scholarly journals Optimized High Precision Stacking of Fuel Cell Components for Medium to Large Production Volumes

2022 ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Jens Schäfer ◽  
Jürgen Fleischer
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Niche Markets ◽  
High Position ◽  
Scalable Systems ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
Large Production

AbstractPEM fuel cells are well established in a number of niche markets. However, due to low production volume and manufacturer-specific designs, the assembly has been carried out manually most of the time. With new fields of application being exploited there is a rising demand for production systems. As there is no standardized design or material, production systems are often custom-made, thus being inflexible to design changes or different products. In combination with a volatile demand the need for flexible and scalable systems arises. In this paper special attention is paid onto pick and place operations of the catalyst coated membrane (CCM). Design criteria of a vacuum gripper are derived from the material properties. To meet the further requirements for a high position accuracy in an automated assembly the impact of process parameters onto the repeatability is investigated to identify optimization trends. The requirements and investigations lead to a conceptual assembly system that is able to cover several steps in fuel cell production.

Machine Tool Service for Mass-Production Machining Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-513
Author(s):  
Makoto Fujishima ◽  
◽  
Takashi Hoshi ◽  
Hiroki Nakahira ◽  
Masafumi Takahashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Tool ◽  
Production System ◽  
Mass Production ◽  
Machine Tools ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Machining Processes ◽  
In Series ◽  
Tool Service ◽  
Large Production

Mass-production machining systems that are comprised of machine tools are often configured in series by dividing the machining processes in order to manage the large production volume. This indicates that if one of the machines stops owing to a mechanical malfunction, the entire production line needs to be stopped. Thus, machine tools in mass-production systems are required to be highly reliable and easy to maintain. Predictive maintenance, which enables operators to detect any signs of failure in the machine tool components, needs to be performed for the machines as well. In this work, various approaches for the improvement of the maintainability of machine tools used in a mass-production system are reported.

Component Failure Analysis From a Stationary Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Demonstration

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Lux ◽  
Kelsey Johnson ◽  
Nicholas Josefik
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Power Conditioning ◽  
Balance Of Plant ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
Exchange Membrane

A fleet of 91 residential-scale proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, ranging in size from 1 to 5 kW, was demonstrated at various U.S. federal facilities worldwide. This detailed analysis looks into the most prevalent means of failure in the PEM fuel cell systems as categorized from the stack, reformer, and power conditioning systems as well as the subsequent subsystems. Also evaluated are the lifespan and failure modes of selected fuel cell components, based on component type, age, and usage. The balance of plant, with the numerous pumps and filters, accounted for 60.6% of the total component outages, followed by the fuel cell stack system (20.4%), fuel processing system (10.7%), and the power conditioning system (8.2%). Hydrogen cartridges were the most prevalent component replaced (79), but various filters (RO, DI, air-intake, carbon) account for almost 25% (175) of the total component outages. The natural gas fuel cell stacks had the highest average operational lifetime; one stack reached a total of 10,250 h.

Component Failure Analysis From a Fleet of PEM Fuel Cells

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Lux ◽  
Arif Nelson ◽  
Nicholas Josefik ◽  
Franklin Holcomb
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Engineering Research ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
The U.S

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) managed the Residential Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Demonstration. The U.S. Congress funded this project for fiscal years 2001–2004. A fleet of 91 residential-scale PEM fuel cells, ranging in size from 1–5 kW, was demonstrated at various U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) facilities worldwide. This detailed analysis looks into the most prevalent means of failure in the PEM fuel cell systems as categorized from the stack, reformer, and power-conditioning systems as well as the subsequent subsystems. Also evaluated are the lifespan and failure modes of selected fuel cell components, based on component type, age, and usage. The analysis shows while the fuel cell stack components had the single highest number of outages, the balance of plant made for 60.6% of the total outages. The hydrogen cartridges were the most prevalent component replaced during the entire program. The natural gas fuel cell stacks had the highest average operational lifetime; one stack reached a total of 10,250 hours.

scholarly journals Control por Modos Deslizantes de la Relación de Exceso de Oxígeno en una PEMFC Interconectada a un Motor de CD mediante un Convertidor Boost

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
María Cervera-Ceballos ◽  
Marco Antonio Rodriguez-Blanco ◽  
José Vazquez-Ávila ◽  
Hussain Alazki
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Sliding Mode ◽  
Electric Energy ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Dc Motor ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Excess Oxygen ◽  
Efficient Operation ◽  
Cell Components

In this work, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is used to electric energy supply to a permanent magnet DC motor in a sustainable way and the inlet air flow in the cathode is manipulated to ensure the PEM fuel cells efficient operation. A boost-type DC/DC converter is connected to the PEMFC, it is used with a PI linear control loop to regulate the speed of the DC motor under some possible load disturbances. In addition, a nonlinear sliding mode control (SMC) is designed for regulated the excess oxygen ratio considering constant the temperature and humidity of membrane, to achieve the PEM full cell operate in the ohmic region of the polarization curve, to avoid the oxygen starvation at the cathode and to prevent damage to fuel cell components. The results are validated using the internal models of the PEMFC and the power electronics from SimPowerSystems library of Matlab/Simulink.

