DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING OF FUEL CELLS

Abstract

Characterization of materials used for the fabrication of fuel cell components was made and reported. Electrodes have been designed for the single unit fuel cells and for fuel cell stacks. Designing, of single unit fuel cell was completed by designing the process and hardware of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) for a catalyst area of 16 cm 2 , 25 cm 2 , 50 cm 2 , 100 cm 2 and single cells were fabricated and tested accordingly . The presented work is the development of fuel cell stacks with the main focus on the conception, design and production of bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). As a conclusion of this development, a 3 cell stack has been fabricated and tested. The research work on the designing and analysis of 6 geometries of the flow fields in PEMFC bipolar plates have been conducted and the results of this study have been compiled, evaluated and presented. Bipolar plate material was developed by the impregnation of porous graphite with styrene, epoxy resin and cyanoacrylate. The porosity measurement results revealed that porosity of porous graphite plate has been completely removed. Moreover, a composite material was also synthesized by using a vinyl ester thermosetting resin, graphite powder, and poly (1, 4-phenylene sulfide). Both of the materials were characterized to determine and compare their physical properties such as density, mechanical properties, thermal stability and electrical properties. These materials were characterized to determine and compare with the competitive composite materials developed by the commercial developers. Thermal studies by TG-DTA-DTG of composite bi-polar plate were carried out in air atmosphere to find out the mode of degradation and the basis of its stability. The intermediates formed during decomposition process were also identified. A system was developed and operated for the study and determination of the life cycle assessment and feasibility of the different commercially available absorbent and adsorbent materials and a molecular sieve, required for the removal of sulfur compounds and mercaptans etc. from the natural gas feed stock, as these compounds impose severe poisoning effect on the activity and life of the catalysts and other fuel cell system components. The thesis is composed of two volumes, Volume-1 (Page# 1 to Page# 166) and Volume-2 (Page# 167 to Page 351).