Fuel Cell Nation

DOE 2011 Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Meeting (Part 2)

In last month's post Daimler/Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell Claims - Oops!, I mention how Daimler/Mercedes-Benz has tried to take credit for the world's first fuel cell vehicle in 1994, even though General Motors demonstrated a fuel cell vehicle in 1966!

While at the 2011 US DOE Hydrogen and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting, I spoke with a German who was involved with the 1994 Daimler fuel cell demonstration. He confided in me that he had warned Daimler that they were not first, but Daimler made their claim anyway! He said that that was the Daimler way: to paraphrase, "Daimler was the world, and everybody else did not exist."

Oh well...

DOE 2011 Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Meeting (Part 1)

I'm just back from the 2011 US DOE Hydrogen and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting in Crystal City, across the river from Washington DC. It was well attended; I heard there were 1,700 people at the two hotels where it was held.

My favorite presentation was by Avālence LLC CTO Paul Dunn, presenting his project "High-Capacity, High Pressure Electrolysis System with Renewable Power Sources." He mentioned how they had a problem in the lab last year with 6,500 psig alkaline electrolysis of hydrogen and oxygen: they produced oxygen gas with only a 96% purity (or 4% H₂ in O₂.) There's a big problem with operating this way: the lower flammability limit of hydrogen in air, or oxygen, is 4%! It's a wonder that they didn't blow themselves up!

The best part is where he described their plan to reduce the hydrogen content of the oxygen by recirculating their electrolyte on both the anode and cathode sides of the electrolyzer. Guess what - he told us they used a thermosiphon to recirculate electrolyte without a pump, and it reduced their oxygen to 0.3% hydrogen! Guess what my Giner Electrochemical Systems poster presentation discussed last year? A proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer using a thermosiphon to recirculate the catholyte! Just a coincidence? Who knows! I'm just glad I helped minimize his chances of blowing up!!

Daimler/Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell Claims - Oops!

In my recent post Mercedes Fuel Cell Vehicle PR Tour - Oops!, I discuss how a mistake in a 2011 Daimler press release was repeated in a Bloomberg News story. The mistake concerns bragging rights for performing the world's first demonstration of a fuel cell car! You'd think they'd do a little fact-checking on their press releases!

The 2011 press release claims:

"Mercedes-Benz recognized this potential at an early stage, launching the first vehicle with fuel cell drive, the NECAR 1, as early as 1994." (Left)

Oops!

One of the first hits on my Googling "first fuel cell vehicle" for my earlier post was the hydrogencarsnow.com post 1966 GM Electrovan (left)! Verifying this was a real van was easy, as General Motors has a Fuel Cell Milestones page that confirms its existence. In fact, this earliest fuel cell car is housed at the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, MI.

So I checked to see if the Daimler mistake that was made in their 2011 press release was an isolated incident, or if they made similar mistakes in earlier releases. Guess what -- I easily found ten (10!) Daimler press releases saying the same thing! (Then I stopped counting.) The earliest I found, dated Nov 8, 2007, Daimler AG to Become Majority Stakeholder in New "Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation", says:

"A pioneer in fuel cell technology, Daimler introduced the world’s first fuel cell vehicle as early as 1994."

I also found a similar 2007 Ford press release: DAIMLER AG, FORD MOTOR COMPANY TO BECOME PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS IN NEW AUTOMOTIVE FUEL CELL COOPERATION. The Ford version, slightly modifying the Daimler text, says:

"A pioneer in fuel cell technology, Daimler introduced the world’s first fuel cell vehicle in 1994."

So the 2011 mistake is not simply a matter of semantics, or a bad translation from the German. The truth is that for years Daimler has believed that they made the first fuel cell vehicle!

I sent an email to the Daimler PR people to see if they'd correct their most recent over-statement, given their pattern of mis-statements. After some back and forth with Matthias Brock (Research, Development and Environmental Communications, Head of Media Relations, Daimler AG), he told me they would not correct the press release. On the plus side, he at least said "You are right - we could have been a little bit more precise by saying 'Mercedes-Benz recognised this potential at an early stage, launching ITS first vehicle with fuel cell drive, the NECAR 1, as early as 1994.'", as well as  "Thanks Keith, we are going to take that into account in the future."

The only problem is that the Internet Archive, as well as Google and everyone else, now have an extensive record that claims that Daimler/Mercedes-Benz had the first fuel cell vehicle. Poor GM is not getting the credit for being 18 years ahead of Daimler!

Crystal City, Here I Come!

