FuelCellsWorks

Nuvera Fuel Cells and Universal Precision Products, Inc. announced today a 5-year manufacturing agreement between the two companies. Nuvera chose Universal as the manufacturing partner for the integration of the compression and storage components of their PowerTapTM Hydrogen Station following a nationwide search. Nuvera’s PowerTap Hydrogen Station, along with the Hydrogen Generator and PowerEdge, together form the Total Power Solution, a set of purpose built products for the material handling industry specifically matched to maximize customer productivity and minimize customer life cycle costs.

Akron, OH — Nuvera Fuel Cells and Universal Precision Products, Inc. announced today a 5-year manufacturing agreement between the two companies. Nuvera chose Universal as the manufacturing partner for the integration of the compression and storage components of their PowerTapTM Hydrogen Station following a nationwide search. The unit will provide compressed hydrogen used to fuel forklift trucks equipped with Nuvera’s PowerEdge™ hybrid fuel cell systems which replace standard lead acid batteries.

Nuvera’s PowerTap Hydrogen Station, along with the Hydrogen Generator and PowerEdge, together form the Total Power Solution, a set of purpose built products for the material handling industry specifically matched to maximize customer productivity and minimize customer life cycle costs.

“We are very pleased to be one of Nuvera’s partners,” said Jon Munson, President of Universal.
“They are a global leader in fuel cell technology because their process effectively increases productivity and lowers costs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And, they value our technical and manufacturing capabilities. What more could you want?”

“We are impressed by Universal’s imaginative approach to our design and build requirements,” commented Roberto Cordaro, CEO of Nuvera Fuel Cells. “We are confident that they will meet our cost, quality and delivery requirements so we can share the growth opportunity in this emerging market.”

Universal Precision Products designs and builds industrial process machinery and provides factory automation for the power transmission, automotive, paper, packaging and steel industries.
Their machinery is installed worldwide. For more information, visit www.uppinc.com

Nuvera Fuel Cells is a global leader in the development of fuel cell systems and fuel processors for both end users and OEMs. With offices in the U.S. and Europe, Nuvera provides clean, safe and efficient products for industrial vehicles and equipment in addition to furthering the development of power systems for automotive and transportation applications. For more information, visit www.nuvera.com

Cheshire, UK – 25th August 2009 — ACAL Energy, a leading developer of affordable and reliable fuel cell technology, announced today the successful start-up of its kilowatt-scale fuel cell system using its patented liquid cathode technology, FlowCath®. The hydrogen-fuelled ‘short-stack’ unit has already achieved a continuous power output of over 600W, and will deliver over 1.5kW with the full stack, expected later this summer. Fuel cell systems utilizing FlowCath® ultimately will be a clean and economically sensible alternative to diesel and gasoline generators in stationary and transportation applications requiring between 1kW and 200kW of electrical power.

ACAL Energy’s FlowCath® technology replaces up to 90% of the current level of platinum catalyst in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with a low cost, durable liquid chemical. ACAL Energy has developed a family of proprietary chemical compounds that can deliver the same level of fuel cell performance as platinum, and which are expected to exceed this level in the future. The technology also significantly reduces the balance of plant costs by eliminating the need for hydration, pressurization, complex cooling and other expensive mechanical sub-systems commonly found in conventional PEM fuel cells.

Speaking on the five year anniversary of the Company’s formation, Dr S B Cha, Chief Executive Officer of ACAL Energy said: “This unit represents a 20-fold scale-up from our last demonstration unit. It is a tremendous achievement by our very talented team of engineers and scientists and a key step towards commercialization of the technology. Our business strategy is to offer FlowCath® to fuel cell system manufacturers in the form of a stack and supporting mechanical elements in addition to our proprietary chemical solution. We will soon make data from the 1kW unit available to key OEM partners to enable them to start designing systems incorporating FlowCath®.”

Mooser EMC Technik GmbH has expanded its service portfolio towards EMC testing on Hybrid, Electric and Fuel Cell drive train components. It is now possible to offer EMC benchmarking and qualification of most recent innovative systems and components to vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. For this purpose the company features the latest state of the art testing and measurement equipment.

German EMC consultant Mooser EMC Technik GmbH (Ludwigsburg next to Stuttgart) and the affiliated company Mooser Consulting GmbH (Egling close to Munich) offer a complete service portfolio. Clearly focussing on automotive electronics, the company’s services cover EMC studies, preparation of technical requirements documents, EMC development support up to entire turnkey solutions and qualification tests in the field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC).
In 2009 Mooser GmbH has expanded its service portfolio towards EMC testing on Hybrid, Electric and Fuel Cell drive train components for the automotive segment.
“We are proud to offer 20 state of the art absorber / shielded chambers, bench test stations and simulation equipment on 3000 m2 lab area at both locations combined. As of today there is presumably no other neutral and independent EMC test laboratory of this size and service portfolio”, said Managing Director Mr. Jakob Mooser.
Components and systems such as power management / battery, electric power train, inverter or even an overall Hybrid drive train system can be EMC tested under real static and dynamic operating conditions, using a dedicated 100 kW high voltage power supply. For dynamic test cycles, battery simulators and a 100 kW electric motor are available as load simulators. Together with supplementary test equipment the overall test set-up forms a complete and realistic drive train system. Complex system operating modes such as recuperation during engine braking can be easily emulated using this system.

