balticFuelCells GmbH Hagenower Str. 73 19061 Schwerin GERMANY quickCONNECTfixture single cell tester for LT and HT PEM applications E. Fokkens, B. Ruffmann, T. Röpke, S. Heidemann, S. Möller 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 1 1
Contents • About balticFuelCells GmbH • Conventional test cell vs. quickCONNECT single cell tester • Evolution of qCf • quickCONNECT (qCf) and cellFixture (cF) standards and customized designs • Application fields QA/R&D • OE dynamic hydrogen reference electrode (DHRE) • OE compression measurement device (CMD) • OE integrated current distribution sensor (CSL) • OE integrated humidity sensor (HSE) • NEW! short stack tester (novelty from Hannover fair 2009) 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 2
About balticFuelCells GmbH 2002 Formation of the Hydrogen Institute of Applied Technologies (HIAT) gGmbH in Schwerin, Germany DMFC, PEFC, membranes, electrodes, test cells, stacks, electrode technology, catalyst technology 2006 Formation of balticFuelCells GmbH as spin-off company from HIAT in Schwerin, Germany Main business field: Testing equipment for PEMFC Emerging business fields: GDE production, CCM production, Stack development For DMFC and PEFC 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 3
Conventional test cell vs qCf QA + R&D with conventional single cell tests • disassembly / assembly is time-consuming • high risk of mistakes in assembly • Compression force applied using bolts and torque wrench • Compression force applied to gaskets and active area • Compression of active components depends on: - thickness and material properties of MEA/CCM GDLs, CCBs etc. - thickness and material properties of gaskets - torque what about reproducibility? 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 4 4
Conventional test cell vs qCf moving flow field the idea design of a novel cell concept frame for the reproducible characterisation of all internal Fuel Cell components MEA (CCMs, MEAs, GDLs, CCBs, flowfields, etc.) fixed mono polar plate • adjustable pressure impact on the active Fuel Cell area (directly regulated by pneumatic actuator) • independent of gaskets and overall thickness of internal FC-components • quick and tool-less assembly of cellFixture into quickCONNECT • simple exchange and verification of different flow field geometries fully reproducible conditions for R&D and QA! 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 5 5
Evolution of qCf 4th stage quickCONNECTfixt ure 3rd stage Gen_0.1 operation comfort Gen_0 2nd stage 5th stage beginning material improvm. quickCONNECTfixture diploma thesis series production @ HIAT Gen_1.0 2002/2003 launched @ HMI‘2007 • 290 mm • 5,9 kg • 400 mm • 200 W heating • 11 kg • electrical valve • 160 W heating • extra low ohmic resistance state of the art • hand operated piston valve • gold plated plates - not suitable for reproducible characterizations and QA! > .. 20th century 2004 2005 2006 2007 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 6 6
Evolution of qCf 2008: integrated sense frame for even further reduction of test cell contribution to ohmic losses during measurement (Gen 1.1 25cm 2 and 50 cm 2 active area) 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 7
quickCONNECTfixture qCf overview and cross section of qCf connector to test stand cellFixture cF - heating, sensors heating plates 300 W el. pneumatic actuator 0…10 bar (0…1 MPa) electronics media and current connectors 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 8 8
cellFixture cF cross-section & principle advanced sealing concept allows - adjustment of moving monopolar-plate moving monopolar-plate contact pressure is applied ONLY on - self adjusting piston for active pressure the active area control directly on active Fuel-Cell-Area! piston path swing clamps 0…2mm quick and easy assembly O-ring specimen(s) fixed monopolar-plate CCM, MEA, CCM, GDE, GDL, etc. Recommended “anode side” 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 9 9
impact pressure on active area Control of impact pressure on active FC area by adjusting the air pressure of the pneumatic actuator! 3,50 3,00 qCf 50/125 force/active FC area [N/mm 2 ] qCf 25/100 2,50 2,00 F = force of the pneumatic acuator 1,50 moving flowfield frame 1,00 MEA 0,50 fixed mono polar plate 0,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 7,00 8,00 9,00 10,00 air pressure pneumatic actuator [bar] 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 10 10
