CEPi1 (22)

The CEPi1 team (#22) is from Albuquerque. This year they've submitted a project titled Hydrogen Power.

Interim Report
http://mode.lanl.k12.nm.us/get_interim1112.php?team_id=22

Problem Definition
The world’s oil is running out and we have no other major energy source. Oil sources are running low and will soon be out. We need to create a new fourm of energy that can be mass produced be for we run out of our current sources.

Problem Solution
With our hydrogen fuel cell we can make energy out of one of the most abundant things on our plaint. With our fuel cell we can split H2O and use the hydrogen as a new fuel. Hydrogen is a combustible gas that is can use in a combustion chamber. We will read off the hydrogen levels that we are producing and make a program using java that will automatically place the data on a graph to be used.

The variables we will be using are going to mainly be the amount of power we are feeding it; some other variables we hope to use are the types of water that are in the cell, the type of metals we use, and lastly the housing of the cell. With more power there should be more hydrogen. We would like to find the optimal amount of power to give the cell. There must be a cutoff line for the power to hydrogen ratio, where the amount of hydrogen produced will start going down with the more power you give it. We only have two different types of water to test, distilled and tap water. The only difference we think there will be is the oxidization of the metal will be worse with the tap water. As for the types of metal, the more conductive metals will produce more hydrogen, and the weaker metals will rust and corrode faster. Lastly, we believe that with the pvc pipe cylinder we are using for the housing will absorbed some of the hydrogen that is being produced.

Progress to Date
We have the base product assembled but it is currently not working. Our power source was too week. We are currently looking for a new power source. We have made a small scale fuel cell that worked. We have quite a few bugs to work out but it will be operational within a few weeks.

Expected Results: We hope to power a small 4-5 hp motor with just our hydrogen fuel cell. We will be adapting an O2 sensor and have an equation to tell how much hydrogen we are producing.

Team Members

 * Devin Hayes
 * Bill Amershek
 * Aaron Willson.

Sponsoring Teacher
Jerry Esquivel

Introduction
Hi, my name is Jeff. More information about me may be found here: About Me.

Problem Statement
In future written and oral presentations it would be better if you sell hydrogen fuel as a solution for storing energy rather than creating it. Energy is going into splitting the hydrogen from the oxygen in the water and you are only hoping to get a fraction of that energy back when the hydrogen is later used to power something like a motor.

Progress
It sounds like your team has made progress and will soon complete the assembly of your large scale hydrogen fuel cell, but has not started the modeling portion of your project. It appears that your team is going modify the design of your hydrogen fuel cell and use data points collected to attempt to modify it to an optimal structure. It would be really neat if, during this process, you could create a mathematical model that takes into account all the variables that you are changing to predict efficiency based on a given input. If you attempt this, be sure to think about how each variable affects the efficiency independently of the others.

Mentor
Does your team have a mentor?

Moving Forward
Here are a few items to keep in mind:

Your next milestone is Saturday, February 18th:

Expo Judges Rubric

Finalist Judges Rubric