hydrogen wire car concept

7/24/2019 Hydrogen Wire Car Concept

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Hy-wire

ABSTRACT

In this seminar, we will look at one interesting vision of the

future, General Motors remarkable concept car, the Hy-wire.

General Motors (GM may never actually sell the Hy-wire to the

public, but it is certainly a goo! illustration of various ways cars

might evolve in the near future.

Instea! of an engine, Hy-wire car has a fuel cell stack,

which powers an electric motor connecte! to the wheels. Instea!

of mechanical an! hy!raulic linkages, it has a !rive by wire

system where a computer actually operates the components that

move the wheels, activate the brakes an! so on, base! on input

from an electronic controller. "y combining fuel cell an! !rive by

wire technology, the Hy-wire car has opene! a new worl! of

chassis architectures an! customi#e! bo!ies for in!ivi!ual

e$pression. %he !evelopment is a significant step towar!s a new

kin! of automobile that is substantially frien!lier to the

environment an! provi!es consumers positive benefits in !riving

!ynamics, an! free!om of in!ivi!ual e$pression.


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INTRODUCTION

&ars are immensely complicate! machines, but when you

get !own to it, they !o an incre!ibly simple 'ob. Most of the

comple$ stuff in a car is !eci!e! to turning wheel, which grip the

roa! to pull the car bo!y an! passengers along. %he steering

system tilts the wheel si!e to run the car, an! brake an!

acceleration system control the spee! of the wheel. Given that the

overall function of the car is basic (it 'ust nee!s to provi!e rotary

motion to the wheel, it seems a little strange that almost all cars

have the same collection of comple$ cramme! un!er the hoo!

an! the same general mass of mechanical an! hy!raulic linkages

running throughout.

hy !o cars nee! necessarily nee! a steering column, brake

an! acceleration pe!als, a combustion engine an! the rest of it)

%his *uestion le! the automotive engineers at the General Motors

&ompany to !esign an! !evelop a new bree! of cars.

FIGURE 1 GM'S SEDAN MODEL HY-WIRE


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HY-WIRE BASICS

%he two basic elements that largely !ictate car !esign to!ay

are+ the internal combustion engine an! mechanical an! hy!raulic

linkages. If we look un!er the hoo! of a car, we can see that an

internal combustion engine re*uires a lot of a!!itional e*uipment

to function correctly. %he !esigners trying to bring out new

lu$urious an! environment-frien!ly cars into the market always

have to make room for this e*uipment.

%he same is the case with the mechanical an! hy!raulic

linkages. %he basic i!ea of using the linkages is that the !river

can maneuver the various actuators in the car more or less

!irectly, by manipulating !riving controls connecte! to those

actuators by shafts, gears an! hy!raulics. or e$ample, in a rack

an! pinion steering system turning the steering wheel rotates a

shaft connecte! to a pinion gear, which moves a rack gear

connecte! to the cars front wheels.

%he !efining characteristic of the Hy-wire is that it !oesnt

have either of those two things. Instea! of an engine, it has a fuel

cell stack, which powers an electric motor connecte! to the

wheels. Instea! of mechanical an! hy!raulic linkages, it has a

!rive by wire system where a computer actually operates the

components that move the wheels, activate the brakes an! so on,

base! on input from an electronic controller. "y combining fuel

cell an! !rive by wire technology, the Hy-wire car has opene! a

new worl! of chassis architectures an! customi#e! bo!ies for


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in!ivi!ual e$pression. %he !evelopment is a significant step

towar!s a new kin! of automobile that is substantially frien!lier

to the environment an! provi!es consumers positive benefits in

!riving !ynamics, an! free!om of in!ivi!ual e$pression.

FIGURE 2 THE HY-WIRE HAS WHEELS, SEATS AND WINDOWS LIKE A

CONVENTIONAL CAR, BUT THE SIMILARITY PRETTY MUCH ENDS THERE. THERE

IS NO ENGINE UNDER THE HOOD AND NO STEERING WHEEL OR PEDALS

INSIDE.

%he result of the two substitutions is a very !ifferent type of

car an! a very !ifferent !riving e$perience. %here is no steeringwheel, there are no pe!als an! there is no engine compartment. In

fact, every piece of e*uipment that actually moves the car along

the roa! is house! in an -inch-thick (/ cm aluminum &hassis

0also known as the skateboar! 1 at the base of the car. %his


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ma$imi#es the interior space for five occupants an! their cargo.

