EETimes: Oxygen mix promises to increase fuel cell performance

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Oxygen mix promises to increase fuel cell performance

Quick blurb from the article:

PORTLAND, Ore. ? Supercharging fuel cells by premixing the fuel with oxygen holds out the promise of superslim fuel cells that can be manufactured on a printing press.

...

Whereas those traditional designs measure about 2 mm thick, according to Generics, the CMR fuel cell eliminates the metal flow-field plate completely and uses a thin, perforated polymer membrane.

To keep the fuel and oxygen separate, traditional fuel cells put metal flow-field plates between adjacent cells. One side of the flow-field plate supplies fuel to the anode of the next fuel cell, while the other side supplies oxygen to the cathode of the previous fuel cell. The anode and the cathode are separated by a solid polymer membrane to segregate the fuel and oxygen.

Whereas those traditional designs measure about 2 mm thick, according to Generics, the CMR fuel cell eliminates the metal flow-field plate completely and uses a thin, perforated polymer membrane.

?The membrane material in a typical fuel cell is 100 microns thick-at a cost of about $300 per square meter. But our perforated membranes only need to be about 1 micron thick,? Priestnall said. ?The cost of membrane material in a normal fuel cell is over $500 per kilowatt. We have brought that down to $15/kW.?

Awesome to see progress in R&D of efficient fuel cells. They've been the "next big thing" for some time, and announcements like this give me hope that we'll see FCV's on the roads... at some point, at least.

 

[amnesiac]

Holy crap, that's a pretty significant advance. I can't wait to see where this ends up in the consumer market.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Inventor Generics Group Ltd. (Cambridge, England) believes the new design, which eliminates the need for bulky metal separation plates, will shrink the cell size while increasing power density tenfold.

Assuming these guys are legit, this breakthrough is quite astonishing. I hope some manufacturers get a hold of this license and build some prototypes for GM and the ilk.

 

[Analog]

Kewl.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Evening bump.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

This is a big deal if they can deliver. My concern is that GM or someone like that will indeed buy them and that will be the end of that. Sort of like the methanol fuel cell for laptops. Sic transit gloria.

 

[Howard]

 

[spyordie007]

This is great, I started a thread about it on our (the American Hydrogen Association's) forum, here is a quick blurb:

...if what they promise is true you could have very small and light fuel cells with a very high power output and they wouldnt require the usage of heavy and expensive heavy-metal plating (usually platinum).

Link to the thread on our forums, good place for discussion of this type of thing.
/plug

-Spy