Fuel Cells
Originally created on November 12 2007
[~Apr~~23~]
A new trend in hybridization - Fuel Cells and Battery Hybrid systems
Reviewing the presentation abstracts of the Small Fuel Cells 2008 Portable & Micro Fuel Cells For Commercial & Military Applications we though interesting to single out four of these that appear particularly interesting from a topical perspective, notably in the search of fuel cell / battery synergies.
Starting with EnerFuel, sister subsidiary of Ener1 Inc’s Enerdel we have been watching in the Lithium-ion battery development for automotive applications (The EnerDel packs for the TH!NK City have been announced at 26 kWh capacity and 180 km range) :
“Development of a Fully-Integrated, Hybrid, High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell/ Lithium Ion Battery Power Plant
Daniel A. Betts, PhD, Engineering Manager, EnerFuel, a subsidiary of Ener1, Inc.
From a business standpoint, Ener1, Inc. is well-positioned to take advantage of the upcoming demand for fuel cell/battery automotive power plants. Ener1 is the parent company of EnerDel, an automotive lithium-ion battery developer, and EnerFuel, a fuel cell company. While EnerDel is in the process of establishing itself as an important player in the automotive lithium ion battery market, EnerFuel has been developing fuel cells with substantial technical advantages over traditional automotive fuel cell technologies. EnerFuel has pioneered high temperature PEM fuel cell stacks. High temperature operation has allowed EnerFuel to pursue designs that are durable, thermally stable, compact, and relatively inexpensive. In this presentation, quantifiable benefits of EnerFuel’s high temperature PEM fuel cell are discussed.”
This FC / battery synergy is further supported by an abstract from Germany’s Fraunhofer ICT with a call for ethanol FC development. Nobody can say today where the crop diversion for ethanol debate will lead but ethanol policies prevail on both sides of the pond :
“Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells: An Emerging Technology with Reduced Logistic Footprint for Military and Civil Applications
Michael Krausa, PhD, Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT, Germany*
An important goal of replacing primary batteries by hybrids of rechargeable batteries and fuel cells is to reduce the logistic effort in power supply. Fuel cells using ethanol would be beneficial as ethanol offers a higher availability and easier handling compared to methanol. However, the performance of today’s DEFCs does not compete with that of commercial DMFCs. To improve this performance two approaches are currently pursuit, a multistep process in proton exchange membrane based DEFC and alkaline DEFC using anion exchange membranes. The current state of the art of both approaches will be presented and their advantages and disadvantages will be discussed.
*In collaboration with: Carsten Cremers, PhD, Fraunhofer ICT”
For years the military have pushed for fuel cells to replace high thermal signature diesel generators, fuel was to date one of ht stumbling blocks. We announced some time back ongoing efforts to develop on-board JP-8 and diesel reform to feed the fuel cell, interesting data from IdaTech :
“Military Fuel Cells for Tactical Power Generation and Battery Charging
Eric Simpkins, Vice President, IdaTech, LLC
IdaTech has developed two small fuel cell systems for commercial, defense and civil applications. A fully integrated 250 Watt portable fuel cell power plant has applications as a battery charger or stand-alone power plant. This system is commercially available, and will be hardened for defense applications. A fully integrated 3 kW fuel cell system has been developed for the Army, that is fueled with flightline jet and diesel fuels.”
Finally, the Department of Energy’s PNNL / BMI national laboratories are studying the economic trade-offs in commercial markets between advanced battery and fuel cell technologies :
“Identification and Characterization of Near-Term Commercial Markets for PEM Fuel Cells in Portable Applications
Kathleen Judd, Senior Research Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory / Battelle Memorial Institute
In a study for the U.S. Department of Energy, TV broadcasting video cameras were identified as a near-term opportunity for portable direct hydrogen PEM fuel cells. A technical comparison of PEM fuel cells and competing battery alternatives was performed for TV broadcasting video cameras. The comparison includes a lifecycle cost analysis of fuel cell and battery technologies (lithium ion and nickel cadmium) under different use scenarios for TV broadcasting video cameras. A sensitivity analysis was also performed to show the variability in average annual system cost as individual factors (e.g. cost, durability of the fuel cell) are varied while other factors are held constant. A value proposition was defined for this market based on the overall market, economic, and technology assessments.”
There is a lot more to read and learn by perusing the abstracts and if some of our readers have the chance of attending the conference we welcome their input. Finally, another comment of interest is VIASPACE’s call for form, fit, function standardization of methanol recharges for portable applications, kind of wish the call was for converting one of those dockside pumps to methanol!
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