Sanyo Electric has been developing air-cooled phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) with a focus on advancing the research and development of small power supplies. As the first step of a PAFC/battery hybrid system for golf carts, the authors tested a golf cart powered by lead acid batteries, and obtained data on the output variation pattern of the lead batteries on an actual course. Based on this data, the authors used a 250 W PAFC containing a hydrogen absorbing alloy to build a PAFC/battery hybrid golf cart system that was subsequently subjected to various travel tests for verifying hybrid system. The results of these tests clearly indicated that a PAFC with 600 W-class output was optimum. Then the authors constructed and tested a prototype 600 W-class methanol reformer for a PAFC/battery hybrid system for golf carts as a fuel supplier. The methanol reformer could provide a constant supply of reformate for a PAFC.
Development of PAFC/battery hybrid system for golf carts
Entwicklung eines PAFC/Batterie-Hybridsystems für Golfcarts
1993
6 Seiten, 7 Bilder, 4 Tabellen, 1 Quelle
Conference paper
English