The patent is for a fuel cell assembly design, combining ceramic fuel cells and metal interconnect plates. The design allows the cells to 'float' between the metal plates. This approach is designed to reduce the stresses on the fuel cells, thereby improving the performance and increasing the lifetime of the fuel cell stack. Lowering the stresses on the fuel cells also improves the ability of the fuel cell stack to be thermally cycled (turned on and off many times).

The patent, already granted in Australia, New Zealand and the USA, has now also been granted in the important markets of UK, Germany, France and Italy, and an
application is pending in Japan.

Ceramic Fuel Cells, which won the Industry Innovation Design award at the recent EAST awards, has developed a broad range of intellectual property, including more than 50 patents granted in international markets for 29 inventions.