Development of a lithium hydride powered hydrogen generator for use in long life, low power PEM fuel cell power supplies

This thesis studies a hybrid PEM fuel cell system for use in low power, long life sensor networks. PEM fuel cells offer high efficiency and environmental friendliness but have not been widely adopted due to cost, reliability, and the problem of hydrogen storage. This thesis focuses on the problem of hydrogen storage. Lithium hydride is selected for study because of its high hydrogen content and because it produces hydrogen through a chemical reaction with water. Control of the lithium hydride hydrolysis reaction is investigated. Active and passively-controlled hydrogen generators that rely on lithium hydride are designed and experimentally studied. A model is created to explain the system's pressure response. The passive hydrogen generator is experimentally tested in a 2 month benchtop fuel cell experiment. The results of the study suggest that it is possible to design a simple, passive generator that controls the hydrogen pressure at an operating point. However, over longer time periods of 1-3 months, the rate of reaction slows significantly and byproduct formation prevents full utilization of the lithium hydride. These limits complicate the design of a power supply relying on lithium hydride.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Strawser, Daniel DeWitt

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Steven Dubowsky.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74947

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/74947