NOVEL MICRO SOLAR COLLECTOR FOR PORTABLE HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

Dr. Ral Zimmerman

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL AND MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

13/06/12

Motivation
There is a constant increase in power demand for remote areas and for portable applications. Solar thermal applications have been limited to macro-scale systems to produce MW of power, or for water heating. During the production of hydrogen by methanol reforming, a part of the fuel energy is wasted to reach the reaction temperature. We propose to use cost-free solar energy to increase the efficiency of current micro-reactors and to combine this technology with a PEM fuel cell to form a portable and efficient power supply.

Methanol steam reforming

Catalyst: Cu / ZnO

CH3OH + H2O CO2 + 3H2

220 C < T < 300 C H0 (250 C) = +59.5 kJ / mol
Solar Energy

Schematic diagram of a solar powered fuel cell

Solar Energy Electricity WaterMethanol mixture Micro thermal collector-methanol H2 PEMFC reformer Backup heater Battery or EDLC

H2 Storage

Power Supplies
25 cm Photovoltaic solar panel h=20% 40 cm Ultracells 25W Reformed Methanol Fuel Cell

15 cm 15 cm Solar powered microreactor + PEM Fuel cell

Schematic of flat-plate micro solar reformer

CO2 + 3H2 Steam (T > 220 C) Low reflective glass

5 mm

CH3OH + H2O Liquid (Tamb) Vacuum Layers 150 mm TiNOX Selective coating

TiNOX Selective Coating

TiNOX Emittance

Analytical model
Glass:

Base:

Microreactor:

Fluid:

Stagnation temperature
TiNOX selective coating

Convection

Conductive thermal resistance

Water/Methanol mixture temperature

Current microreformers 0.07 to 0.9 [ml hr -1 cm-2]

Thermal efficiency

Experimental Setup
Chromel wire TiNOX Selective coating

Serpentine tube

Polished Cu base & side walls

Experimental Setup
Halogen Incandescent Lamp
Vacuum chamber

Low reflective glass

Prototype Syringe pump

Two-stage rotary vane vacuum pump

Thermocouple

Turbomolecular vacuum pump

Pressure gauge

Incandescent halogen lamp & Solar spectrum

Solar Spectral Irradiance ASTM G173-03 1.5 Air Mass

Halogen Lamp (3200K)

Model vs. Experimental results

Volumetric flow rate

Temperatures with and without H2 production

Volumetric flow rate

Micro concentrator

Conclusions
A novel micro flat solar collector will supply the energy needed for methanol reforming improving the efficiency of current reformers.
This technology, combined with a fuel cell will allow to produce a compact, efficient and portable power source system that takes advantage of the free solar energy.