On March 29, in the office on the second floor of the School of Electrical Engineering of Southwest Jiaotong University, Dean Chen Weirong and several colleagues were discussing a plan to increase the speed of hydrogen fuel cell trains.
A few days ago, his team project "Key Technologies and Applications of High-Power Hydrogen-Powered Rail Locomotives" won the first prize of the Sichuan Science and Technology Progress Award.
"I am very excited, this is a great affirmation of our work, and what we want to do now is to further optimize and strive to develop a hydrogen train program with a speed of more than 140 kilometers per hour to fill the international gap." Chen Weirong said.
The evaluation team headed by Luo An, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, concluded that the evaluation of this scientific and technological achievement was that "the overall technology has reached the international leading level". "It's not a certain link of technology, but the overall technology, which is not easy." Chen Weirong said.
At present, this team has more than 10 hydrogen fuel cell rail transit application projects in the country. Under the background of "double carbon", this local team from Sichuan is expected to install hydrogen fuel cells on trains across the country and even the world.
difficult
The stack system is difficult to manage, and dozens of devices are burned out during the research and development process
"The best application scenario for hydrogen fuel cells is not a family car, but a rail transit system with relatively fixed lines." As early as 2008, Chen Weirong made such a judgment.
Why is rail transit more suitable?
Rail transit is different from passenger cars, and in terms of transportation routes, it is more of a fixed line point-to-point, which makes the transportation and storage of hydrogen very simple. "At present, it is still difficult to lay out hydrogen refueling stations like passenger car gas stations." He said.
Another advantage is the cost - in terms of current technology, the one-time investment and long-term operating costs of hydrogen energy rail transit projects are about 10% lower than traditional rail transit electrification schemes. "That is to say, even if there is no state subsidy, pure market-oriented development, the economic account is also cost-effective."
However, it is not an easy task to load hydrogen fuel cells into the train.
The biggest obstacle is the power issue.
In the past, the design scheme of hydrogen fuel cells was based on passenger cars, and the power was often tens of kilowatts, even if it was a bus or heavy truck, it would not exceed 100 kilowatts. And such power, a stack can meet.
However, on rail transit, the power demand of hundreds of kilowatts at every turn makes the power system solution must be completed through multiple stacks working together. "The difficulty is here." Chen Weirong said.
Unlike lithium batteries, the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen in hydrogen fuel cells makes the power supply process have a lag effect. This lag makes it very difficult for multiple stacks to work together. If there is no perfect and accurate synergy scheme, not only will the performance of the stack be restricted, but also the overall stability of the device will be affected.
"During this period, a great price was paid, and dozens of devices were burned out alone." Chen Weirong introduced that just to break through this technology, the team spent nearly 3 years.
After hard work, the results are also obvious: the stack not only operates stably, but also has a higher energy efficiency. The results given by the nationally certified third-party testing agency show that their technology use efficiency can reach 64.47%, and the energy consumption is 30% lower than the industry average.
wide
R & D, transformation and competition for the market of 100 billion
In addition to this stack collaborative management system, Chen Weirong's team has also developed a new hydrogen rail locomotive development-design-manufacturing platform. "Rail locomotives that use hydrogen need to be completely redesigned, rather than old molds, in order to have the best results."
Chen Weirong's set of technologies has landed more than ten pilot projects in Foshan, Qingdao, Tangshan and other cities, and the overall industrialization process is accelerating.
"The market space is huge." He said that the latest statistics show that the national railway operating mileage is 146,300 kilometers, and the number of trains is 21,000 units. Among them, there are more than 7600 internal combustion locomotives, accounting for more than 1/3. Coupled with application scenarios such as sightseeing trains, trams, and urban EMUs, the market space suitable for hydrogen energy transformation alone exceeds 100 billion US dollars.
In terms of the international market, European countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany require that all existing internal combustion locomotives be replaced by hydrogen locomotives in 2035. "The European market will be more than $500 billion."
Not only that, hydrogen storage, hydrogen transportation, hydrogen fuel cell parts manufacturing and other industrial chain related fields, will also bring greater market opportunities.
How to seize this opportunity?
"R&D and transformation need to be the same." Chen Weirong said.
At present, Southwest Jiaotong University has set up a special company to be responsible for the transformation of the results of this team's research and development projects. The company has more than 100 patents, involving all aspects of the research and development and production of hydrogen rail transit locomotives. At present, more than 10 projects landed in the country have companies for professional operation.
In terms of research and development, the team has more than 140 members, most of whom are R & D personnel. "What we are doing now is to develop a rail transit locomotive with a speed of 140-160 kilometers per hour, which will become an important part of urban transportation and provide more low-carbon, efficient and low-cost services for rail transit projects across the country and even the world."
In addition, hydrogen fuel cell large ships are also their next focus on the target.
The power system of a large cruise ship requires 20 stacks to work together, and Chen Weirong's team has completed the theoretical design of this solution. "As technology continues to mature, the number of stacks working together will continue to increase, and applications in more fields will become possible. We hope to achieve more results in the international market with our own technology. Chen Weirong said.
Source: Chuanguan News
Author: Chuanguan News reporter Tang Zewen
Video: Chuanguan News reporter Li Qiang
Editor of this issue: Su Ran, New Media Center, Jiaotong University
Head and tail signature design: Jiang Riqi, Jiang Shuoyun, Mao Jiafei
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