Time for the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting (AMR). May 9-13, 2011 I am traveling to the Crystal City Marriott and Crystal Gateway Marriott, in Arlington, Virginia to make a poster presentation. The Poster is for the first year of a Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant I wrote titled "Unitized Design for Home Refueling Appliance for Hydrogen Generation to 5,000 psi."

The Poster presentation for the last year's Phase I work at Giner Electrochemical Systems, LLC is located here: Unitized Design for Home Refueling Appliance for Hydrogen Generation to 5,000 psi.

Here is some background on the project:

"U.S. automakers have invested significant resources in the research and development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. However, to enable their widespread use, an additional major investment will be required to construct an infrastructure for hydrogen production and delivery to fueling stations. In order to facilitate this transition, the DOE has recommended that high-pressure hydrogen generation for home refueling of fuel cell vehicles be implemented as an intermediary approach.

GES has developed PEM-based electrolyzer technology for producing hydrogen at moderate to high pressure directly in the electrolyzer stack ... A low-cost process for producing high-pressure hydrogen from water by electrolysis will significantly advance the development of the hydrogen economy, providing hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles at a price competitive with that of gasoline on a per-mile basis. The ability to produce hydrogen economically, the relatively low capital cost of the electrolyzer unit, and the low maintenance cost of the unit will allow widespread distribution of hydrogen home fueling appliances deemed necessary for the introduction of fuel cell vehicles."

I just submitted a U.S. Patent application on this idea, so I can't really say anything in addition to what's in the public documents. But, enjoy!

Global Observer - Oops!

Edwards Air Force Base            (Craig Butz photo)

AeroVironment (AV) had quite an April Fool's Day event!

At 2:30 am PDT on April 1, 2010, the liquid hydrogen-fueled Global Observer unmanned air vehicle (UAV) "experienced a mishap" during extended duration flight testing. Personnel at Edwards Air Force base, where the Global Observer testing was based, report that it crashed. The crash occurred approximately 18 hours into its 9th test flight. The Global Observer was conducting "envelope expansion" flight testing, flying higher and for a longer duration than it had previously. Crash details are sparse, probably because AV has been ordered by the US government not to discuss the accident until after an investigation was completed. Crashes during developmental testing are not unusual, as Northrop Grumman suffered from the loss of a prototype RQ-4 Global Hawk during flights in 1999.

In my previous post, Hydrogen for 65,000 Feet, I discuss how the Global Observer was designed to fly for five to seven days, powered by liquid hydrogen, at altitudes up to 65,000 feet. Design criteria included 2.8 kilowatts (kW) of power for a 380-lb. payload, and a liquid hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine producing about 60 kW of electricity.

AV received a US$140 million contract in September 2007 for a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) of the Global Observer (GO-1). Three GO-1s were planned on being built under the JCTD, jointly overseen by six U.S. government agencies. The second air vehicle is nearing completion at the AV factory. The third unit was supposed to be a backup, but it has not been discussed since the order was announced in June 2009. AV has recently stated that most of the funding for the program has been spent.

The worst part for AV is that this high-profile crash comes after another high-profile crash 8 years ago. On June 26, 2003, the NASA-funded Helios prototype UAV broke up and fell into the Pacific Ocean about 30 minutes after take-off from Kauai, in the Hawaiian islands. Helios had been quite a successful UAV, because on August 14, 2001, Helios set a world record for a winged aircraft at an altitude of 96,863 feet (29,523.8 m). Unlike Global Observer, Helios had solar cells, an electrolyzer supplied by Giner Electrochemical Systems designed to produce hydrogen and oxygen for storage, and a fuel cell fueled by the hydrogen and oxygen to produce power overnight.

According to Wikipedia,

"The (Helios) investigation report identified a two-part root cause of the accident:

1. Lack of adequate analysis methods led to an inaccurate risk assessment of the effects of configuration changes leading to an inappropriate decision to fly an aircraft configuration highly sensitive to disturbances.

2. Configuration changes to the aircraft, driven by programmatic and technological constraints, altered the aircraft from a spanloader to a highly point-loaded mass distribution on the same structure significantly reducing design robustness and margins of safety."

Hopefully AV can quickly get beyond this latest tragedy to continue their groundbreaking work. And hopefully the conclusions of the Global Observer investigation are not as painful as those of the Helios investigation. AV better hurry, though, as Boeing plans to fly its company-funded Phantom Eye hydrogen-fueled high-altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAV demonstrator at Edwards later this year, and Aurora Flight Sciences hopes to fly their Orion twin diesel engine-powered, five-day-endurance medium-altitude UAV this year under an Air Force-sponsored JCTD.

 (Boeing photo)         (S. Schaeffer-Hopkins photo)

Hamilton Sundstrand's ILPE - Oops!