In addition to EMC tests, the company also offers entire electrical on-board power system tests such as superimposed alternating power, micro cuts and more, including high voltage components. Ambient test temperatures can be set between -45 and +185°C within a testing volume of max. 1 m3.
Using this equipment, Mooser GmbH can perform tests based on all existing passenger car and commercial vehicle specifications. This makes the EMC expert an ideal partner for customers intending to perform EMC testing of their products at a neutral and independent test laboratory. In addition to small and medium-sized companies that can avoid huge investments in testing facilities, many major automotive suppliers regularly benefit from expanding their own capacities during bottleneck periods by consulting the EMC expert.
The company’s maxim is to provide optimum support through substantial expertise and the fastest possible reaction and delivery times – true to the principle that only satisfied customers once will become regular customers.

In 2006 the Mooser EMC Technik GmbH was established in Ludwigsburg, Germany as an affiliated company of Mooser Consulting GmbH (Egling near Munich, Germany), founded in 1989. At both locations combined more than 60 highly qualified employees are currently working on EMC solutions.

Based on active cooperative efforts in all national and international automotive EMC standardisation committees, both companies are deeply involved in the most recent EMC developments – also and in particular for the benefit of all clients. Both test laboratories hold full accreditations based on ISO-17025 and the North American AEMCLRP standard. The Mooser GmbH offers EMC testing services based on all automotive factory standards for passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Europe, USA and Asia. The service portfolio also includes testing based on avionics standards, basic military standards and industrial standards as well as testing according to EU directives. Due to KBA (German Federal Motor Transport Authority) accreditation the test laboratories are also authorised to perform type approval testing according to EU vehicle directives.

Delaware State University is getting $3.4 million so faculty can design better hydrogen storage containers and improve crime scene investigations.

Acting University President Claibourne Smith said Monday that scientists are testing different materials’ ability to store hydrogen. About $1.43 million is going to DSU scientists, who will use the best material they find to develop a hydrogen storage system for fuel cells with the university’s mechanical engineers.

A hydrogen “filling station” is planned for Morgantown as part of a federal research program.

MORGANTOWN – West Virginia University and Morgantown are poised to become the next stop on the “Hydrogen Highway.”

They will become home to a hydrogen fueling station, similar to one commissioned earlier this week at Charleston’s Chuck Yeager Airport. The station will create and dispense hydrogen. The new “Mountaineer Station” will house the hydrogen stop-off, once it’s completed.

Supporters say the effects of this research will reach far beyond West Virginia.

“There’s no carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere,” says Curt Peterson, the Vice President of Research and Economic Development at WVU. “So essentially, what you’re doing is taking away concern for adding CO2 into the atmosphere, global warming, climate change.”

The use of coal in converting hydrogen will also be part of the study. Depending on its success, the “hydrogen highway” might even extend further in the future, with more fueling stations stretching north.

Story by Stacy Moniot

A 2009 Coventry University graduate, James Trim, has unveiled his latest project and the idea of a greener, much-more environmentally friendly Aston Martin. Known as the Aston Martin Volare, Trim says that his design will keep Aston’s “fantastic sound and outright performance customary with that of a petrol equivalent, but would provide drivers the world over with equal amounts of guilt free motoring.”

While we highly doubt anyone driving an Aston Martin has any ounce of guilt, we think Trim may actually be onto something here.

Trim says that “the two-seater Volare adopts a high-power fuel cell stack, located between the front seats, a rear mounted battery pack, and a co-axial electric motor at the front. To aid the Volare’s weight distribution, the two hydrogen storage tanks have been positioned directly above the car’s rear axle.” He says that the layout ends up giving the Volare an optimum weight distribution.

We don’t want to even think about the cost of development and the price-tag of such an Aston Martin, but kudos to Trim for coming up with this green-supercar idea.

Aston Martin Volare Study Concept (James Trim):

A NEW type of fuel cell membrane made from quaternary phosphonium–based polymers could allow for the production of cheaper fuel cells which do not require the use of expensive precious metal catalysts.

Yushan Yan, chemical and environmental engineering professor at the University of California, Riverside, and his team developed the alkaline membrane, which contains the polymeric ionomer TPQPOH with a tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphonium unit. TPQPOH is very soluble in low-temperature water-soluble solvents, and has high ionic conductivity and alkaline stability. The membrane works on the basis of hydroxide ion exchange rather than hydrogen ion exchange.

In a basic environment, created by the hydroxide ions, the over-potential of cathode oxygen reduction can be significantly reduced, which increases the efficiency. It is also possible to use a wide range of fuels including hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, and ethylene glycol.

Fuel cells containing the alkaline membrane have already been shown to be durable and have high energy and power density. Yan achieved a power density of 250 mW/cm² with the membrane. Non-precious metals such as iron, cobalt, nickel and silver can be used as catalysts, rather than palladium or platinum, the latter of which topped $2000 an ounce (28.3g) in 2009.

“This is a breakthrough that will make fuel cells so efficient and inexpensive that it will revolutionize energy conversion and storage on a global scale.” says Yan. He believes the new membrane could replace the commonly-used Nafion membrane.

The research was published in Angewandte Chemie (doi: 10.1002/anie.200806299), and the technology has been licensed by Full Cycle Energy, a Californian start-up company.

The CitySailer concept looks familiar to BMW’s Solo Scooter, and that is probably the effect designer Christopher Kuh was looking for. The BMW logo sits at the center, between the wheels of the concept. This two-wheeler powered by fuel cells is environmentally friendly, plus its small footprint for the road will keep traffic problems to a minimum.

An electric motor mounted in the rear wheels propels the vehicle. To keep the rider safe, the concept includes a seatbelt and an airbag. For parking the vehicle, the rider needs to push the steering levers forward parallel to the frame. This disposes the seat column and clears it for parking.

Via: Ecofriend