where the charging port and solar panels are connected so it can't be over charged. Also the battery should have a cooling system in place while the motor of the car which turns the wheels is connected from the battery and not to any other charging methods. I feel the hydrogen has such a low power output that it would either not be included at all or serve as a backup generator.
A photovoltaic cell works by letting sunlight hit a semiconductor, and on the atomic level the photons from the sun knocks electrons out of the semiconductor atoms' orbits which then creates an electric current. I honestly knew this information off the top of my head from a year or two back by being taught it.
In electrolysis, "Water reacts at the anode to form oxygen and positively charged hydrogen ions (protons). The electrons flow through an external circuit and the hydrogen ions selectively move across the PEM to the cathode. At the cathode, hydrogen ions combine with electrons from the external circuit to form hydrogen gas." (Quote directly from https://energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/hydrogen-production-electrolysis ) In a fuel cell, the way electricity is produced when hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water is that hydrogen gets stripped of its electrons when entering the annode, and those electrons go through a circut before coming back to the cathode. There, the positively ionized hydrogen atoms get back with the electrons after traveling through the membrane in between the anode and cathode. Finally the ionized hydrogen and free electrons bind with the present oxygen, which thus forms water as the waste. (Information from http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm )