Academic Writing - 10 page report - Theme: Uses of fuel cells to power exoskeletons

Written design project The idea is for you to gain some experience in making a design for a fuel cell system. The fuel cell technology will be used to power an exoskeleton. You should look at how much power is required for the application, and select a suitable size fuel cell. You can search the internet for the information and suppliers. Next you should think of all the control systems that you may need to complete the design. In the case of an exoskeleton you may need some electric motors and maybe a battery system if you think a hybrid design is good. In all cases you will need to source the fuel and store it. In the case of hydrogen fuel you will most likely opt for storage as a compressed gas. You can then look for manufacturers of storage tanks for some information. Sources of hydrogen include water electrolysis, biogas and natural gas – both of which need to be reformed with steam. Keep a note of the cost of the components, because the economics is a big issue these days Some ideas for application include: Vehicles such as car or bus or bike Marine applications such as a ship or boat Power for a house or farm Whatever you chose, the approach is the same – keep it systematic and factual The report should be between 15 and 20 pages ling including diagrams and references. Font Size: 12. Font: Arial. Line spacing: 1.15 Begin with a basic description of the system you wish to consider Draw a schematic diagram of the system with all the system components that you think you will need. Later on you can draw more elaborate diagram showing the layout of the components. Break it down into individual components and find technical details of suitable suppliers and cost. For example, in the cse of a vehicle; you may want to find a 10 kW PEM fuel cell, running on a tank of hydrogen gas at 700 bar pressure. It then drives a DC to DC converter which in turn is used to recharge a lithium ion battery. This is then used to drive an electric motor for the traction of you vehicle. You will be continually assessed during the evolution of the report. Please send to me periodically your latest version as a word file so that I can comment on it I wish you all the best – please contact me whenever there are some questions. Best regards