About Our Project
Motivation
- We wanted to work with a fuel cell
- Fuel cells have a higher efficiency than diesel or gas engines
- Most fuel cells operate silently, compared to internal combustion engines The maintenance of fuel cells is simple since there are few moving parts in the system
- Less air pollutants
- Will be used for educational purposes by the Florida Solar Energy Center
- Possibly have a concept that could be used in consumer vehicle
Goals and Objectives
- The system will be capable of powering the RC car to achieve performance on par with consumer products
- The fuel cell will be output power provided with a supply of hydrogen
- The system will output power for external use
- Continuously display measurements and information on a webpage with a modern UI
Specifications
| Component | Parameter | Design Specification |
|---|---|---|
| Drive System | Maximum Speed | 5 MPH |
| Power System | External Output | 12 V, 1 A DC |
| Power System | External Input | +-20 V |
| Fuel Cell | Output | 6 V to 10.5 V |
Technical Advisor
Location: Florida Solar Energy Center
Address: 1679 Clearlake Rd, Cocoa, FL 32922
Email: pbrooker@fsec.ucf.edu
B.S., Chemical Engineering
Brigham Young University, 2004
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering
University of Connecticut, 2009
Dr. Paul Brooker received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University Provo, Utah in 2004. In 2009, he completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Connecticut, under the direction of Dr. Richard Parnas. His graduate and post-doctoral studies investigated the performance of fuel cells, as a function of electrode structure and membrane/electrode interfaces. He is currently an Assistant Research Professor at the Florida Solar Energy Center.
In addition to fuel cell membrane and electrode characterization, Dr. Brooker has extensive experience in identifying fuel cell failure mechanisms, through both in-situ and ex-situ characterization methods. His fuel cell expertise has expanded into flow battery research, where he is developing electrodes for enhanced performance of all-vanadium flow batteries. He has also developed a method to selectively reduce the negative electrolyte solution to ensure proper charge balance between the positive and negative solutions. Additionally, Dr. Brooker provides support for the Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), where he has assisted in identifying failure modes and wear mechanisms for diamond wires used in silicon wafer slicing.
Biography and Publications for Dr. Brooker
