YEKATERINBURG, August 16. /TASS/. Specialists of the Urals Federal University work on fuel elements for the Arctic transport, which will emit minimum pollutants, the University’s representative Alexander Cherepanov told TASS.
"Fuel elements may transfer chemical energy into electric energy, where the efficiency would be 90 plus percent, against 30% of internal combustion engines," he said. "This means, the fuel elements are much more effective and ecologically friendly. <…> The work on them is underway, we have prototypes."
Internal combustion engines transfer the fuel energy into electric energy by 30% only, and the remaining 70% are pollutants, the expert explained. The fuel elements, which solve this problem, however would not fit private vehicles, as starting them may take a few hours.
The existing prototypes are most close to realistic models. They have passed long tests — 10,000 hours, or 14 months of work without breaks. Scientists work to further improve the fuel elements.
"Our solution is based on modules — this means there is a module of a minimal capacity," the scientist continued. "If there is a company or a group of people, who require a bigger capacity, they can use, like in Lego, as many modules as they need."
The fuel elements may be convenient in geology exploration in the Arctic, or in watching how animals migrate. Later on, the solution may be applied in housing construction in hard-to-reach areas.
The Urals Federal University is the major university in the Urals Federal District. It has 13 scientific laboratories, run by leading foreign scientists.