2verything above the chassis is !e!icate! solely to !river control

passenger comfort.

FUEL CELL ON HY-WIRE

3 fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion !evice

that converts hy!rogen an! o$ygen into water, pro!ucing

electricity an! heat in the process. 3 fuel cell provi!es a 4&

(!irect current voltage that can be use! to power motors, lights

or any number of electrical appliances. 5ne can continually

recharge a fuel cell by a!!ing chemical fuel- hy!rogen for an

onboar! storage tank

%he type of fuel cell that is use! in the Hy-wire car is the

6roton e$change membrane fuel cell.

Proton exchange e!rane

%he four basic elements of a 62M fuel cell are+-

%he ano!e, the negative post of the fuel cell, con!ucts the

electrons that are free! from the hy!rogen molecules so

that they can be use! in an e$ternal circuit. It has channels

etche! into it that !isperse the hy!rogen gas e*ually over

the surface of the catalyst.


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%he catho!e, the positive post of the fuel cell, has channels

etche! into it that !istribute the o$ygen to the surface of the

catalyst. It also con!ucts the electrons back from the

e$ternal circuit to the catalyst, where they can recombine

with the hy!rogen ions an! o$ygen to form water.

%he electrolyte is the proton e$change membrane. %his

specially treate! material, only con!ucts positively charge!

ions. %he membrane blocks electrons.

%he catalyst is a special material that facilitates the reaction

of o$ygen an! hy!rogen. It is usually ma!e of platinum

pow!er very thinly coate! onto carbon paper or cloth. %he

catalyst is rough an! porous so that the ma$imum surface

area of the platinum can be e$pose! to the hy!rogen or

o$ygen. %he platinum-coate! si!e of the catalyst faces the

62M.


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The "or#$ng o% PE&FC

FIGURE 3 FUEL CELL

%he pressuri#e! hy!rogen gas (H enters the fuel cell on

the ano!e si!e. %his gas is force! through the catalyst by the

pressure. hen an H molecule comes in contact with the

platinum on the catalyst, it splits into two H7 ions an! two

electrons (e-. %he electrons are con!ucte! through the ano!e,

where they make their way through the e$ternal circuit (!oing

useful work such as turning a motor an! return to the catho!e

si!e of the fuel cell.

Meanwhile, on the catho!e si!e of the fuel cell, o$ygen gas

(5 is being force! through the catalyst, where it forms two


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o$ygen atoms. 2ach of these atoms has a strong negative charge.

%his negative charge attracts the two H7 ions through the

membrane, where they combine with an o$ygen atom an! two of

the electrons, from the e$ternal circuit to form a water molecule

(H5.

Che$'tr( o% a F)e* Ce**

Ano+e '$+e,

H ./ 0H1 1 0e-

Catho+e '$+e,

O1 0H1 10e-./ HO

Net react$on,

H1 O ./ HO

62M&s operate at a fairly low temperature (about 89

!egrees ahrenheit, /: !egrees &elsius, which means they warm

up *uickly an! !ont re*uire e$pensive containment structures.

FIGURE 4 THE HYDROGEN TANKS AND FUEL-CELL STACK IN THE HY-WIRE


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%he gaseous hy!rogen fuel nee!e! to power this system is

store! in three cylin!rical tanks, weighing about 9; poun!s (8;

kilograms total. %he tanks are ma!e of a special carbon

composite material with the high structural strength nee!e! to

contain high-pressure hy!rogen gas. %he tanks in the current

mo!el hol! about brain? is a central computer house! in the

mi!!le of the chassis. It sen!s electronic signals to the motor

control unit to vary the spee!, the steering mechanism to

maneuver the car, an! the braking system to slow the car !own.

