Liquid-hydrogen-fueled-vehicle tests. Executive summary

A program for the development of a baseline liquid-hydrogen fueled vehicle and a liquid-hydrogen-refueling system was completed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on September 30, 1981. This program involved the cooperative efforts of the Laboratory (fundd by the US Department of Energy), the Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (DFVLR) of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the State of New Mexico through the New Mexico Energy Institute (NMEI). The results of the program provide a reference point from which future progress and improvements in liquid-hydrogen on-board storage and refueling capabilities may be measured. The NMEI provided the program a 1979 Buick Century 4-door sedan with 3.8-L (231-in./sup 3/) displacement turbocharged V6 engine and automatic transmission. The DFVLR provided an on-board liquid-hydrogen storage tank and a refueling station. The DFVLR tank, and the engine modifications for operation on hydrogen rather than gasoline, represented readily available, state-of-the-art capabilities when the program began in March 1979. The original tank provided by the DFVLR was replaced with a larger capacity tank, which was fabricated using more advanced cryogenic engineering technology. The vehicle was refueled at least 60 times with liquid hydrogen using various liquid-hydrogen storage Dewars at Los Alamos and the semiautomatic refueling station designed and built by the DFVLR. At the end of program, the engine had been operated for 133 h and the car driven for 3540 km (2200 miles) on hydrogen without any major difficulties. The vehicle obtained 2.4 km/L (5.7 miles/gal) of liquid hydrogen or 8.9 km/L (21 miles/gal) of gasoline on an equivalent energy basis for driving in the high-altitude Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque areas. Without refueling, the car had a range of about 274 km (170 miles) with the first liquid-hydrogen tank and about 362 km (225 miles) with the second tank