Fuel Cells on the High Seas

1
Fuel Cells on the High Seas

• Naval Applications
• for Fuel Cells
• Matt Chin and JC Sanders

2
Fuel Cell Types used on Ships

• Molten Carbonate
• Large Surface Ships
• Proton Exchange Membrane
• Surface ships (usually in conjunction with Molten
  Carbonate fuel cells)
• Submarines

3
Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

• Operation Temperature 650 degrees C
• Electrolyte Salt Carbonates
• Fuel Syngas or Hydrogen, and
• Additional CO2 due to CO3 ion usage
• Catalyst Nickel
• Power output 2MW units available

4
Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells
5
PEM Fuel Cells

• Operation Temperature 100 degrees C
• Electrolyte Polymer
• Fuel Hydrogen
• Catalyst Platinum
• Power output 50-250 kW units available

6
PEM Fuel Cells
7
Fuel cell advantages for surface ships

• High efficiency vs. gas turbine and diesel
  powered naval vessels (40 vs. 16-12)
• Reduced emissions of all types
• Low vibration and sound levels
• Improved thermal efficiencies
• Reduced cost for fuel (30 less for Navy)
• Ship design flexibility (modular units)
• Permits the use of alternative fuels

8
Fuel cell advantages for submarines

• High efficiency vs. diesel powered submarines
  (40 vs. 16-12)
• Low thermal profile compared to SSNs
• Low vibration and sound levels
• Reduced radar cross section
• Does not require air breathing like diesel subs
• Only has to come up every several weeks

9
Practical Applications

• Submarines
• Fuel Cells Silence Increased Stealth
• Fuel Cells No air required Longer dive times
• Surface Ships
• Fuel Cells Increased efficiencies Longer time
  out to sea
• Fuel Cells Reduced emissions Reduced Profile
  (Harder to detect)

10
Power Plan Efficiencies
Courtesy of Edward House Office of Navy Research
11
Developers and Researchers

• Germany Working prototypes and service models
  of fuel cell submarines
• Canada Prototype for fuel cell submarine
• United States Prototypes and plans for both
  subs and surface ships
• United Kingdom Prototypes and plans for subs
  and surface ships

12
Challenges to development

• Fuel Type (Logistics and Fuel Reforming)
• Cost and System Efficiency for Units
• Reliability and Maintainability
• Duty Cycle and Transient Response
• Fuel Cell Life and Contamination
• Fuel Cell Sensitivity to shocks and motion

13
Challenges Fuel Type

• Unknown how fuel will react to shock
• Infrastructure for storing not yet established
• Method for extracting hydrogen from diesel not
  yet perfected

14
Challenges System Costs

• Fuel is more expensive than other fuels
• Platinum catalyst- very expensive
• Hydrogen is expensive to process
• High cost of raw materials

15
Challenges Contamination

• Anything other than hydrogen will foul PEMs
• Need to protect from salt water spray
• Many existing sources of hydrogen contain sulfur
  and other contaminants

16
Fuel Cell Power Plants

• Power Output 1kW 2MW (per unit)
• Internal Size and Structure Flexible and modular
  (Can be placed throughout ship)
• Fuel Type Various (Hydrogen, Methanol, Diesel,
  Synthetic, Gasoline, etc.)
• Cost High (New Technology)
• Maintenance High (Due to lack of robustness)
• Types of vessels Submarines, Destroyers, Cutters

17
Power Plant Comparisons

• Current Types of Power Plants used on Ships
• Fuel Cell based Systems The future of ships?
• Diesel Electric Workhorse of the world navies.
• Gas Turbine Successor to the Diesel Electric.
• Nuclear Powered Power overwhelming!

18
Fuel Cell Submarine
Germanys HDW U214
19
Fuel Cell Ship
United States Navy DDX
20
Diesel Electric Power Plants

• Power Output 1.5kW 30MW
• Internal Size and Structure Large Housing needed
  for battery block and motors, distributed system
• Fuel Type Diesel
• Cost Low (Well established systems, simpler)
• Maintenance Low (Very robust system)
• Types of vessels Submarines, Destroyers,
  Cruisers, Frigates, Command ships

21
Diesel Electric Sub
USS Blueback
22
Diesel Electric Ship
USS Leahy (Cruiser)
23
Gas Turbine Power Plants

• Power Output 25kW 100MW
• Internal Size and Structure Large Housing needed
  for engines, centralized system
• Fuel Type Propane, natural gas, synthetics,
  diesel
• Cost Medium
• Maintenance Low
• Types of vessels Destroyers, Cruisers, Frigates

24
Gas Turbine Ship
US Oliver Perry Class Frigate
25
Nuclear Power Plants

• Power Output 10MW 300MW
• Internal Size and Structure Large Housing needed
  for reactor and shielding, centralized system
• Fuel Type Uranium enriched rods
• Cost Expensive
• Maintenance Low (Fairly robust system)
• Types of vessels Submarines, Aircraft Carriers,
  Cruisers

26
Nuclear Powered Ship
USS Nimitz (Aircraft Carrier)
27
Nuclear Powered Sub
USS Ohio (SSBN)
28
Power Plant Comparisons
CO2 Output Fuel Cell 414 Diesel
Electric 512 Gas Turbine 735 Based off of
diesel fuel. NOTE Measurements are in
(grams)/(hphour) Data from Office of Naval
Research (2003)
29
Power Plant Comparisons
NOX Output Fuel Cell lt0.001 Diesel
Electric 12.9 Gas Turbine 6.0 Based off of
diesel fuel. NOTE Measurements are in
(grams)/(hphour) Data from Office of Naval
Research (2003)
30
Power Plant Comparisons
SOX Output Fuel Cell 1.23 Diesel
Electric 1.52 Gas Turbine 2.18 Based off of
diesel fuel. NOTE Measurements are in
(grams)/(hphour) Data from Office of Naval
Research (2003)
31
Power Plant Comparisons
Annual Fuel Consumption/Costs Fuel
Cell 214,315 Diesel Electric 321,703 Gas
Turbine 641,465 Based off of diesel fuel. NOTE
Measurements are in gallons/dollars 1 gallon
1.00 US for Navy Data from Office of Naval
Research (2003)
32
Future for Fuel Cells on the High Seas?

• In the United States
• Surface Ships
• US Navy DD(X) Destroyer Program (Land Attack)
• US Navy CG(X) Cruiser Program (Detection/Intercept
  ion)
• Submarines
• May utilize AIP fuel cell systems in future
  designs
• In the World
• 212A Class attack submarine (Germany, Italy)
• Type 214 attack submarine (Greece, S. Korea)
• Refit 209 Class attack submarine (Greece)
• Type 800 Dolphin Class attack submarine (Israel)

33
Future for Fuel Cells on the High Seas?

• Outlook for Fuel Cells Pretty Good!
• Two fully funded programs by US Navy
• Adaptation for multiple sea platforms
• Ongoing research in various countries
• Sales of commercial units in Germany
• Actual vessel deployment in some countries