Electro Chem Inc PEM Fuel Cell with Deadended

Electro. Chem Inc. PEM Fuel Cell with Dead-ended Operation Radha Jalan, Ph. D. President and CEO rjalan@fuelcell. com Electro. Chem, Inc 400 W. Cummings Park Woburn, MA 01801 USA Presented at ICEPS-2008 November 27 th

A Brief History Electro. Chem Inc. 1986 Electro. Chem founded 1992 First to develop and sell a portable fuel cell system 1993 First to develop computerized test equipment 1995 First fuel cell company to be online : www. fuelcell. com 2002 First to develop a test station for 5 independent cells testing 2005 Received Massachusetts High Tech All Star Energy Award

The Company Electro. Chem Inc. A leading company working in the area of Energy Storage, Hydrogen Generation and Fuel Cells 40 years of experience in developing new technologies for NASA, DOE, DOD, and EPRI Over 20 years of experience in developing, manufacturing and selling fuel cell products to researchers around the world A vision of a future where a sustainable global economy resides in harmony with a clean, healthy environment

ECcell. TM Energy Storage System Electro. Chem Inc. a Regenerative System

Electro. Chem Inc. Electrolyzer Based Home Hydrogen Refueling (HHR) System

Research Objectives Electro. Chem Inc. • Develop Passive PEM fuel cells - No moving parts - Dead-ended operation • Develop PEM fuel cells for zero-gravity operation

Dead-ended Operation (I) Electro. Chem Inc. Oxidant Air Fuel H 2, CO 2 Dead-ended operation is not considered in a Reformate fuel cell Oxidant Air Fuel H 2 When pure H 2 is used as fuel, Dead-ended operation can be applied to H 2 side of a fuel cell

Dead-ended Operation (II) Electro. Chem Inc. Oxidant O 2 Fuel H 2 When pure O 2 is used as an oxidant, It is considered to have an O 2 Dead-ended operation - High energy efficiency - Safety concerns But There is a challenge to remove the product water while running an O 2 Dead-ended operation fuel cell

Product Water Removal Electro. Chem Inc. Water is produced on the O 2/Air side of fuel cells Open-ended operation Dead-ended operation MEA Conventional Electro. Chem Open flow channel Porous flow channel Water is carried away by high air flow Water is transported by wicking effect

Fuel Cell Test Parameters Electro. Chem Inc. Fuel cell size : 50 cm 2 Operation condition: - 75 o. C, 30 psig (H 2/O 2) - 400 m. A/cm 2 Test parameters - operate fuel cell at one stoic of reactant gas - change the orientation of the fuel cell

Cell Stability Electro. Chem Inc. operate fuel cells at one stoic of reactant gas Demonstrates very stable performance at low excess gas conditions

Zero-Gravity Evaluation Electro. Chem Inc.

Orientation Independence (I) Electro. Chem Inc. 0 o 90 o H 2 O 2 electrode No significant effect due to changing of orientations

Orientation Independence (II) Electro. Chem Inc. 180 o Product water can be moved upward against gravity

Orientation Independence (III) Electro. Chem Inc. 270 o 90 o O 2 electrode No significant effect due to changing of orientations

Comparative Cell Performance Electro. Chem Inc. Porous flow field provides an advantage: The elimination of mass transfer limit

Conclusions Electro. Chem Inc. Fuel cell with open channel demonstrates higher performance than the conventional flow channel cell – better reactant gas transport The cell demonstrates Stable Operation at Extremely Low Excess Oxygen Flow Rates Enabling Passive Operation The cell demonstrates no effects of Change in Orientation on performance - Potential for “Zero -G” Water Removal

Acknowledgement Electro. Chem Inc. This work was funded by NASA under Contract NNJ 06 JD 71 C