Hydrogen Cells
In this project, we created a car powered by a solar panel connected to a hydrogen fuel cell. The fuel cell is an instrument that generates electricity through chemical reactions. Specifically, the fuel cell we used uses hydrogen as the fuel. The fuel cells also require oxygen. The cell works when hydrogen enters the positive end of the cell where they are stripped of their electrons. The electrons provide the current for the work to be done. For the project, my partner and I filled the device with water, charged the cell with the assistance of a solar panel, and used it to (ideally) run our car.
Solar Panels
As previously stated, we used solar cells to charge the hydrogen fuel cells in hopes of running the cars we made. Solar cells absorb light energy and transfer it into electricity. This is done when the light absorbed is transferred to the semiconductor material that the cell is made of. When this is done, electrons are removed from the cell and flow into an electric field. The field moves them in a certain direction, creating a current. Voltage is created by the field as well, and that, combined with current, creates the power that cell produces. This power charges he fuel cell which, in turn, powers the motor attached to the car.
Circuits
There are two different types of circuits; series and parallel. In a series circuit, the components are connected end-to-end. In other words, the current has one path to follow. Also, the resistance of the entire system is equal to the sum of the resistances of each component. According to Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law, the sum of all voltage drops (each component’s measured voltage) is equal to the total voltage. This was the type of circuit we had to power the car. Parallel circuits have the components connected at both ends, creating multiple paths for the current to flow. This means that if one piece fails, the others would still work. The sum of each component’s current is equal to the total current of the system.
Review
My partner Josh and I were tasked with building a car that ran off of the energy produced by a hydrogen fuel cell. The construction time in total didn’t take as long as I had originally speculated, but we did make several modifications to the design. The main constraint was having enough room for the fuel cell, solar panel, and breadboard without creating too much mass to push. While we had thought we had achieved this, we were disappointed when test after test the car never moved an inch. However, when connecting it to a battery, it worked perfectly. This lead us to believe that the circuit was set up correctly, but we were hooking up the extensions incorrectly or our fuel cell wasn’t charged completely. We never managed to figure out exactly what was wrong with the machine, even after connecting the wires different and setting up the light sources directly in front of the car. The project was still a lot of fun, and I tip my hat at those who managed to get their cars to work.