Skip to main content

AEG Carbon Fiber-Elastomer Composite Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells

By

AEG Carbon Fiber-Elastomer Composite Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells


Fuel cells constitute one of the most promising sources of environmental friendly energy for the future. These systems produce electrical energy by converting the chemical energy stored in a fuel, such as hydrogen or methanol, through oxidation-reduction reactions. A proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is a stack of electrochemical cell systems (Figure) placed in series. Since the electrons must transit from the anode of one cell to the cathode of the next cell, electrical conductivity through the plate is a main requirement. Another important requirement is the low permeability to the reacting gases or to ions. The bipolar plates should remain chemically inert for an extended period of time. The bipolar plates also should be lightweight and easily manufactured using mass-production technologies. Cost reduction is the most critical issue for automotive industry to achieve the practical use of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. The bipolar plate is the most expensive component in the current fuel cell system assembly.

American Engineering Group (AEG, Akron, OH) has developed a new elastomer-carbon fiber composite bipolar plate for PEM fuel cells with high electrical conductivity, high strength, light weight and very low permeability. This new unique composite bipolar plate is a less-expensive and light-weight alternative to graphite and steel. The use of highly conductive elastomer compound and multi-stage molding technology enables the fabrication of bipolar plates with high carbon fiber content. This composite bipolar plate is a promising solution, as their thermal and chemical stability is matched by good mechanical strength and dimensional stability values.

This plate has the potential for being produced at low cost. The plate is produced using short carbon fiber structure with elastomer impregnation into pre-form uncured structures. This AEG proprietary multi-stage manufacturing process makes this multi-layer elastomer-carbon fiber plate very conductive and low permeable. Current AEG effort is to optimizing the manufacturing process, characterizing prototype components and power generation tests. Preliminary study noted following features for the new carbon fiber bipolar plate:

· Bulk Conductivity : 600 Siemens/cm

· H2 permeability :2 x 10-6 cm3/cm2-sec

· Corrosion rate :10 μA/cm2

· Estimated Cost :$9/kW


American Engineering Group

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AEG Torsional Damper - brief description

By
American Engineering Group (AEG) has developed a new “Dual Torsional Damper System”. This new AEG system design will allow varying static properties and provide dynamic shock and vibration mitigation over a wide load range for automotive and industrial applications. This dual structure system provides both axial and radial damping. The torsional damper system will have two elastomer elements with top element functions as a vibration damping element and the bottom spherical elastomer element as a noise & harness damping element. AEG dual mode damper system includes a spherical soft viscous bushing hub designed for being rigidly connected to a drive shaft, and an inertia ring, connected to the hub by means of a thin Polyurethane material layer. This dual-layer elastomer damper system is designed for torsional vibration reduction of the crankshaft system on multi-cylinder engine for vehicles. AEG polyurethane torsional dampers are designed to provide significant reduction of sou
1 comment
Read more

Pressure penetration analysis of an air duct kiss seal

By
Seals are common structural components that often require design analyses. In this example, a nonlinear finite element analysis of seals is performed. Pressure penetration effects between the seal and the contacting surfaces are to be considered in these analyses, to make routine analyses of seals more realistic and accurate. Analyses of clutch seals, threaded connectors, car door seals and air duct kiss seals are some applications where pressure penetration effects are important. The surface-based pressure penetration capability is used to simulate pressure penetration between contacting surfaces.
1 comment
Read more

Challenges in the Finite Element Analysis of Tire Design using ABAQUS

By
Finite Element Analysis of Vehicle and Tire has become a very important aspect of a tire design and failure analysis to most Tire companies. Tire modeling with ABAQUS is a very complicated process involving complex materials like hyperelastic rubber and textile reinforcements, large model size, prolonged simulation time and various convergence issues. This white paper intends to help in understanding the challenges in tire analysis and several tips and tricks that makes a difference in the quality of the results and processing time. AEG hopes that this article will be useful to ABAQUS users working in the field of tire design and analysis. A general tire has the following major tire components Tread Belt Region Inner Liner Sidewall Region Inner Carcass Region Bead Filler Region Apex/Chafer Region Beads Reinforcements Nylon Cap Ply Steel Belts Carcass Ply Constructing the structure of the tire and modeling of each component is the first step into the analysis. AEG foun
Post a Comment
Read more