CHEM E CAR

Chem E Car

Chapter One: Introduction2

Chapter Two: Literature Review5

Basics of operation auto batteries5

Manufacturing defect7

Accelerated depreciation7

Additional equipment9

Idle10

Deterioration of the battery as a result of aging10

On the causes of the explosion of automobile batteries19

Security issues21

Chapter Three:Construction of Air Zinc Battery23

Electrodeposition of zinc25

Zinc air and zinc carbon battery assembly27

Morphology study of zinc deposits27

Structure analysis31

Discharge characterization of batteries33

Chapter Four: Experimental Data37

Number of Moles of HCl37

Sandra's new method38

Daniel's Flate cell38

Chapter Five: Recommendations39

References40



Chapter One: Introduction

In this paper we have been going to discuss the construction of battery to power a fully electrical battery powered car. In depth research has been performed related to different types of batteries used in the fuel cells to produce an optimum system to be used in a fully functional electrical vehicle. The future of electric vehicle is very bright as the fossil fuels are becoming more and more expensive and the world is looking for pollution free sources of energy.

Global warming, increasing energy needs, and the demand for sustainable sources of clean energy continue to drive the search for new sources of power (Neburchilov, Wang, Martin & Qu, 2010). The accidents and dangerous nature of nuclear energy make this option less appealing than other types of energy. A wide variety of alternative energy sources has recently been commercialized, which include geothermal, wind, hydropower, and solar energy. The rapid development of mobile computing and other electronic equipment has further increased the need for sustainable sources of energy (Sapkota & Kim, 2009).

Fuel cells constitute possible methods for generating power, which is sustainable and does not require fossil fuels or nuclear reactions (He, Wang & Zhou, 2011). Fuel cells have been shown to convert fuel to electricity in an efficient manner while producing byproducts, which are environmentally friendly. Fuel cells come in a wide variety of sizes, which means they can be used in many different ways (Chen, Choi, Wang, Li & Chen, 2011). For example, smaller fuel cells can be used to power small devices such as mobile phones and computers. Larger fuel cells can be used to power automobiles, trucks, buses, trains, and industrial machinery. They can also be used by power plants to produce electricity (Sapkota & Kim, 2009).

The fuel cell is an electrochemical device which changes chemical energy into electricity. This device consists of an electrolytic layer which is placed between a cathode and a porous anode (Martin, Neburchilov, Wang & Qu, 2009). Despite the fuel cell being similar to a battery, there are considerable differences. The battery stores energy while the fuel cell converts it from chemical to electrical power. A fuel-cell will produce energy as long as it is provided with the appropriate fuel. In most cases, this is hydrogen (Neburchilov et al., 2010).

Different types of fuel cells have been developed to deal with various operating ranges of temperature (He, Wang & Zhou, 2011). The zinc-air fuel-cell involves a reaction which occurs between zinc pellets and atmospheric oxygen within an electrolytic liquid which is alkaline. This type of fuel cell will only produce zinc ...