Word Association
A replacement for the Orion with Ford engines? Ford Orion anyone?
Global arms'n'aerospace behemoth Boeing says it will now begin work in earnest on its "Phantom Eye" high-altitude hydrogen spy drone, powered by a pair of modified Ford car engines. The unmanned Phantom Eye will, according to Boeing engineers, be able to cruise for as long as four days at a time at altitudes of up to 65,000 …
Although the Toyota wouldn't stop, the Ford one can stay airborne for up to 4 days before it needs a complete overhaul at Ford-certified mechanist's. They tried a Porsche motor but the damn thing was flying so low that it stayed stuck in potholes, rather missing the «high-altitude» target. The BMV-equipped version kept tailgating airliners, with disastrous consequences (ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle?).
Etc etc etc
...being pulled from an American car, it's ideally suited.
It will have little need to go round a bend and as it's so high up, doesn't have to worry anout 3 inch gaps that let the rain in.
Oh and it eats fuel 24 hours a day for four days straight, where it has to come back to the real world before repeating above process.
Aircraft engines are large enough to propel aircraft. At 65,000 feet the better engine for large framed craft is a jet. Unfortunately they are not very economical. All stuff that became obvious in the 1930's, hence total absence of any suitable reference and/or explanation in the article.
Cost, adaptability to hydrogen (it's just a modified LPG injection unit), commodity training for the engineers, durability, ease of parts supply, fuel economy, advanced engineering leading to high power-to-weight (financed by the Motor trade not Boeing), no special secrets to be gleaned when they are shot down, ability to be maintained in your average motor garage with readily available tools when operating close to the front line.
I could probably go on...
If 'they' have produced a viable hydrogen engine, how come it hasn't been fitted to normal cars then? Oh of course, silly me, petrol is far more expensive than mere hydrogen that is more freely available, as well with a really noxious substance called water as a byproduct not that nice carbon monoxide stuff that's so good for our lungs.
Or am I missing something? OK flame away
"Oh of course, silly me, petrol is far more expensive than mere hydrogen that is more freely available, as well with a really noxious substance called water as a byproduct not that nice carbon monoxide stuff that's so good for our lungs."
You're also ignorant of chemistry. It is true that Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, often located in *huge* natural deposits called "Stars."
Anything on this planet has it tightly bonded with a large range of other elements. Separating it from *those* and storing the result needs a *lot* of energy to begin with.
Gas (petrol): rather inexpensive, stable in air at room temperature, liquid at sea-level pressure (i. e. easy storage)..
Hydrogen: costs an arm and a leg, spontaneously ignite in a very wide range of oxygen concentrations (including atmosphere's 20% O2) even at low temperature (ensures cataclysmic consequences for the littlest leak), gaseous in any earth-surface conditions (i.e. a storage nightmare and delivery: requires hight-pressure tanks with regulators and NO LEAKS).
Cooking gasses like Butane or Propane are actually much safer than H2 as they will only ignite when in a well-defined mix with oxygen. H2 will ignite (read "explode", in non-controlled environments) in almost any mix with air.
You want widespread H2-powered vehicles? I say you keep your car away from my home.
Hope they re-fitted new core plugs to the engine and didn't leave in the dodgy ones that leak and fill up the spark plug chambers with coolent. Saying that when they take it to Ford the mechanic[sic] will probably just tell them that it's not coolent but water from the washer jets - like they did to two of my family members.
Oh and don't even get me started on the 1000's of faulty coil packs they have fitted to the engines - the ones AA / RAC guys carry on their breakdown trucks becasue they fail so often.
It burns hotter than most fuels and its very low ignition percentage (Not sure if its for air or 02 but H2 will explode at a level of 4%H2, making even small releases quite dangerous) means in principle it could be run at a very lean mixture ratio but it's hard to believe either of those will counteract the fact that it is a PITA to store any significant mass (Liquid H2 is roughly 10x less dense than any hydrocarbon)
LPG, Butane, Methane should all be a *lot* easier to store and take up much smaller room.
I guessed the developers just though it would be cool to build a hydrogen powered aircraft.