h a l f b a k e r yA riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a rich, flaky crust
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You want to use solar power to generate electricity which will then run a fuel cell to produce hydrogen which you then burn in an internal combustion engine? Instead of using solar power to charge a battery which runs an electric motor? |
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It would take a lot more than $5K to build this boat. Unless you're talking about a solar powered rowboat or something. |
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You could also use the solar panel array as a landing/takeoff strip for jet aircraft! |
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Maybe it would be better to build a boathouse with the solar cells on the roof and the hydrogen-seperation and collection equipment inside, and then simply fuel up your boat at the dock. That way your boat has to carry no more equipment than a standard motorcraft. Of course this limits your trip length to the size of your onboard fuel tank. For long cruises you're better off, as Angel suggests, just running an electric motor. |
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It sounds like a good idea . You should equip the boat with a windmill electric generator as well for those stormy days. |
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Waste of energy. You get more energy by directly using an electric motor with solar cells. Also you get only very little energy from the sun, only in FL you may be able to run a very small electric outboard. |
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OVBIOUSLY THEY DON'T GET IT...IT MAY SOUND IMPOSSIBLE BUT I THINK IT IS NOT.THEY SAYD THAT TO FLY WAS NOT POSSIBLE AND YOU SEE NOW.I THINK IS A GRATE IDEA AND I THOUGHT ABOUT THE SAME SOME TIME AGO.
WHY NOT RUNNING AN ELECTRIC MOTOR INSTADE ALL THIS ...SIMPLE...IT COULD BE A MUCH BETTER WAY TO STORAGE ENERGY THEN A BUNCH OF BATTERYS THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO REPLACE EVERY 3 YEARS AT LEAST.AND WITCH IS CONTAMINATING TOO. |
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gui, please don't shout. How about editing the anno so we aren't all deafened. |
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oh, and said, great, instead, batteries, which. |
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No wrong apostrophes though. |
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Not a bad idea but I think you would be looking at closer to $20-30 K!!! |
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Boats like your talking about cost about 2.5K/ft. Where would you sit in your two foot boat? Also it takes way more energy to produce hydrogen than you get when you burn it so your efficiency would be way down. Then the compressor and storage, you're talking about a seagoing factory. |
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I like the idea of electrolisis to get hydrogen out of sea water, but instead of solar cells, you could use some alge and a microbial fuel cell (new kind, with graphite) to get the stored energy (sugars, proteins) from sea water, that is then cracked open to get 0, H2 and possible CLx but you can filter the clorine out. |
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Have you thought of that idea? |
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The OP is not that bad. Expensive,
sure, but not unfeasible, especially
for a boat that spends most of its
time sitting in one spot, like say a
sports fishing boat. |
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It's just another application of H2
storage and fuel cells rather than
batteries. Which right now is still
several powers of ten more
expensive than an motor and a
tank of diesel. |
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Sails are pretty darn energy
efficient... |
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[shonagon] your anno is a little
garbled: By "satellite" I assume
you mean the high-flying UAVs
that NASA and others are
researching. Moonlight is less
than 4% of sunlight (full moon,
cloudless night). Wind and wave
power seem practical ways of
capturing energy which would
otherwise be "wasted" when the
ship is at anchor. |
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But I fail to see how any "very
lightweight" materials will allow
you store liquid H2. I think your
tri would very rapidly sink to the
bottom of the ocean, from the
mass of the tanks and their cargo. |
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Unless they were made of ice....
Say a lightweight H2 proof bladder
surrounded by several feet of ice.
The cold hydrogen at the center
should keep it pretty well solid,
add a mesh of steel cables for
reinforcement. And a run around
the gunwhales with a hot knife
once a day should keep a nice
streamlined profile.. |
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Ok I admit I'm just thinking out
loud now. |
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*Is* liquid H2 less dense than
water? |
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[GUI] I refuse to read your anno on
principle. |
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yes liquid H2 is less dense
than water, the thing is you
need to keep it at insane
pressure or temperatures to
keep it that way. There are
better ways to store hydrogen
using adsorption to a metal
lattice material IRRC.
But it is still a cumbersome
and inefficient way to store
energy. It is much cheaper to
store it in ordinary lead acid
batteries and run an electric
motor from them. several craft
have been build that use solar
power for propulsion. The
latest I read about was
australian, and was a
pontoonboat like catamaran,
that had solar cellc in the
canopy. They all are hindered
by the inefficiency of the
solar cells, so you need more
collection surface than the
boat is big. |
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As suggested before: sailing
is much more efficient and is
solar powered too. |
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There are test houses set up in the United States that use solar engery to run a pump to seperate water into hydrogen and oxygen. It stores the hydrogen for use by a fuel cell that not only powers the house but produces enough electricity to sell some back to the grid. Your idea is sound but instead of burning the hydrogen use fuel cells to generate electricity for an electric motor. Much more power than what batteries can provide and lasts as long as the hydrogen supply, not just until the batteries run down. Useful at night. |
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Attach a large sail to the boat, woven with flexible solarcells. Use electricty from the solar cells to make hydrogen from the sea water for bouyancy in your observation blimp. |
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Avantages: The sail will propel you way faster than any solar cells, and you get a blimp. Admit it...blimps are cool. |
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