Material Enablers for Advanced Manufacturing of Attritable Fuel Cells
Abstract
This proposal is a continuation of an effort in collaboration with the Naval Research Lab, whereby foundational material research is combined with simulation in developing a conceptual design for a 100W planar fuel cell with laminate construction to realize a significant cost decrease over state-of-the art (SOA) small fuel cells (0.5-5 kW) while retaining current performance. NRL#s scope focuses on low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (LTPEM), while HNEI#s work expands the scope of the project by investigating the potential of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HTPEM) to further reduce the costs of precious metal catalysts and polymer membrane substrates to achieve the target cost reduction. Our team will leverage the Office of the Secretary of Defense#s hybrid flexible electronics manufacturing center in Nextflex to help with prototype designs that can be manufactured and will incorporate a one-step assembly to save costs. The materials enablers developed in this program will be combined with NRL#s patented #Stackless Fuel Cell# to build larger systems and fuel cell arrays. The proposed work will consist of three main phases. The first phase continues efforts underway in developing lab-scale multi-cell arrays and interconnects. Based on results from lab-scale research, the team will work on developing a scalable, modular planar stack design including gas manifolding and thermal management. Phase three of this effort further optimizes the planar stack design ultimately demonstrating a proof-of-concept 100W stack.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 15, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412226
Entities
People
- Keith Bethune
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Hawaiʻi System