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Hy-Drive Sells 20 Hydrogen Generating System Units
6 April 2006
Hy-Drive Technologies has sold 20 of its on-board hydrogen generating systems (HGS) to Canadian-based Mining Technologies International Inc. (MTI), as the initial order under a longer-term supply agreement. MTI is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment including trucks, loaders, underground utility vehicles as well as drilling equipment.
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under the terms of which MTI will be adapting Hy-Drive’s HGS for use on selected underground and aboveground diesel-powered mining equipment.
Because the Hy-Drive’s system reduces exhaust emissions while enhancing fuel efficiency (earlier post), it is well-suited to address underground air quality—a major concern of the mining industry.
Canadian-owned MTI operates four manufacturing facilities producing a wide range of advanced mining equipment including: hydraulic drill jumbos, LHD loaders, dump trucks, shaft drilling jumbos, long hole jumbos, in-the-hole (ITH) drilling rigs, computerized drill rigs, automated ITH drills with rod handlers, rail haulage systems (chutes, rail cars and dump stations), mine locomotives, buckets, bucket lip assemblies, bucket wear parts and low profile crushing plants as well as custom designed equipment for specific underground requirements.
Any product that can help improve the air quality of miners working below the surface offers an incredible advantage from a health and safety perspective. We turned to Hy-Drive because they have an innovative solution for reducing the harmful exhaust emissions that all mining vehicles inherently produce. Their simple retrofit package reduces the emissions as part of the natural combustion process instead of just filtering the exhaust.
—Robert Lipic, President and CEO of MTI
The Hy-Drive system works by injecting small amounts of hydrogen gas, generated via an on-board electrolyzer, into the combustion chamber of a regular internal combustion engine. This creates an enriched air mixture and a more complete and faster burn which results in reduced emissions, improved fuel efficiency and more engine torque.
Company testing indicates an increase in horsepower of up to 6%; an up to 80% reduction of particulate matter; an up to 46% reduction of NOx emissions; and a reduction of up to 98% of carbon monoxide emissions.
The HGS pulls the power for the electrolyzer from the engine’s standard electrical charging circuit. The resulting hydrogen and oxygen gases are delivered to the engine air intake by a vacuum pump. An electronic process controller varies the energy input to maintain a constant flow of gases, while an electronic safety module ensures safe operation.
The system uses two liters of distilled water every 80 hours of operation. The HGS operates only when the engine is running and produces hydrogen and oxygen on demand; gases are never stored.
April 6, 2006 in Emissions, Engines, Fuels, Hydrogen | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (1)
Comments
Posted by: John W. | April 06, 2006 at 11:37 AM
I've been watching this company for a little while now. Seems they are the ones to finally take this technology out of the garage and into commercial production. This process has been around for decades, just nobody has really commercialized it yet. I wish I had bought some of their stock a few months ago. Hopefully a version for passenger cars is not far behind?
Posted by: Bill Sherman | April 06, 2006 at 02:55 PM
Would a system like this eliminate the need for a catalytic converter?
Posted by: Cervus | April 06, 2006 at 06:12 PM
Cervus, I asked the same question to the guys at hydrogen boost! I don't think they had done any hard rigorous (engine under load/idling, etc.) manual testing at that time anyways, they were just getting into that a couple months ago. Don't know about Hy-Drive either.
But it is conceivable, perhaps more so if you also add a fuel catalyst to your fuel first. In Ontario Canada they are much more rigorous than some States in the U.S. with emissions testing for vehicles. Perhaps it would be good enough for some locations.
According to Hy-Drive's "company testing" (a.k.a. take with a grain of salt), emissions reductions are excellent, but that's talking about something designed for big rigs. I hope to try this in the future when I hopefully buy hydrogen boost's system, but then many vehicles will have an O2 sensor to "trick" as it won't have a cat to rest in. You'll need to get a resistor with the right ohm level to do so, but should be easy enough. (Only do this if emissions remain excellent, of course).
Posted by: John W. | April 06, 2006 at 09:45 PM
The hydrogenboost.com only gave me a site selling T-shirts and books.
Posted by: tom deplume | April 07, 2006 at 09:55 AM
I'm sorry Tom, and everyone else. There is a hyphen between the words. My mistake.
www.hydrogen-boost.com
Posted by: John W. | April 07, 2006 at 10:13 AM
I would like to perchase a hydrogen unit to run on a commershal trawler 6L terbo ford diesel engine.
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Tracked on Apr 6, 2006 10:59:59 AM
This is a VERY good development. "Hydrogen Boost" is another company that has a system (for cars), they had very good results in the Tour de Sol race last year with their hydrogen boosted Saturn: got around 100 miles per gallon or so, they say they recorded. (I'm sure this was corraborated by race officials).
Pretty cheap overall too: I think they quoted me a 750.00 dollar price, and it includes a lot more than just the hydrogen production: it's a full fuel efficiency improving system. You might want to consider beefing up your alternator with this, however.
www.hydrogenboost.com
This is a very cheap alternative to a full-hybrid and produces similar results, and there is no hydrogen storage so it is very safe. It's also very simple in design & implementation--it's not rocket science. Or, you could get the best of both worlds & combine this tech with your hybrids, all you guys that have one, because this works on the gas engine side of things. I would imagine hydrogen would help clean up any combustion, whether diesel, gas, etc. Don't know why it's not more advertised/acclaimed. Must be *politics* in the new emerging auto markets. :O