Seals and Sealants in PEM Fuel Cell Environments: Material, Design, and Durability Challenges

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Dillard ◽  
Shu Guo ◽  
Michael W. Ellis ◽  
John J. Lesko ◽  
John G. Dillard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Material Design ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Cell System ◽  
Energy Utilization ◽  
Utilization Efficiency ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Cost

Fuel cells have significant potential to improve energy utilization efficiency, but remain quite expensive due to the cost of key components, including the membrane of PEM fuel cells, the catalyst, and the bipolar plates. Due to the cost and significance of these items, extensive research has been devoted to reducing cost and improving the quality and performance of these components. By contrast, seals, sealants, and adhesives play a more mundane role in the overall performance of fuel cells, and yet the failure of these materials can lead to reduced system efficiency, system failure, or even safety concerns. Less attention has been given to the performance and durability of these products, yet as improvements in other fuel cell components are made, these seals are becoming a more critical link in the long term performance of fuel cells. This review paper highlights the importance and background of fuel cell seals; discusses the chemical, thermal, and mechanical environments to which fuel cell seals are subjected; and suggests design and testing protocol improvements that may lead to improved fuel cell system performance.

Manufacturing Processes of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Components

2007 ◽  
Vol 336-338 ◽  
pp. 498-501
Author(s):  
Xian Feng Jiang ◽  
Min Fang Han ◽  
Su Ping Peng
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell ◽  
Screen Printing ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Tape Casting ◽  
Solid Oxide ◽  
Oxide Fuel ◽  
Cell Components ◽  
One Step ◽  
Made In

The all processes for manufacturing materials parts of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are discussed in the paper. The films are made in one step by the ways of APS, VPS, EVD, which are usually used to produce the electrolyte and interconnect. The films are thin and good gas-resistance, but with relatively high cost. All parts of SOFC are made by the following ways, such as sol-gel, tape casting, tape calendaring and screen printing, which are suitable for manufacturing samples in industry with the cheapest process by co-sintered together ways.

PVD Coated Bipolar Plates for PEM Fuel Cells

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuo-Jen Lee ◽  
Ching-Han Huang ◽  
Yu-Pang Chen ◽  
Chen-Te Hsu
Keyword(s):  
Corrosion Resistance ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Physical Vapor Deposition ◽  
Corrosion Current ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Bipolar Plates ◽  
Coating Materials ◽  
Pvd Coating ◽  
Simulated Fuel

Aluminum was considered a good candidate material for bipolar plates of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells due to its low cost, light weight, high strength and good manufacturability. But there were problems of both chemical and electrochemical corrosions in the PEM fuel cell operating environment. The major goals of this research are to find proper physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating materials which would enhance surface properties by making significant improvements on corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity at a reasonable cost. Several coating materials had been studied to analyze their corrosion resistance improvement. The corrosion rates of all materials were tested in a simulated fuel cell environment. The linear polarization curve of electrochemical method measured by potentiostat instrument was employed to determine the corrosion current. Results of the corrosion tests indicated that all of the coating materials had good corrosion resistance and were stable in the simulated fuel cell environment. The conductivities of the coated layers were better and the resistances changed very little after the corrosion test. At last, single fuel cells were made by each PVD coating material. Fuel cell tests were conducted to determine their performance w.r.t. that was made of graphite. The results of fuel cell tests indicated that metallic bipolar plates with PVD coating could be used in PEM fuel cells.

Transient Response of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell to Variations in Operating Parameters

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Verma ◽  
R. Pitchumani
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Transient Response ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Transient Behavior ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Parameters ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Cyclic Changes

Due to rapid change in loads during automotive applications, study of dynamic behavior of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is of paramount importance for their successful deployment in mobile applications. Toward understanding the effects of changes in operating parameters on the transient behavior, this paper presents numerical simulations for a single channel PEM fuel cell undergoing cyclic changes in operating parameters. The objective is to elucidate the complex interaction between power response and complex species (water, hydrogen and oxygen) transport dynamics for applied cyclic changes. This study focuses on studying the transient response of fuel cell for specified changes in operating parameters — voltage, pressure and stoichiometry at the cathode and the anode. Numerical studies are carried out on single-channel PEMFC’s to illustrate the response of power as the operating parameters are subjected to specified changes. The operating parameters are further optimized using a one dimensional physics based model with an objective to match the power requirements of a drive cycle over a defined period of time.

Analytical and numerical study on cooling flow field designs performance of PEM fuel cell with variable heat flux

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (16) ◽  
pp. 1650155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ebrahim Afshari ◽  
Masoud Ziaei-Rad ◽  
Nabi Jahantigh
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Flow Field ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Coolant Flow ◽  
Temperature Uniformity ◽  
Variable Heat ◽  
Variable Heat Flux

In PEM fuel cells, during electrochemical generation of electricity more than half of the chemical energy of hydrogen is converted to heat. This heat of reactions, if not exhausted properly, would impair the performance and durability of the cell. In general, large scale PEM fuel cells are cooled by liquid water that circulates through coolant flow channels formed in bipolar plates or in dedicated cooling plates. In this paper, a numerical method has been presented to study cooling and temperature distribution of a polymer membrane fuel cell stack. The heat flux on the cooling plate is variable. A three-dimensional model of fluid flow and heat transfer in cooling plates with 15 cm × 15 cm square area is considered and the performances of four different coolant flow field designs, parallel field and serpentine fields are compared in terms of maximum surface temperature, temperature uniformity and pressure drop characteristics. By comparing the results in two cases, the constant and variable heat flux, it is observed that applying constant heat flux instead of variable heat flux which is actually occurring in the fuel cells is not an accurate assumption. The numerical results indicated that the straight flow field model has temperature uniformity index and almost the same temperature difference with the serpentine models, while its pressure drop is less than all of the serpentine models. Another important advantage of this model is the much easier design and building than the spiral models.

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