Effort to Develop Honda Solar Hydrogen Station (SHS)

Abstract

Honda has been developing an experimental solar hydrogen station (SHS) in order to propose a solution for energy and global environmental issues. The results from proving tests of the SHS1 suggest that a renewable hydrogen station of a size suitable for household use would require still greater compactness and higher efficiency. Therefore we developed high differential pressure electrolyzer stack, which is an innovative technology. The stack differs from the ordinary high pressure electrolyzer that keeps both the anode side and the cathode side in a high pressure state. Here, instead, the anode side is under normal pressure and only the cathode side is maintained under the high pressure of 35 MPa. Therefore, this one has a simpler structure and can be made compact. Furthermore, the stack here has the functions of both generating and compressing hydrogen. With this stack, SHS2 was made into a compact, highly efficient and low-noise, home-sized hydrogen refueling appliance.