Progress on Underwater Fuel Cell Propulsion Technology
LU Jun, BAI Chao, GAO Yu-ke, GAO Hui-zhong, Wang Jun-guang, LI Cheng, SUN Pan, GUO Zhao-yuan, ZONG Xiao
The advantages of underwater fuel cell propulsion are high energy conversion efficiency and energy density, low noise and no gas emissions, thereby improving the performance of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) in terms of range, depth and stealth. As such, underwater fuel cell propulsion is a very promising candidate for future UUVs. This paper introduces the system components and working principle of the underwater fuel cell propulsion system. The recent progress on key technologies is reviewed, including fuel cell-powered UUVs, hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell and energy-dense reactant storage. Future research work in this field is also discussed. In terms of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, pure oxygen supply and closed-cycle operation would bring water removal and corrosive issues, which should be carefully dealt with. In terms of hydrogen and oxygen sources, high energy density formats include water-reactive aluminum and diesel reforming for hydrogen acquisition, lithium perchlorate for oxygen acquisition, which deserve increasing research.