• FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    6 days ago

    Right, but you are going to want to choose a fuel that has the least chance of flaming up if you’re making a military vehicle.

    Hydrogen has (compared to petroleum) a Wider Flammability Range, Lower Ignition Energy (0.02 millijoules) which is really low and much smaller than petroleum, and a higher diffusion rate.

    All of which make it more likely to go kaboom.

    • Uranium 🟩@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      Silly one, and but do tanks run on diesel?

      Every other heavy machine I can think of typically uses diesel for their engines: tractors, lorries, boats.

      Also diesel is less flammable then petrol or hydrogen in the event of a spill of leak…

      • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        6 days ago

        The problem with diesel is that there has been a cap in their efficiency for quite some time. We’ve pretty much tweaked as much speed and efficiency out of what is possible with diesel tanks, which is why the Abrams has a turbine engine.

        As tanks become heavier and heavier the only real solution is to migrate to electric motors, which are more efficient and vastly more reliable than diesel or turbine.

        Just like with trains, the future of tanks are electric motors, and until we find a battery material more efficient and safe than lithium, hydrogen fuel cells are likely going to be the solution.

        • anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          5 days ago

          The correct solution is for tanks to drag a power cable and a water cooling loop behind them. This will make them invisible to thermals.

        • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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          6 days ago

          The Abrams can run on just about anything liquid and flammable. It’s not gonna be happy about it, but it’ll go.

          I think it was designed by pakleds…

            • Miles O'Brien@startrek.website
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              6 days ago

              Wasn’t trying to call you out for being wrong or only partially correct, just think it’s neat all the stuff they considered when designing and testing it.

              • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                Right, no worries. I was just being lazy and didn’t wanna explain. You did and did it in less words than I would’ve needed.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      5 days ago

      H2 is much safer than gasoline. Gasoline with explode as a bomb. A leak will make everything around it super flamable. An H2 tank that both is ruptured and on fire will shoot a flare into the air, instead of blowing up and killing everyone in the vehicle.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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      6 days ago

      Right, but you are going to want to choose a fuel that has the least chance of flaming up if you’re making a military vehicle.

      Why? If something has gotten through the armour, your fuel is the least of your worries. I mean you are sitting next to a stack of shells filled with high explosives.

      • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 days ago

        Well if the fuel is compromised there’s a larger chance it’ll ignite and reach the shells if it’s hydrogen as opposed to petroleum.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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          6 days ago

          My point is that if your tank’s armour is compromised by modern antitank weapons, it doesn’t really matter where it hits you. You’re going to be turned into chunky marinara, or your shells are going to cook off.

          A pressurized fuel cell is already more protected than any fuel tank, and is smaller and lighter and more efficient than any ice engine. Which means you can add and divert even more armour to protect the cell and the occupants of the tank. Basically any danger associated with hydrogen is vastly overshadowed by the fact that tanks already carry high explosives. And that’s not so dangerous that we’re trying to replace them with non combustible weapon systems.

          It’s not like Rotem is new at making tanks, the K2 is one of the best tanks currently in production. If the engineers thought fuel cells increased the likelihood of catastrophic failure, I highly doubt they would have tried it with the K3.

          Personally, I think most people are just buying into the propaganda that shut down hydrogen power in the first place. To my knowledge there hasn’t ever been a death associated because of an explosion or fire involving a vehicle with h2.