Youth compete with mini fuel cell forklifts

News Story
- 1 Nov 2007 ( #334 ) - SCOTTSDALE, AZ, United States
3 min read
Moritz Greif and Manuel Kochen from Team Germany that won the Engineering Award for their fuel cell forklift.
Moritz Greif and Manuel Kochen from Team Germany that won the Engineering Award for their fuel cell forklift.
Secondary school students from around the world gathered in San Antonio, Texas last month to apply their fuel cell knowledge in tasks including a Cat Lift Trucks-sponsored fuel cell forklift competition.

Erica Von Stein and Paul Rosenberger, one of the two US teams, won the overall fuel cell forklift competition, which required them to build a fuel cell forklift that could lift a load six-metres (19.7-feet) high and move 30cm (11.8 inch) across a flat plastic surface.

Seven teams from Germany, US, India and Japan comprising two members each, aged between 14 and 18 years old, were given two fuel cells, two motors, gas storage and various gears.

They were required to use at least one of the fuel cells and the forklift had to be small enough to fit into a 22cm x 22cm x 22cm (8.7 inch x 8.7 inch x 8.7 inch) plastic case, about the size of a basketball.

According to organiser Fuel Cell Store, the competition "modeled the real world application of hydrogen fuel cells".

Participants were judged on hydrogen efficiency and the artistic and engineering aspects of their models. Hydrogen efficiency was determined based on the ratio of the weight lifted compared to the amount of hydrogen used.

A team of engineers read the students' journals and interviewed them regarding the construction of the forklift models to decide the winner of the engineering award.

An artistic award was given to the most creative team. Students were encouraged to have fun in devising the loads the forklift models carry. Von Stein and Rosenberger's load was a Lego astronaut.

"You might represent your country or your state or your sponsor or your favourite food or cartoon character in what you decide to carry with your lift. The important thing is that it is artistic and fun," the competition's guidelines said.

Other main events at the 2007 International Youth Fuel Cell Competition (IYFCC) were the Academic Bowl, testing students on scientific knowledge from the book Hydrogen Hot Stuff Cool Science and the Fuel Cell Handbook DVD.

For the Fuel Cell Model Car Competition, participants had to build and race a model fuel cell car.

The winner of the Academic Bowl was one of the three teams from India comprising of Ashwinderjit Kaur Bhatti and Avneet Kaur Narang. Manuel Kochen and Moritz Greif from Germany won the Fuel Cell Model Car Competition.

An award for innovative hydrogen storage design, the Ovonics Hydrogen Storage Award, went to the three teams from India.

The fuel cells were specially made for the competition by German company H-tec GmbH. A Fuel Cell Store spokesperson says they were "extremely light weight for the power they produce - about 1.4 volts".

The 2007 IYFCC was held in conjunction with the 2007 Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition from October 15-17. Teams were invited to join by national sponsors involved in the fuel cell industry.

Next year, IYFCC will be held at the Phoenix Convention Centre in Phoenix, Arizona, from October 27-31, also in conjunction with the 2008 Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition.

For more information about the competition, visit www.iyfcc.com.

Fuel Cell Store of Scottsdale, Arizona, offers an online marketplace for fuel cell-related products and technologies. It also provides consulting services, workshops and conferences for the fuel cell industry. It is a subsidiary of ECOtality Inc.
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