Hydrogen Power
International, Inc. Converts a Ford Ranger Truck to Run on Hydrogen
Hydrogen Power International, Inc. has released that its subsidiary,
Hydrogen Power, Inc. (HPI), has successfully completed the first
phase of converting an internal combustion engine vehicle to a
hydrogen hybrid, ultimately to be powered by AlumiFuel for on-board
hydrogen production. The conversion marks a milestone in the
company's efforts to address the automotive and transportation
sectors with its hydrogen production technology.
HPI's advancements in production facility have been rapid since
proving both HPI's Hydrogen Now technology and AlumiFuel powder as
viable and controllable entities. Hydrogen Now is HPI's patented
hydrogen production process that involves a chemical reaction
between water, aluminum and an environmentally friendly catalyst to
cleanly and efficiently produce hydrogen on-site and on-demand. High
energy density AlumiFuel technology, a product derivative of the
Hydrogen Now process, powers the chemical reaction. It extracts and
releases the energy from the aluminum once the water is added.
AlumiFuel's potential employability extends to a wide range of
applications, but HPI is currently focused on its applications in
the transportation and automotive markets.
Key problems faced by other hydrogen conversion methods for
internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, such as cost, storage and
safety, are addressed by AlumiFuel technology. First, water is added
to AlumiFuel in a reactor to generate heat and hydrogen gas on-board
and on-demand. Hydrogen is produced only as needed, addressing
safety concerns and improving efficiency (supplementing the core
efficiency advantages of the process, which requires no additional
energy for the compression of hydrogen or energy consumption for the
creation of hydrogen).
In order to get the wheels in motion using AlumiFuel on board an
ICE vehicle, HPI's first mission was to convert an ICE vehicle to a
hydrogen hybrid. These preliminary steps are complete, and HPI
scientists announced that the 2006 Ford Ranger XL truck has been
converted to run on hydrogen under a dual fuel system that allows
the driver to select either gasoline or hydrogen. Dependent on
preference or fuel availability, the rotation between the two fuel
sources is achieved instantly and seamlessly. The installation of
the supplementary hydrogen production system involved the addition
of a second set of injectors, high-pressure hydrogen tanks,
regulator, a hydrogen control system, and other available
off-the-shelf products. The conversion system is adaptable to more
than 90 percent of current American-made vehicles, and with slight
modifications can be made to work with virtually any modern vehicle.
Given the ease of storage and distribution, as well as its
customized production capability, HPI's AlumiFuel and Hydrogen Now
technology are intended to bypass infrastructure and cost barriers
to commercial adoption. With the hydrogen-power conversion on the
Ford Ranger complete, HPI's next step will be to integrate the
AlumiFuel powered reactor with the truck to provide an on-board,
on-demand hydrogen supply.
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