BMW's Cars Using Rocket Fuel

It seems that the use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel is a brilliant move for cars. The fuel is so perfect and clean does not produce CO2 exhaust gas but produce water, it is the most abundant element in the universe and do not need all the rare earth elements and heavy metals are dependent on electric vehicles. The only problem is, it is very difficult to handle.

In an effort to create vehicles that can use hydrogen, the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with Austrian automotive manufacturer MagnaSteyr adapting technology developed for the Ariane rocket so it can be used in cars, as part of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme.

"The expertise developed working with ESA on hydrogen storage gave MagnaSteyr a wealth of experience," says Andrea Kurz from Brimatec, ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme partner in Austria.

"It made it possible for the company to enter a new business area. To apply the same technology to a very different high-performance engine, designed for the autobahn rather than outer space."

Hydrogen has a level of difficulty to be processed before being used as an alternative fuel. This is because having a very low energy density. Although burn completely and clean, because the world is still using fossil fuels, and also at this time there are only 10 hydrogen fueling stations worldwide.

The two biggest problems, caused by the hydrogen molecule are so small that they can easily slip through seals, and the most efficient form of hydrogen is a cryogenic liquid. It is true that we can refuel hydrogen cars in 8 minutes, but the handling of hydrogen fuel to keep it in cold conditions to 33 degrees above absolute zero which is included in the category of "tricky."

BMW's Hydrogen 7. (Picture from: http://www.motortrend.com/)

In 2006, BMW launched a hydrogen car, Hidrogen7. It is based on the 670 Li and can run using hydrogen or petrol in its untuned 12 cylinders engine with 6,000 liters of capacity, that accelerates the car from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 9.5 seconds. The hard part is not to change the engine, but how to deal with 114 liters (30 gal) of liquid hydrogen.

BMW's Hydrogen 7. (Picture from: http://www.gizmag.com/)

MagnaSteyr worked with German carmaker BMW to develop hydrogen storage tanks small enough to fit in the boot of a BMW 7 Series saloon. This is where MagnaSteyr comes in. MagnaSteyr responsible for the systems used in the ESA's Ariane rockets, which burns liquid hydrogen. The company developed tightly-sealed fuel lines and double-walled storage tanks as well as the technology needed to feed fuel to the engine. The latter is very important because tight curve in the pipe can heat the fuel as it passes through, with disastrous results.

MagnaStyer hydrogen fuel handling system. (Picture from: http://www.gizmag.com/)

"This is a technical challenge to handle that correctly," said Gerald Poellmann, Head of Magnasteyr's Hydrogen Center of Competence. "The tolerance area are very small, the sealing should be tight, the material can not have any crack, you need to prevent evaporation through the materials."

Hydrogen fuel tank for the Hydrogen 7. (Picture from: http://www.gizmag.com/)

This technology not only allowed BMW to adapt the engine to use hydrogen, but also to make a fuel tank that was small enough to fit in the trunk, yet could store the fuel for up to two weeks.

After several million kilometers of driving, the strengths and limitations of the technology has become apparent, such as the tendency of cryogenic fuel to boil away. Difficulty in handling fuel also showed that hydrogen fuel cells may be more practical, though liquid hydrogen still need to be handled in any supply system.

Only 100 Hydrogen 7s built and some are still used by BMW for shuttling VIPs, with half appropriated to customers around Berlin and most of the rest bound for Los Angeles. The remaining cars will be sprinkled around the world, but many problems still remain. Given the near-total absence of a liquid hydrogen infrastructure, the automaker will be fielding a fleet of hydrogen tankers to keep the hydrogen tanks refilled. However, the potential of the media fuels that can be moved around and handled like natural gas, but it burns much cleaner, meaning that if the internal combustion engine or a fuel cell, hydrogen can be made ​​practically jump from the rocket to car. ESA believes that technology transfer policy will be part of this jump and hydrogen can be applied in the future as an alternative fuel substitute for fossil fuels. *** [ESA | GIZMAG | MOTORTREND | EKA]

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