Project "HySport"
Fuel cell-powered altitude simulation training for professional athletes. »
The project has been conceived to further develop an equipment supplying sport-specifically conditioned, oxygen-reduced breathing air and to demonstrate this unit’s operability. Fuel cell technology is employed to produce both the oxygen-reduced breathing air and power. The low-oxygen air of the fuel cell cathode is supplied to the athlete. This procedure offers benefits especially for the user’s physical performance, comparable to those reached during a stay in high altitude.
Within the scope of this project up to 10 of these systems are to start operation and be used by sports institutions. The field tests will be focused on the Cologne region where the sport university Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, the olympic training centre Köln-Bonn-Leverkusen, the foundation Sportstiftung NRW and the trainer acedemy Trainerakademie Köln of Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and other renowned German sports institutions have united to form the initiative Sportstadt Köln. Major international sports events like the cycle race „Rund um Köln“, the Cologne Triathlon Weekend and the Cologne Marathon are excellent opportunities to present the project to the broad public. All in all, there is now an extraordinary institutional as well as scientific structure for a well-based realization of the test programme. Furthermore, the HyCologne network is developing an infrastructure for technical hydrogen supply. Its focus is especially on providing institutions that are already acquainted with the subject of hydrogen an opportunity to accompany the field tests.
