PATRICK TUCKER
Nearly 180 years after the invention of the first hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen power is making a comeback. The Defence Innovation Unit has awarded a contract to Pratt Miller to prototype a hydrogen-powered system for naval vessels. If successful, the Expeditionary Hydrogen On Ship & Shore project, or EHOSS, could help fulfil a long-standing Pentagon goal of decreasing reliance on petroleum. In a statement viewed by Defence One, DIU described the objective as a tactical “micro hydrogen supply chain.” The concept relies on commercial components to build a hydrogen generation, storage, and dispensing system.
The contract involves U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, and research teams from both the Navy and Army. Pratt Miller has worked with the Army since 2019 on deploying hydrogen systems in military trucks. In an interview with Defence One, Christopher Archambo, the company’s chief engineer for hydrogen fuel cell technology, said the Navy prototype will use a proton exchange membrane electrolyser to compress hydrogen gas storage at 10,152 pounds per square inch, or 700 bar. The hydrogen is then stored in conformable tanks.
That level of compression is suitable for large trucks or generators used to refuel hydrogen vehicles and equipment. Pratt Miller’s Flexible Power Conversion Module allows EHOSS to use power from a single source or multiple power sources commonly used on the battlefield and aboard ships. Hydrogen fuel cells are used to allow for extended operations and reduced signature power in UAVs, UUVs, ground vehicles, and power generators.
Welsh physicist Sir William Robert Grove invented the hydrogen fuel cell in 1839, which converts hydrogen’s chemical energy into electricity, heat, and water through an electrochemical reaction. Because hydrogen is lightweight, it quickly found applications in early aviation, especially among the makers of steerable balloons, or airships. But too much enthusiasm too quickly proved to be hydrogen energy’s downfall—literally. In May 1937, the German airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and crashed, just seven years after the British R101 suffered a similar fate.
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