A cleaner palace for kings of the road - Modine uses fuel cells to heat and cool truckers' cabs

Combining two experimental technologies to solve an old problem, Modine Manufacturing Co. has developed a heating and cooling system for diesel trucks that uses a hydrogen fuel cell for power.

If successful, it could be one of the first commercial applications for fuel cells, which some engineers say will be the next big breakthrough in transportation technology.

With fuel cells, a small chemical reactor converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, water and heat. The electricity can drive a motor.

Modine's product line includes truck radiators and oil coolers. The Racine company also has worked with fuel-cell developers that have ties to Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG.

In this case, Modine developed a heating and cooling system that would allow long-haul truckers to shut off their diesel engines while parked at rest stops.

Often, truckers leave their engines running so they can power the heating and cooling systems for their sleeper cabs -- the equivalent of bunk beds with a few amenities, such as a microwave and television. To comply with recent regulations, drivers must take 10 hours of rest after 14 hours of driving.

The Department of Energy estimates that a billion gallons of diesel fuel are consumed every year while trucks idle at rest stops. Idling engines are also a source of air pollution.

"This is going to get worse as the new laws take effect," said Tony De Vuono, Modine's vice president and chief technology officer.

"More truck drivers will be pulling over and taking a rest, requiring them to idle," he said. "This is setting up a conflict, as 22 states have pending legislation that limits idling in some form."

Modine combined a hydrogen fuel cell from a Canadian firm, General Hydrogen Corp., with a carbon-dioxide-based heating and cooling system that it developed in Racine.

The fuel cell can power the system for 10 continuous hours, using compressed hydrogen gas as its fuel. The only byproducts are heat, water and nitrogen.

The carbon dioxide, when used in a heat pump, can provide heating and cooling in a single system -- something that conventional refrigerants cannot do efficiently.

Modine's system could help truck drivers reduce their fuel bills and cut air pollution.

Currently being tested

The system is being tested on trucks now and could be ready for the marketplace in about five years, said Michael Wilson, Modine's manager of advanced product research.

Modine has already demonstrated a carbon-dioxide-based air conditioner at a military proving ground near Yuma, Ariz. The air conditioner was installed in an Army Humvee and could handle 130-degree temperatures where the inside of the vehicle reached a sweltering 170 degrees.

The fuel cell has already been used for powering electric forklifts in warehouses. It costs about twice as much as conventional lead-acid batteries but can run a forklift three times longer than some batteries before it has to be refueled.

"Forklifts could be the ugly little duckling that ushers in the hydrogen age," said Nigel Horsley, investor relations director for General Hydrogen Corp.

Three concepts, one product

Modine's fuel cell operates on hydrogen that can be bought at welding shops. The system has been designed for easy operation, much like flipping the switch of an auxiliary power generator.

Other companies are working on fuel cells, carbon dioxide heating and cooling systems, and technologies aimed at reducing engine-idle times.

"But we are really the first company to take all three pieces of this triangle and put them together," Wilson said.

Schneider National, one of the nation's biggest trucking firms, is pursuing ways to reduce idle time. Currently, the Green Bay company is using a heater run off a small amount of diesel fuel. Cooling can be accomplished by rechargeable batteries that run an air conditioner.

A fuel cell might be too fragile for use in a truck, said Dennis Damman, Schneider's engineering director.

"I think a fuel cell could have a heck of a time in that environment," he said.

As interest in fuel cells grows, their durability will increase, Wilson said.

With more stringent air pollution laws coming, a lot of companies are addressing the engine-idle issue, said Mike Osenga, publisher of North American Diesel Progress magazine, based in Waukesha.

"It has become a big market," he said. "There are a lot of people packaging small diesel engines with generators, so you can turn off the big truck diesel and still run the heating and air conditioning and electronics."

Modine hasn't determined what its system would cost, since it won't be ready for the market for a few more years.

Fuel cells, while viable, could be too expensive, Osenga said.

"With all of the money that the trucking industry is spending to meet clean-air regulations, I don't know how willing they are going to be to play with something which is fairly exotic," he said.

"Fuel cells and hydrogen appear to make a lot of sense. . . . But there are people who can produce (heating and cooling) systems that meet the needs of the market now at what could be a cheaper price."