Standards and customized designs - standard cell areas 25 and 50 cm 2 FC-area with CD-flowfields - customised qCf with 2 … 268 cm² active area realised - qCf-specific: liquid cooling/heating; integration of humidity sensors - QA-specific: consulting in test bench questions and QA opportunities 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 11 11
Example: optimizing contact pressure anode GDL material 1 1 N/mm 2 = 1 MPa = 145 psi 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 12 12
Example: optimizing contact pressure anode GDL material 1 1 N/mm 2 = 1 MPa = 145 psi 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 13 13
OE - DHRE D ynamic •anode and cathode contributions to over-potential •targeted optimization of the separate electrodes H ydrogen • simple installation on cathode side as additional layer (t: 0,2 mm) R eference E lectrode Pt wires touching membrane @ edge of electrode 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 14 14
Example: finding optimum air bleed for reformate LT-PEFC LT-PEFC MEA in hydrogen and reformate operation 1 0,9 0,8 Cathode vs. DHRE 0,7 0,6 Anode vs DHE, pure H2 Cathode vs DHE,pure H2 U (V) Anode vs DHE, reformate with 1% air 0,5 Cathode, reformaet with 1% air Anode vs DHE, reformate with 2% air 0,4 Cathode vs DHE, reformate with 2% air Anode vs DHE, reformate with 3% air Anode vs. DHRE Cathode vs DHE, reformatewith 3% air 0,3 Anode vs DHE, reformate with 4% air Cathode vs DHE, reformate with 4% air 0,2 Anode vs DHE, reformate with 5 % air Cathode vs DHE, reformate with 5% air 0,1 0 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0 1,1 1,2 1,3 1,4 1,5 1,6 i (A/cm2) 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 15
Example: electrode development UI-plots, HiSPEC13000 vs. CNT-Pt: LT-PEFC (65°C) A mbient p, λ air : 3.5 (60%r.h.), λ H 2 : 1.5 (60%r.h.) Contact pressure: 1N/mm 2 , GDLs: Freudenberg H2314I3C1 1 Membrane: Fumapem F950, Quick Connect Fixure 25/100 Cathode: 0.5mgPt/cm 2 ,anode: 0.2mgPt/cm 2 0.9 650mV at 0.5A/cm 2 0.8 0.7 0.6 Voltage / V Use of the DHRE: 0.5 0.4 Equivalent circuit for 0.3 Voltage CNT-Pt cathode and anode: 0.2 Voltage HiSPEC 13100 0.1 scan rate: 0.5A/5s from OCV to short circuit 0 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 Current density / Acm -2 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 16
Example: Electrode development DHRE combined with EIS Cathode impedance at 0.6A/cm 2 / Nyquist plots / 5kHz-100mHz, ZView 2.1b R el = 0.15 Ohmcm 2 R el = 0.16 Ohmcm 2 R ct = 0.27 Ohmcm 2 R ct = 0.18 Ohmcm 2 W N (R) = 0.21 Ohmcm 2 W N (R) = 0.14 Ohmcm 2 W N (t) = 12.9 ms W N (t) = 15.0 ms 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 17
Example: Electrode development DHRE combined with EIS Anode impedance at 0.6A/cm 2 / Nyquist plots / 5kHz-100mHz, ZView 2.1b R el = 0.09 Ohmcm 2 R ct = 0.06 Ohmcm 2 W N (R) = 0.02 Ohmcm 2 W N (t) = 0.12 s R el = 0.13 Ohmcm 2 R ct = 0.04 Ohmcm 2 W N (R) = 0.03 Ohmcm 2 W N (t) = 0.83 s 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 18
OE - CMD compression measurement device CMD • Compression [%, µm] = f (F; pressure) • Change of thickness = f(t) with constant or adjusted pressure impact • for determination of thinning-effects of membranes (Res.: < 1 µm) • Up to 180 ° C Zoom electrically controlled precision pressure regulator path length sensor 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 19 19
OE CMD screenshots of CMD qCf software Modi#1: compression & force vs. Time [% or N / sec.] Software environment included in the CMD-package! Modi#2: compression vs. Force [µm / N/mm² or. bar] 20.10.2009 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 20 20
Example: compression of GDLs 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 21
Example: compression of HT-PEFC-MEA 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 22
cF with integrated CSL Current Scan Lin current density distribution sensor Resolution: 7 mm x 7 mm up to 2.5 A/cm2 up to 180 ° C Or HiRES 1 mm x 1 mm 20.10.2009 FC TOOLS, 23rd-24th June 2009, Trondheim, Norway 23
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