Most of our energy supply nowadays relies on converting thermal energy to mechanical energy. Mechanical energy is then either used directly to drive vehicles or electric generators that supply the global needs of electricity. The main source of thermal energy is combustion of fossil fuels, which are limited, and have many detrimental effects on polluting the environment and adding to the greenhouse effect. Fuel cells offer the best alternative to replace existing energy conversion processes, as they convert the chemical energy of hydrogen fuel directly into electricity, bypassing fuel combustion. In addition, the only by-products in fuel cells are water and low temperature heat, and both are benign to the environment. Being a single step energy converting devices, fuel cells have high efficiencies. However, the fuel cell outputs unregulated voltage that depends on the operating conditions of the fuel cell and the load connected across its terminals.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:628905 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Abul-Hawa, A. |
| Publisher | Coventry University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/5571ec05-786f-c505-1e50-67202392b695/1 |
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