Hydrogen Cell Fuel for a drone

[izo]

Interesting story found on engadget

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2007/10/129_11573.html

So If only we could get our hands on that...

[Jeffrey Torella]

if your build has fuel type enginesyou could always fabricate your own cells to drive your plane ..like making hollow cavitys of your wings if present into gas storage compartment to feed engine and use old fuel tank as your electrolizer with the open cavitys of wing space the presance of hydrogen in the wings could also help with weight compensation. iknow this is an old post but i had an idea that you may like to use>>

[Jeffrey Torella]

this may give you and idea also where you read where it says sulfuric acid ..its a low percentage to higher volume of water

[Dr Mike Black]

Potasium Hydroxide is the other catalyst, far easier to get also, been thinking along these lines for a while now...very doable with todays technologies, and light enough to fit in most UAV`s.....

On a side note...not that expensive to make either....with a bit of DIYDRONES common sence...
/
Would be interesting to get this thread going and having a go????!!!!!

[Wyliest]

Sulfuric acid does have a higher percent oxygen per mole then water. But the problem is not the oxygen in this application, its is a cheaper lighter easier means of storing hydrogen or getting your energy per mass and volume down. Sulfuric acid is not the best choice this for a couple reason from density to being hazardous, there are better fuel cells for example methanol.

[Michael Zaffuto]

From Oct. 27, 2009 PC World Online:
Toshiba's Dynario is a 5V, 500mA PSP sized ethanol fuel cell.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/174462/hands_on_with_toshibas_fuel_c...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrWM4kTDfM0

Super cool, and it only took them how many years since Apollo? (Of course they used Hydrogen and Oxygen
in their fuel cells, ya know, before there were PCs, Cell Phones, VCRs, you get the point)

My only beef is, with all these world class universities in the United States, the greatest economy
and business climate, does it really have to take a Japanese company to produce a small commercial
fuel cell for the masses? Where is the pride, the can do attitude, the self respect. I'm not blaming our
engineers or scientists, they'll do anything we ask of them, it's just, I wonder...who is not asking?

It's a downright shame. Another thing, why do all these cool foamies we buy have to come from
Germany, China, Taiwan etc. How is it possible that Sig, Carl Goldberg etc etc or any U.S based
company can't shoot $3.50 worth of foam in a mold?!?! Unbelievable.

[bGatti]

Our best brains are busy inventing new financial products. Anyone need some used-car-loan-backed-securities? 20% interest!!

How 'bout some taxpayer-bailout-default-swaps, if the market goes down, your kids will pay it back with interest!!

[James Harwood]

WOW! What a coincidence - i ran accross the hydrogen fuel cell technology for RC platforms on the net last night when I was doing research on solar cells for continuous flying on sunny days. It really is neat and I think an important step for us. Im only a green behind the ears newbie but it just seems awesome.

I totally agree! I think there needs to be more quality USA RC Airplane factories. I want to buy quality planes and parts from the United States. That doesn't mean I think other countries don't have great stuff, but I like to buy things made in the USA. The RC Airplane hobby is exploding and WE should strive to provide the best products at an affordable price to the world. The hobby is not as expensive as it used to be and most people dont know that. With a big PR campaign we could draw huge numbers of new flyers to our beloved hobby. That could only be good for the model airplane hobby, and for the usa economy.

[Ken McEwan]

I've been building HHO Generators for the past year to be used for Cutting and welding Metal. Never thought of using to power an RC airplane motor. I'll have to see if I can convert one of my glo motors to run on HHO.

The only problem I see with it's use in RC Planes is the amount of power it takes to produce enough HHO to run a motor. The latest cell I built uses 21 stainless Steel plates, about a gallon of Electrolyte and about 28 amps at 12 volts and produces a little over a 1 liter/min. Producing Hydrogen or HHO is easy, storing it and making an on demand system is the difficulty.

Now if you can afford some exotic metals like Palladium, you might have a viable system.

[Jeffrey Torella]

ive seen a smaller hho gen. kit it was a childrens science experiment box set it also powerd a small vehicle it used a combo of crank style dynamo's and solar cell to create current enough to electrolyze the water. but as for h2 output im uncertian....hey but can any one tell me can fuel type rc engine run off of gass type fuel cause if so something could be fabricated to reduce fluid weights on the plane ....now with the palladium what have you got in mind . you can most likely find a good source in a catalytic converter ..well new ones like 10yr old model i believe dont quote me ,

[James Harwood]

I saw a Hydrogen powered radio controlled vehicle at Toys R Us about a year and a half ago. I think it was a car.