%he central computer is connecte! to an array of a!vance!

sensors. "ase! on input from the !river, the computer activates

the !ifferent actators to control the motion of the vehicle. %he

!river !oesnt actually !rive the car !irectly+ He or she gives

instructions an! the computer !eci!es how to carry them out. %he

computer constantly makes a!'ustments on it to improve the

!riving performance the computer artificially creates a relatively

smooth ri!e. %he computer is connecte! to the bo!ys electronics

through universal !ocking ports. %he @46 transmits a constant


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stream of electronic comman! signals from the car controller to

the central computer, as well as fee!back signals from the

computer to the controller. 3!!itionally, it provi!es the electric

power nee!e! to operate all of the bo!ys onboar! electronics.

FIGURE THE HY-WIRE'S !-DRIVE

FIGURE " THE !-DRIVE CAN SLIDE TO EITHER SIDE OF THE VEHICLE


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%he !rivers control unit, !ubbe! the A-!rive has to

ergonomic groups, positione! to the left an! right of a small B&4

monitor. %o steer the car, you gli!e the gripes up an! !own

lightly, you !ont have to keep rotating a wheel to turn, an! you

'ust have to hol! the grip in the turning position. %o accelerateC

you turn either grip, in the same way you woul! turn the throttle

on a motor cycleC an! to brake you s*uee#e either grip. 2lectronic

motion sensors, translate the motion of the A-!rive in to a !igital

signal the computer can recogni#e. "uttons on the controller let

you switch easily from neutral to !rive to rivers, an! a starter

buttons turns the car on. 3bsolutely everything is han!

controlle!.

%he ;./ inch (


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5ne of the ama#ing things about the !rive-by-wire system

is that you can fine-tune vehicle han!ling without changing

anything in the cars mechanical components 1 all it takes to

a!'ust the steering, accelerator or brake sensitivity is some new

computer software. 5ne fuel cell only puts out a little bit of

power, so you nee! to combine many cells into a stack to get

much use out of the process. %he fuel-cell stack in the Hy-wire is

ma!e up of :: in!ivi!ual cells connecte! in series, which

collectively provi!e E< kilowatts of continuous power an! E

kilowatts at peak power. %he compact cell stack is kept cool by a

conventional ra!iator system thats powere! by the fuel cells

themselves. %he fuel system !elivers 4& voltage ranging from

; to :: volts, !epen!ing on the loa! in the circuit. 3

transformer in motor controller boosts this up to ;: to =/: volts

an! converts it to 3& current to !rive the three-phase electric

motor that rotates the wheels.

%he electric motors 'ob is to apply tor*ue to the front wheel

a$le to spin the two front wheels. %he control unit varies the

spee! of the car by increasing or !ecreasing the power applie! to

the motor. hen the controller applies ma$imum power from the

fuel-cell stack, the motors rotor spins at ::: revolutions per

minute, !elivering a tor*ue of ;E poun!-feet. 3 single-stage

planetary gear, with the wheels, thats enough tor*ue to move the


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level roa!. Fmaller electric motors maneuver the wheels to steer

the car, an! electrically controlle!.

FIGURE # GM'S DIAGRAM OF THE AUTONOMY DESIGN

AD2ANTA3ES,

45 F)e* e%%$c$ent -Fince a fuel cell propulsion system is

about twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine, a fuel

cell vehicle coul! provi!e twice the fuel efficiency of a

comparably si#e! conventional vehicle, an! an optimi#e! fuel

cell vehicle like Hy-wire woul! be even more efficient.

5 En6$ronent %r$en+*( - Fince the reaction through which

the power is generate! is H75H5 the only bi-pro!uct

forme! is water, which is a non-pollutant. Fince there is no burning


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or other o$i!ation process in the releasing of energy harmful

components like nitrogen o$i!es, hy!rocarbons, carbon o$i!es an!

other unburnt pro!ucts are not pro!uce!. Hence these cars are

highly eco-frien!ly.

75 H$gh 'ta!$*$t( - 3s all the technical elements have been

nicely blen!e! into the chassis, most of the power train loa! has

been evenly !istribute! between the front an! rear of the chassis.

%his provi!es a low center of gravity, giving the architecture both a

high stability an! !riving !ynamics potential. %his contributes to

the overall safety of the vehicle, by enabling superior han!ling,

while resisting rollover forces, with the tallest bo!y attache!.

05 H$gh*( '8ac$o)' - 3s there are no linkages an! engine lot

of legroom space is available for the passengers.

