The Hindu Business Line : Nano technology may usher in hydrogen-powered vehicles

Dr Haren Gandhi, a Ford Technical Fellow at Ford Motor Company, US, today said that the car manufacturer was "working heavily in nano technology" for hydrogen vehicles.

One of the projects before the R&D team is to find ways for the nano particles to retain their nano state over the entire life of the vehicle, Dr Gandhi said at a press conference here.

What is the connection between nano technology and hydrogen?

There is one major hurdle in ushering in hydrogen-powered vehicles.

STORING GAS

While both the gas, and the engines that can run on it are not difficult to produce, the principle challenge is how to store the gas in the tank.

There are two ways - one is by compressing the gas so that it could be stored in a small tank.

This is complicated and would require strong and heavy tanks.

Besides, compressed inflammable gas is a safety hazard.

The other way is to store the gas in the form of `metal hydrides', which is basically storing gas by trapping it in a metal matrix, similar to holding water in sponge. Here is where nano technology comes in - to find such material that could hold enormous quantities of gas.

Ford is among quite a few companies that are working on nano technology for hydrogen vehicles.

In India, Bajaj Auto is working on a hydrogen 3-wheeler, and is collaborating with nano technologists for it.

Dr Gandhi said the other major research project at Ford was `high throughput research', which he described as "the robotic way of carrying out research".

Using robots to do research will result in huge quantities of data handling, which has been the major issue with high throughput research.

But now with data mining software, this has gained currency.

Dr Gandhi, a recipient of a record five Henry Ford Technology Awards and one who has published over 70 technical papers and authored over 40 US patents, said that Ford would now increasingly look at using its Henry Ford Chair at IIT, Madras and IIT, Delhi for research. Ford, he said, was looking at "more active role in engaging ourselves with the IITs," he said.