Fueling periodically with the No. 1 element

Crown Equipment Corp.’s Eric Jensen, director of new technology, research and development, recently spoke at ProMat 2011 on the need for continued research and development of on-board hydrogen storage systems to help make fuel cells a viable option for smaller-sized forklift fleets.

The company has been working with alternative fuels for a couple of years with the 2009 launch of its first liquid propane gas fork truck (covered in Nov./Dec. 2009 issue). Prior to 2009, Crown was strictly a battery-powered electric forklift company, which is what generated Crown’s continued interest in fuel cell technology.However, the company has been researching fuel cell forklift applications for years, and made its first large scale hydrogen fuel cell installation in 2008 at Warner Robins Air Force Base on 20 of Crown’s sit-down counterbalanced lift trucks.

The fuel cells used in the Crown lift trucks were created as battery replacements and designed to fit in the same space. “Through our research and application testing, we have been able to determine the specific design modifications that must be made to a fuel cell-powered Crown lift truck, if any, so that it meets the same safety and performance standards as a truck run on a battery,” says Jensen. “By making these design changes and working closely with our customers, we are taking the guesswork out of fuel cells and enabling interested customers to seamlessly incorporate fuel cell lift trucks into their fleet.”

Crowning achievement

Back in early August of 2010, Crown released the industry’s first pallet truck designed specifically for fuel cells, a new version of its PC 4500 Series center control pallet truck designed to accommodate Plug Power GenDrive fuel cells.

The design of the pallet truck places the fuel cell behind the operator, which came about while Crown was working with the customer, Walmart Canada. The Calgary, Alberta-based facility is the first complete distribution center in Canada to be powered exclusively by hydrogen fuel cells.

Crown integrated a fuel cell control unit and hydrogen level indicator into the dashboard display. Until this innovation, controls and gauges such as a fuel-level indicator and start/stop button were located on the fuel cell which required the operator to stop operation to access the control box and check the status of the fuel cell.

Shortly after the release of the PC 4500, Crown announced it had qualified 20 of its electric forklift models to operate with various fuel cells, bringing its total offering of qualified combinations of fuel cell packs and trucks to 29.

In December 2010, Crown announced a new version of its Crown SP 3500 Series Stockpicker to accommodate a fuel cell. The SP 3500’s on-board display of the hydrogen level indicator allows parameters to be set for a low fuel warning. Operators receive an alert when the hydrogen pressure reaches a level pre-determined based on the size of the facility and the distance to the refueling stations. The alert can be adjusted to notify the operator when the hydrogen level is low, between 2% and 25%.

Crown’s SP 3500 also features a lift lockout preventing lifting when fuel levels are below the initial low charge alert, which protects the integrity of the fuel cell and encourages the operator to visit a refueling station to continue to do work.

Why hydrogen?

“Regular battery rooms take up a lot of space, they’re hard to manage, and you need two or three for every truck you have in the facility,” says Jensen.

Changing a battery is difficult and time consuming, especially considering batteries are heavy. Customers are interested in hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks because the hydrogen fill station takes up less space, and the fuel cell never needs to be removed from the truck, except for maintenence. “The fuel cell stays in the truck at all times, and whenever the operator has an opportunity to refuel his hydrogen tank, he drives up and refuels the truck.”