95 Dr$6er %r$en+*( - 3s the A-!rive !oes not have any

physical linkages with the steering controller, it can be taken to

anywhere insi!e the car. Moreover as everything that !rives the car

is house! in the chassis, the !river !oes not have to sit behin! a

mass of machinery. %his gives the !river a clear view of the roa!

an! thus increases the !rivability.

:5 Free+o o% $n+$6$+)a* ex8re''$on - 3s the chassis woul!

be common for most the Hy-wire vehicles, one can easily remove

the entire passenger compartment an! replace it with a !ifferent

one. %his lea!s to the free!om of in!ivi!ual e$pression. or

e$ample if one wants to switch from a van to a sports car, he !oes


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not nee! an entirely new carC he only nee!s a new bo!y (which

woul! be a lot cheaper.


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FIGURE $ GM CONCEPT OF THE AUTONOMY WITH AND

WITHOUT A BODY ATTACHED

DISAD2ANTA3ES

45 Lo" 'a%et( - %he big concern with !rive-by-wire vehicles

is safety. Fince there is no physical connection between the !river

an! the cars mechanical elements, an electrical failure woul!

mean total loss of control. In or!er to make this sort of system

viable in the real worl!, !rive-by-wire cars will nee! back- up

power supply an! re!un!ant electronic linkages.

5 Storage an+ tran'8ortat$on o% h(+rogen %)e*' - %he

other ma'or hur!le for this type of car is figuring out energy-

efficient metho! for pro!ucing, transporting an! storing hy!rogen

for the on boar! fuel cell stack. ith the current state of


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technology, actually the pro!uction of the hy!rogen fuel can

generate about as much pollution as using gasoline engines.

75 Pr$c$ng - ith the current status of !evelopment,

manufacturing of the Hy-wire cars on a mass scale woul! not at all

be economical. 3ccor!ing to the present accounts, the cost for

manufacturing even a single Hy-wire car woul! be about to

crores.

FUTURE OF HY-WIRE

Booking in to the future, "urns says he thinks fuel cells offer

a promising alternative, but he recogni#es that they nee! to be

compelling, affor!able, an! profitable. 5ne area GM is tackling is

hy!rogen storage. GM partnere! with uantum %echnologies to

!evelop a prototype tank that will give you a !riving range of up to

=:: miles before you have to refuel.

"urns says GM is looking into other ways it can store

compresse! hy!rogen, >%heres li*ui! for hy!rogen an! theres

also metal hy!ri!es when youre storing hy!rogen in a soli! state,?

he sai!. Jeebler says another solution coul! be to buil! a hy!rogen

reformer into the car, which woul! enable it to turn other fuels into

hy!rogen. Kou coul! also house these reforms at gas stations, he

says. "urns says you coul! !istribute the gasoline the same way

you !o to!ay, but it woul! go through a reformer at the pump,

creating hy!rogen from the gas. "urns sees a worl! where GM


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overcomes those obstacles an! your car becomes part of your

energy solution an! not the problem.

>Bets imagine a worl! in which you coul! come home at

night an! pull your hy!rogen fuel cell vehicle into your garage.

%he first thing you !o is connect it to some compresse! hy!rogen

tanks that are also in your garage an! you put hy!rogen into your

vehicle. Kou are refueling at home,? he sai!. 3t the en! of the !ay,

if you have some leftover hy!rogen in your tank, you coul! also

use it to power your home. He says he also envisions you being

able to plug your car into your citys electric gri! an! selling back

fuel you !ont use. Jeebler says he likes what he has seen from the

Hy-wire overall. He hasnt been able to test-!rive it yet. "ut he

sai!, >If they can pull that off, they will have in!ee! leape! over

the completion.?

CONCLUSION

%he Hy-wire concept has so profoun!ly brought about

changes in the automotive in!ustry that GM an! other auto makers

are planning to move beyon! the conventional car, towar!s a

computeri#e! environment frien!ly alternative. %hey are actually

planning to launch such a vehicle for the public usage by the year

::, hoping that they can overcome all the !rawbacks face! by

the Hy-wire car.

3nyway, in all likelihoo! life on the highway will see some

ma'or changes within the ne$t few !eca!es.


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REFERENCES

. www.popularmechanics.com

. www.gm.com

=. www.motortren!.com

hydrogen wire car concept

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