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Robotic assembly of fuel cells could hasten hydrogen economy
November 09, 2005Troy, N.Y. - Echoes of a "hydrogen economy" are reverberating across the country, but a number of roadblocks stand in the way. One of the biggest, experts say, is the high cost of manufacturing fuel cells. A new research project at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute aims to tackle the challenge of mass production by using robots to assemble fuel cell stacks.
The project, which will combine the resources of Rensselaer's Flexible Manufacturing Center (FMC) and Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS), was recently supported with a major research equipment award from the Robotics Industries Association (RIA). As one of four universities selected in a nationwide competition, Rensselaer will receive three new industrial robot systems to help develop a flexible robotic process to produce fuel cell stacks.
"The U.S. Department of Energy has suggested that the cost of manufacturing fuel cells is the single biggest obstacle on the road to the hydrogen economy," says Raymond Puffer, co-director of the FMC. "We are addressing a component that represents a major portion of the total systems cost: the stack assembly in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell."
In a PEM fuel cell, hydrogen is split into protons and electrons on one side of a thin polymer membrane. The membrane allows protons to pass through, but electrons are forced to go around, creating a flow of electrical current. On the other side of the membrane, the electrons recombine with the protons and with oxygen from the air, creating water and heat as the only byproducts. To produce enough energy for most applications, multiple fuel cells are combined in a fuel cell stack.
"It is currently common to take as long as a full day to assemble and leak-test a single stack," says Stephen Derby, FMC's other co-director. "To be commercially viable, stack assembly must be accomplished in minutes, not hours."
Derby, Puffer, and their colleagues already have applied their expertise in automating manufacturing processes through a collaboration with PEMEAS, a supplier of high-temperature membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for PEM fuel cells. In 2002 the researchers developed a fully automated $5 million MEA pilot manufacturing line at the company's plant in Frankfurt, Germany, where these MEAs were formerly put together by hand.
To begin addressing the PEM stack assembly process, the researchers plan to create a flexible robotic "workcell," which will include various pieces of robotic equipment designed to handle materials with great precision. The RIA award includes three full industrial robot systems, donated by the Kuka Robot Group, and collision-avoidance sensors for the systems, provided by RAD, a robotics accessories supplier.
"Many of the materials in PEM stacks are thin, flexible, soaked in corrosive acids, or highly sensitive to changes in humidity and temperature," Puffer says. "This makes material handling orders of magnitude more difficult than methods used for simple flexible materials such as paper." The researchers will use existing automated methods to gain a deeper understanding of how PEM stack materials respond to various handling techniques, while also researching new ways to sense material properties throughout the process.
The project will play an important role in Rensselaer's new interdisciplinary program to train doctoral students in fuel cell science and engineering. The program is supported by a $3.2 million, first-of-its-kind fuel cell research education grant from the National Science Foundation combined with a $1.6 million investment by Rensselaer.
Additional research support will be sought from federal agencies as well as an industry consortium, with the goal of increasing the understanding of the PEM stack assembly process across the entire robotics industry. The researchers will give a final report in two years at the next International Robots & Vision Conference in 2007.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
In a PEM fuel cell, hydrogen is split into protons and electrons on one side of a thin polymer membrane. The membrane allows protons to pass through, but electrons are forced to go around, creating a flow of electrical current. On the other side of the membrane, the electrons recombine with the protons and with oxygen from the air, creating water and heat as the only byproducts. To produce enough energy for most applications, multiple fuel cells are combined in a fuel cell stack.
"It is currently common to take as long as a full day to assemble and leak-test a single stack," says Stephen Derby, FMC's other co-director. "To be commercially viable, stack assembly must be accomplished in minutes, not hours."
Derby, Puffer, and their colleagues already have applied their expertise in automating manufacturing processes through a collaboration with PEMEAS, a supplier of high-temperature membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for PEM fuel cells. In 2002 the researchers developed a fully automated $5 million MEA pilot manufacturing line at the company's plant in Frankfurt, Germany, where these MEAs were formerly put together by hand.
To begin addressing the PEM stack assembly process, the researchers plan to create a flexible robotic "workcell," which will include various pieces of robotic equipment designed to handle materials with great precision. The RIA award includes three full industrial robot systems, donated by the Kuka Robot Group, and collision-avoidance sensors for the systems, provided by RAD, a robotics accessories supplier.
"Many of the materials in PEM stacks are thin, flexible, soaked in corrosive acids, or highly sensitive to changes in humidity and temperature," Puffer says. "This makes material handling orders of magnitude more difficult than methods used for simple flexible materials such as paper." The researchers will use existing automated methods to gain a deeper understanding of how PEM stack materials respond to various handling techniques, while also researching new ways to sense material properties throughout the process.
The project will play an important role in Rensselaer's new interdisciplinary program to train doctoral students in fuel cell science and engineering. The program is supported by a $3.2 million, first-of-its-kind fuel cell research education grant from the National Science Foundation combined with a $1.6 million investment by Rensselaer.
Additional research support will be sought from federal agencies as well as an industry consortium, with the goal of increasing the understanding of the PEM stack assembly process across the entire robotics industry. The researchers will give a final report in two years at the next International Robots & Vision Conference in 2007.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities.
U of C chemists discover recipe to design a better type of fuel cell
Fuel cells are often touted as one method to help decrease society's addiction to fossil fuels. But there is still a lot of work to be done before fuel cells will be ready for mass market to be used in transportation, home heating and portable power for emergencies.
Ion Tiger fuel cell unmanned air vehicle completes 23-hour flight
The Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Ion Tiger, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell unmanned air vehicle (UAV), has flown 23 hours and 17 minutes, setting an unofficial flight endurance record for a fuel-cell powered flight.
Smaller isn't always better: Catalyst simulations could lower fuel cell cost
Imagine a car that runs on hydrogen from solar power and produces water instead of carbon emissions. While vehicles like this won't be on the market anytime soon, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are making incremental but important strides in the fuel cell technology that could make clean cars a reality.
SRI to present hydrogen fuel safety research results at 2009 International Conference
SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development organization, announced today it will present new research identifying methods for designing safer structures in the future for hydrogen fueled vehicles, at the upcoming International Conference on Hydrogen Safety, Sept. 16 - 18, in Ajaccio-Corsica, France.
Making more efficient fuel cells
Bacteria that generate significant amounts of electricity could be used in microbial fuel cells to provide power in remote environments or to convert waste to electricity.
Hydrogen Storage Gets New Hope
A new method for "recycling" hydrogen-containing fuel materials could open the door to economically viable hydrogen-based vehicles.
Growth Spurts: Berkeley Lab Researchers Record First Real-Time Direct Observations of Nanocrystal Growth in Solution
The veil is being lifted from the once unseen world of molecular activity. Not so long ago only the final products were visible and scientists were forced to gauge the processes behind those products by ensemble averages of many molecules.
Wastewater produces electricity and desalinates water
A process that cleans wastewater and generates electricity can also remove 90 percent of salt from brackish water or seawater, according to an international team of researchers from China and the U.S.
NRL's XFC UAS achieves flight endurance milestone
The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has completed a successful flight test of the fuel cell powered XFC (eXperimental Fuel Cell) unmanned aerial system (UAS).
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