Since large lithium batteries are a headache — if not inherently dangerous — we have to look at alternatives. One is to go back to the heavier nickel-cadmium batteries.
Another is to use fuel cells. Fuel cells are now used in warehouse lifts and they supply unattended backup power to cell towers.
Why not use them in commercial airplanes? They have proved reliable for over a decade in our space Shuttle. http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eps/pwrplants.html
What about cost? With $16,000 for a lithium battery, cost is relative. Moreover, fuel cells are now a sixth of what they were five years ago.
What about the Hindenburg?
Those flames etched in our minds came from the fresh paint on the tarp. Hydrogen itself burns colorless, last about a second, and the flames go straight up.
But where would we store the hydrogen? In tanks of the type now used in fuel cell cars — and they can be refilled every time the plane refuels.
Or we could go with low pressure, though heavier, metal hydride tanks. This could eventually lead to our use of hydrides as artificial muscles — to operate the plane’s wings, brakes and landing gear. Metal hydrides can do this easily by us merely changing the current of the heating element inside the tank. http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/artificial-muscle-hydrogen-artificial.htm
Since large lithium batteries are a headache — if not inherently dangerous — we have to look at alternatives. One is to go back to the heavier nickel-cadmium batteries.
Another is to use fuel cells. Fuel cells are now used in warehouse lifts and they supply unattended backup power to cell towers.
Why not use them in commercial airplanes? They have proved reliable for over a decade in our space Shuttle.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/orbiter/eps/pwrplants.html
What about cost? With $16,000 for a lithium battery, cost is relative. Moreover, fuel cells are now a sixth of what they were five years ago.
What about the Hindenburg?
Those flames etched in our minds came from the fresh paint on the tarp. Hydrogen itself burns colorless, last about a second, and the flames go straight up.
But where would we store the hydrogen? In tanks of the type now used in fuel cell cars — and they can be refilled every time the plane refuels.
Or we could go with low pressure, though heavier, metal hydride tanks. This could eventually lead to our use of hydrides as artificial muscles — to operate the plane’s wings, brakes and landing gear. Metal hydrides can do this easily by us merely changing the current of the heating element inside the tank.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/artificial-muscle-hydrogen-artificial.htm