Principle

The hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell uses hydrogen as the fuel as the reducing agent and oxygen as the oxidant. Through the combustion reaction of the fuel, the battery converts chemical energy into electrical energy. The working principle is the same as that of the original battery. When the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell is working, it supplies hydrogen to the hydrogen electrode and at the same time supplies oxygen to the oxygen electrode. Hydrogen and oxygen generate water through the electrolyte under the action of the catalyst on the electrode. At this time, there are excess electrons on the hydrogen electrode and become negatively charged, and the oxygen electrode is positively charged due to lack of electrons. After the circuit is switched on, this reaction process similar to combustion can proceed continuously. During operation, fuel (hydrogen) is supplied to the negative electrode and oxidant (oxygen) is supplied to the positive electrode. Hydrogen is decomposed into positive ions H+ and electrons e- under the action of the catalyst on the negative electrode. Hydrogen ions enter the electrolyte, while electrons move to the positive electrode along the external circuit. The electric load is connected to the external circuit. On the positive electrode, oxygen and hydrogen ions in the electrolyte absorb the electrons that reach the positive electrode to form water. This is the reverse process of the electrolysis reaction of water.

The basis of the working principle of solar cells is the photovoltaic effect of the semiconductor PN junction. Photovoltaic effect is when the object is illuminated, the charge distribution state in the object changes to produce electromotive force and current. When sunlight or other light irradiates the PN junction of the semiconductor, a voltage appears on both sides of the PN junction, which is called photo-generated voltage. When light is irradiated on the PN junction, electron-hole pairs are generated. The carriers generated near the PN junction inside the semiconductor are not recombined and reach the space charge zone. Attracted by the internal electric field, electrons flow into the N zone, and holes Flow into the P area, resulting in excess electrons stored in the N area, and excess holes in the P area. They form a photogenerated electric field that is opposite to the direction of the barrier near the P-N junction. In addition to partially offsetting the effect of the barrier electric field, the photogenerated electric field also makes the P zone positively charged and the N zone negatively charged. An electromotive force is generated in the thin layer between the N zone and the P zone. This is the photovoltaic effect.

Overview

In this experiment, the iodine tungsten lamp simulates sunlight, irradiates the solar panel to generate electricity, and then drives the proton exchange membrane electrolyzer to decompose hydrogen and oxygen, and stores the hydrogen and oxygen in a gas tank, and then uses a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell to convert chemical energy into generate electricity to drive fans and LED lights. The solar battery can also charge the battery through the solar controller, and drive the DC load, DC-DC power module, inverter AC load and so on.

Features

• Adopt the building block design, students can build up the Gas reservoir, Electrolysis Module, Fuel Cell Module and other components by themselves; Train students' experimental construction and hands-on ability;

• This experiment contains multiple energy conversion links, which organically combine fuel cells and solar cells to form a complete chain of energy conversion, storage, and use.

• Variety of solar cell load modules: The experiment is rich in content, and the experiment process is environmentally friendly and clean.

• Convenient data collection interface: The experimental power supply is equipped with 3 analog data collection interfaces, which can be connected to voltage sensors and PASCO data collection software, which can collect a large amount of data in real time to analyze the test results, and complete the experiment content conveniently, quickly and efficiently.

Typical Data

• The output characteristics of Solar Cells: Current-Voltage characteristics and Power-Voltage characteristics

  

  
  

  

  
  

• The output characteristics of Hydrogen-Oxygen Fuel Cell

  

  
  

  

  
  

• Charging characteristics of supercapacitors

  

  
  

  

  
  

  

Parts List

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