Fuel Cell

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This article is about the specific part. For the generic part, see fuel cell.
Fuel Cell
Part image
Fuel cell by
Zaltonic Electronics

Radial size Radial mounted
Cost (total) 750.00 Funds
Mass (total) 0.05 t
Drag 0.2
Max. Temp. 2000 K
Volume  ?
Impact Tolerance 7 m/s
Research High-power electrics.png High-Power Electrics
Unlock cost 2 250 Funds
Since version 1.0
Part configuration FuelCell.cfg
Electric capacity 50.0 
Inputs
Liquid fuel 0.0016875 Units of fuel/s
Oxidizer 0.0020625 Units of fuel/s
Output
Electric charge 1.5 ⚡/s

The Fuel Cell is a part which converts liquid fuel and oxidizer into electric charge.

Product description

A small fuel cell that allows fuel and oxidizer to be converted into energy. Handy for those places where a solar panel will not do. Also handy for re-heating snacks.

Zaltonic Electronics

Usage

The Fuel Cell uses a small amount of liquid fuel and oxidizer to generate electric charge. When active, one fuel cell will drain a FL-T100 Fuel Tank in around 7.4 hours, and will empty a Rockomax Jumbo-64 Fuel Tank in about 79 days. The Fuel Cell produces 400 electric charge per unit of rocket fuel (0.45 units of liquid fuel, 0.55 units of oxidizer) it consumes. If a vessel's batteries are full, the Fuel Cell will reduce its fuel consumption to prevent overcharging.

While on a planet or moon's surface, fuel cells can be used in combination with an ore processing setup (using resource harvesters like the 'Drill-O-Matic' Mining Excavator and converters like the Convert-O-Tron 250). As ore is infinite, this allows surface bases to produce fuel and electricity indefinitely. Unlike solar panels, fuel cells provide power even on the night side of a planet or moon.

In space, fuel cells are best used to supply brief periods of high power consumption, such as extreme range communications and ion engine burns. However, because it is much harder to replenish rocket fuel in space, fuel cells should not be used as a long-term source of electricity. Even on long distance missions, power should be produced through another method (even solar panels), while the fuel cell is used for the previous short-term periods.

The Fuel Cell is the smaller version of the Fuel Cell Array.

Changes

1.2
  • Moved from Utility to Electrical
1.0
  • Initial release