Just a few days ago, we told you about Germany's commitment of $2 billion for the construction of at least 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations. A month ago, we learned about London's decision to build a network of hydrogen filling stations in time for the 2012 Olympics. But, outside of California's Hydrogen Highway, we don't hear too much about the progress of hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles here in the U.S. Don't worry; this story is no different.
Researchers in Israel say they've come up with a very novel way of storing hydrogen. Gone are the bulky, super-insulated tanks that can keep coffee hot for 28 days. The Israeli team has figured out a way to pack hydrogen into glass filaments that, once completed, will be slightly thicker than a human hair. The glass hairs, or "capillaries," are then bundled into a glass tube, 370 at a time, forming a "capillary array," about the width of a drinking straw. The scientists say that 11,000 of these arrays will fuel a car for 240 miles. Not bad considering they'll also take up less than half the space and weight of a conventional hydrogen storage tank. "We have shown new materials that can store more hydrogen than any other system," says Dan Eliezer, chief scientist of C.En Ltd., the company based in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Israelis are developing their invention.
The hydrogen array system was unveiled in Berlin at the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, known by the awesome acronym "BAM." No word on if any automakers are interested in the technology or developing similar technology of their own. So far, the only major financial backers are Italian-based Generali Insurance, which has invested $10 Million in the project. Read the full article here.
[Source: MSNBC | Image: spacepleb - C.C. License 2.0]
Researchers in Israel say they've come up with a very novel way of storing hydrogen. Gone are the bulky, super-insulated tanks that can keep coffee hot for 28 days. The Israeli team has figured out a way to pack hydrogen into glass filaments that, once completed, will be slightly thicker than a human hair. The glass hairs, or "capillaries," are then bundled into a glass tube, 370 at a time, forming a "capillary array," about the width of a drinking straw. The scientists say that 11,000 of these arrays will fuel a car for 240 miles. Not bad considering they'll also take up less than half the space and weight of a conventional hydrogen storage tank. "We have shown new materials that can store more hydrogen than any other system," says Dan Eliezer, chief scientist of C.En Ltd., the company based in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Israelis are developing their invention.
The hydrogen array system was unveiled in Berlin at the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, known by the awesome acronym "BAM." No word on if any automakers are interested in the technology or developing similar technology of their own. So far, the only major financial backers are Italian-based Generali Insurance, which has invested $10 Million in the project. Read the full article here.
[Source: MSNBC | Image: spacepleb - C.C. License 2.0]
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