Hydrogen Locomotives

[randyrippley]

Slightly off-topic, but LU looked seriously at hydrogen locos as a potential replacement for their battery powered maintenance locos a few years ago. Not sure why it didn't happen.

Hydrogen in a confined space is a disaster waiting to happen. A leak - and explosion - would be inevitable.

 

[xotGD]

Hydrogen in a confined space is a disaster waiting to happen. A leak - and explosion - would be inevitable.

I take it you don't have a natural gas supply to your home, in order to avoid the inevitable leak and explosion?

 

[DerekC]

I take it you don't have a natural gas supply to your home, in order to avoid the inevitable leak and explosion?

Quite so. And even better, a fuel cell powered mining loco using metal hydride as a safe storage medium was demonstrated more than ten years ago.

 

[randyrippley]

I take it you don't have a natural gas supply to your home, in order to avoid the inevitable leak and explosion?

Heck of a difference between hydrogen and methane. Size of the molecule makes containment difficult

 

[randyrippley]

Quite so. And even better, a fuel cell powered mining loco using metal hydride as a safe storage medium was demonstrated more than ten years ago.

Metal hydride technology has never commercially scaled

 

[xotGD]

Heck of a difference between hydrogen and methane. Size of the molecule makes containment difficult

That is one factor in the risk of an explosion. You also need to consider the potential for getting a fuel/air mixture between the lower explosive limit and upper explosive limit, the risk of ignition and the magnitude of any blast wave formed.

Research looking at the relative risks of using natural gas and hydrogen in a domestic setting has concluded that they are pretty much the same. The various factors balance out.

You also take away the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if you switch to hydrogen.

 

[randyrippley]

That is one factor in the risk of an explosion. You also need to consider the potential for getting a fuel/air mixture between the lower explosive limit and upper explosive limit, the risk of ignition and the magnitude of any blast wave formed.

Research looking at the relative risks of using natural gas and hydrogen in a domestic setting has concluded that they are pretty much the same. The various factors balance out.

You also take away the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning if you switch to hydrogen.

In a domestic setting if you get a gas leak you can leave the building.
You don't have that option in a train in a tunnel.
And for what its worth, hydrogen is far more likely to leak than methane, especially where you have fuel lines subject to vibration

 

[Struner]

H2 will leave you very soon, as the specific gravity is far smaller than that of standard|common air...

 

[xotGD]

Well at least nobody has mentioned the Hindenburg yet.

 

[Struner]

Oh, really?

 

[Emyr]

Well at least nobody has mentioned the Hindenburg yet.

Guess we'll have to make sure the H-locos don't have a flammable coating on their tanks.