Full story:

http://rotarynews.com/?q=node/view/458

The 38th Tokyo Motor Show is all about commercial vehicles, so no new car concepts will be shown, however, Mazda is highlighting their environmental technology, including their Electro-Assist Turbo Hydrogen-Gas RENESIS Hybrid........

-Bern

 

actually cool thing about the hdyrogen 8 is it is a dual fuel technology...hyrid of hydrogen/gas in otherwords you can drive it on either

the technology is amazing and I believe it will propel rotary technology into other cars since rotary and hydrogen go together like PB and J

 

PB and J otter?

 

cool, I like the combo hybrid idea, with a turbo, you could have a mass market engine for other vehicles that has the advatages of the rotor with torque and fuel economy.

 

I can see all the oil barons in the Middle East planning an attack on Mazda's Hiroshima HQ. j/k

 

or we can cut holes on the bottom of the floor and start running flinstones style which is very environmentaly safe!

 

I saw it in the Detroit Auto Show long time ago... see pics here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tech-garage-22/mazdas-own-turbocharged-renesis-saw-naias-18408/

 

I think this rocks! Too bad it'll be crazy difficult to get hydrogen fueling stations. Ha ... i'd probably have to drive for hundreds of kilometer to get a fill up of H2, by then I'd probably have to spend more money on gas to get there! I heard in Iceland (?), they're thinking of converting everything to Hydrogen.

 

notice in that report it also mentions of an electric/gasoline hybrid rotary engine a la Toyota Prius/Honda Hybrid fame.

maybe that's the holy grail to average over 22mpg on a rotary engine!

 

HAHA, thats probably what its going to take

 

I heard about the science paper today on hydrogen fuel power.

The original plan hydrogen in liquid form is the lightest and most powerful. But it has to be stored in a huge pressure and a sea mile below the freezing point (I think similar to liquid N2 - which is about -170C). This is not safe to be in the car.

A new method, which name has just escaped my mind, is able cross link the molecule and can be made in pallets. Yes, in a little pills!

Eventually we can fuel up hydrogen as like to fuel up LPG - in a highish pressure but little crystals felt out.

They have a wishful thinking that our petrol powered car can be converted to hydrogen power. The technology will be about 10-15 years away. Our rotary will be dead by then. :P

 

If things continue to develop, Paul Moller may switch his SkyCar from alcohol to hydrogen for aviation use.

Thanks.

 

There are three things militating against the use of hydrogen as a fuel:
1) The cost of producing the hydrogen
2) The dangers associated with transporting it to refuelling stations and filling the car
3) Its low energy density, and the associated problem of storing sufficient in a vehicle so that the vehicle has an adequate range between refuelling.

1) The cost of producing the hydrogen

Hydrogen can either be produced by electrolysis of water or by reducing a hydrocarbon source - eg, natural gas. These are both expensive options. Electricity is expensive, and requires either combustion of fossil fuel, atomic power or hydroelectric power to generate it. Reducing a fossil fuel gas is also clearly expensive, as you are competing with other consumers.

Dangers associated with transporting and storage.

Hydrogen is a tiny molecule, the smallest there is. Pipelines and storage tanks will have to be welded to extremely high tolerances to be able to contain it without catastrophic leakages occurring. The stuff will pass through the tiniest of fissures and cracks only nanometres in size. It's also not a very friendly material to contain, and hydrogen embrittlement of steels is well known. Think of what a great terrorist target a hydrogen pipeline would be!

Energy density.

Consider this bit of basic chemistry: one mole of hydrogen (approximately 2 grams or 1/15 oz.) takes up about 22.4 litres of space at normal temperature and atmospheric pressure. As Taka says, you have to liquefy it (actually at temperatures pretty close to absolute zero) so that you can carry it around. The liquefaction process costs energy to do, and so must be added to the overall cost of the fuel. Then you have to keep it liquefied,and that requires sophisticated containers which are able to withstand the pressures, and be superbly well insulated. We've all seen the rigmarole of fuelling up NASA liquid fuel rockets. The prospect of absorbing the hydrogen onto a suitable support to get better energy density of course bears scrutiny, but it is unlikely to give you a range of more than say 100-200km between tanks.

I predict that hydrogen will never be a viable fuel for internal combustion motors. If you're going to go to all that trouble, then you're goimg to want to use it in more efficient devices such as fuel cells.

 

New technology has to be discovered to make it viable...

There are a lot of pubilicity to come out and aimed to attract more research money. Same as in Medicine really. You have to do a small paper about a very touchy or important subject in order to get rich people or gov's attention.

I don't know enough about this, labrat. Your reason make me think my hope of hydrogen as a cheaper energy was too high.

 

I was watching a show on alternative fueled vehicles and they were talking about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The showed on of the prototype fueling stations. The hydrogen was produced on site at the station. Solar panels were used to generate the electricity needed to break water into hydrogen and oxygen. The only thing they had to bring into the station was water. It was a totally automated system. Very cool. With an H2 powered rotory we could still have clean running cars, and the HP without having to run a slow a$$ fuel cell/electric car!!!!