Solar hydrogen refuelling stations
Aug 12, 2022
Solar hydrogen refuelling station: a station to provide fuel for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
In 2008, hydrogen refuelling stations have started to gradually become commonplace in the US to fuel hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Honda's R&D subsidiary, HondaR&D Americas, has launched practical trials of a new generation of small solar-powered hydrogen refuelling stations at its Los Angeles R&D centre. This is a hydrogen supply unit for fuel cell vehicles of a size that can be set up in a residence. The most interesting feature of the solar hydrogen refuelling station is that it uses electricity from solar cells to electrolyse water to extract hydrogen and produces no CO2 when making hydrogen.
Research experiments
The hydrogen refuelling station provided to the public by the City of Sacramento's electric utility consists of solar cells, an electrolysis unit, a hydrogen storage tank and a refuelling machine, and is located near a number of public car parks. In addition, when there is no need for hydrogen storage, the electricity obtained from the solar cells is supplied to the commercial power supply. However, public solar hydrogen refuelling stations occupy a large area, and Honda has come up with a good solution. Honda's R&D subsidiary, HondaR&DAmericas, has launched field trials of a new generation of small solar hydrogen refuelling stations at its R&D centre in Los Angeles. This is a hydrogen supply unit for fuel cell vehicles of a size that can be set up in a residence.
Basic features
The most important feature of the solar hydrogen refuelling station is that it uses electricity from solar cells to electrolyse water to extract hydrogen, and produces no CO2 in the process.
Honda's research and development subsidiary, Honda R&D America, has developed a new compact solar hydrogen refuelling station at its Los Angeles R&D centre, which is small enough to be installed directly in the garden or at the entrance of a home.
The original solar hydrogen refuelling station, which has been in operation at the Los Angeles R&D Centre since 2001, required the installation of a water electrolyser and a compressor to compress the hydrogen in order to produce high pressure hydrogen. This new generation solar hydrogen refuelling station uses a high-pressure water electrolysis system that combines the manufacture and compression of hydrogen in one unit, eliminating the need for a compressor and thus reducing size, noise and cost. The efficiency of the hydrogen production system has also been increased by 25%. The hydrogen refuelling station is capable of supplying around 0.5kg of hydrogen in eight hours, which is enough to drive the FCXClarity for 30 miles (approximately 50km).
In addition, a system without a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank was used for the demonstration. The overall size has been further reduced, making it easier to install in the home. However, with this configuration, it would have to be connected to the vehicle's hydrogen storage tank during hydrogen production. This time the system can also be used with a high-pressure hydrogen tank. Honda says that the next-generation solar hydrogen filling station is designed to play a complementary role to the public hydrogen filling station network.
