Hybrid Fuel Cells Power for Long Duration Robot Missions in Field Environments
This addresses power limitations for mobile robots in field environments like search and rescue, but it is incremental as it builds on existing hybrid concepts.
The paper tackles the problem of unreliable Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells for long-duration robot missions by proposing a hybrid fuel cell-battery configuration with filtering electronics, showing through simulation that it is superior to conventional batteries for a HOAP 2 humanoid robot.
Mobile robots are often needed for long duration missions. These include search and rescue, sentry, repair, surveillance and entertainment. Current power supply technology limit walking and climbing robots from many such missions. Internal combustion engines have high noise and emit toxic exhaust while rechargeable batteries have low energy densities and high rates of self-discharge. In theory, fuel cells do not have such limitations. In particular Proton Exchange Membrane (PEMs) can provide very high energy densities, are clean and quiet. However, PEM fuel cells are found to be unreliable due to performance degradation. This can be mitigated by protecting the fuel cell in a fuel-cell battery hybrid configuration using filtering electronics that ensure the fuel cell is isolated from electrical noise and a battery to isolate it from power surges. Simulation results are presented for a HOAP 2 humanoid robot that suggests a fuel cell powered hybrid power supply superior to conventional batteries.