U.S. Navy nuclear submarines can travel around the world under water, generating a supply of breathing oxygen as required. Virginia-Class subs generate oxygen utilizing what is called the   Integrated Low Pressure Electrolyzer (ILPE), an electrolytic system made by Hamilton Sundstrand (a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX)).The heart of the ILPE involves proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer technology (right), which uses electricity and distilled water as inputs to create high purity breathing oxygen (and byproduct hydrogen).  In 2009, Proton Energy Systems announced it would provide electrolyzer stacks to Hamilton Sundstrand for the ILPE.

 When the electrolyzers have been integrated into complete ILPE systems, they look like an arrangement of individual tan cabinets that have been bolted together (left). This is because the sections must be transported in pieces through the narrow passageways on a sub, until the ILPE undergoes final assembly in place.

On March 19, 2011, the USS New Hampshire (below), a Virginia-class attack boat that entered service in 2008, was on ICEX 2011 arctic maneuvers. While approaching the Applied Physics Laboratory Ice Station, a floating ice station north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, its ILPE oxygen generator failed. According to NAVSEA, the sub switched to its backup oxygen system — using sodium chlorate “candles” — and continued normal operations.

   
Navy Photograph

According to a 3/21/2011 Reuters article:

"Daniel Coulom, a spokesman for Hamilton Sundstrand, confirmed late Monday that company staff would travel to the ship to help repair the oxygen generator, but said it was too early to speculate on what caused the problem."

A 3/28/2011 article in the NavyTimes states:

"The technicians arrived at Prudhoe Bay late March 24, according to Kevin Copeland, spokesman for Submarine Force Atlantic. They flew to the ICEX base March 25 and were to be taken by helicopter to the sub March 26."

No word on if any repairs were conducted, or even if the mode of failure has been discerned.

Giner and Wikipedia

I came across this photo (left) on Wikipedia's High Pressure Electrolysis page the other day. FYI, it is the only photograph of an electrolyzer on the Wikimedia Commons Electrolysis page. It is a picture of a Giner Electrochemical Systems, LLC (GES) electrolyzer that is capable of producing 0.35 kg of hydrogen per hour at 1250 psi, with simultaneous production of ambient pressure oxygen. Wikipedia Commons obtained the photograph from a presentation titled Low Cost, High Pressure Hydrogen Generator made at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 2008 Hydrogen Program Annual Merit Review Meeting.

In that presentation, GES presented results on one of its DOE electrolyzer R&D programs. Page 16 includes a photograph (right) of a GES electrolyzer system being benchmarked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). As it turns out, I was the one who traveled to NREL to help them start up the electrolyzer. Also installed at the NREL lab were:

• Solar panels and wind turbines, which were connected to
• An electrical management system, including DC/DC converters, AC/DC converters and batteries,
• With two other commercial electrolyzers, in addition to the GES electrolyzer
• Hydrogen storage, including a hydrogen compressor
• A 60 kW hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine/generator set.

GES is shipping another electrolyzer system to NREL for testing in the next year.

Fuel Cells for UAVs, Part 1

Spider Lion       (Courtesy NRL)        Ion Tiger 

Since 2003 the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has teamed with Protonex Technology Corporation to produce a series of hydrogen-air fuel cell-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

In November of 2005, the NRL conducted its first UAV flight with the Spider-Lion, using commercial parts (such as a paintball gun compressed air tank to hold the compressed hydrogen, and aluminum foil and tubing for a radiator). It flew for 3 hours and 19 minutes, without a payload.

  In 2009 the NRL flew the Ion Tiger, a much larger UAV capable of carrying a 5 pound payload. An October flight stayed aloft for a record 23 hours and 17 minutes, while a November flight set a new record of 26 hours and one minute. The Ion Tiger included a number of improvements, such as a more efficient fuel cell, and custom-fabricated compressed hydrogen tanks.

I thought a comparison of the two UAV fuel cell power plants would show how much a technology can change in four years. The following table summarized what I have found:

In 2005 a UAV could fly without a payload for 3 hours; by 2009 a UAV could carry a 5 pound payload for a full day. Furthermore, the 2009 UAV could carry the 2005 UAV as its payload!

Relative to the 2005 UAV, a 2009 UAV weighed six times as much, but also had six times the power (resulting in the same power density), and carried 12.7 times the energy (for a significantly longer flight duration). By using specialized components, rather using generic components (i.e. a paintball gun compressed air tank to hold the compressed hydrogen, and aluminum foil and tubing for a radiator), the 2009 UAV's fuel cell system level power density was twice that of the 2005 craft.

All in all, this shows the rapid progress possible with a motivated sponsor (NRL) and a promising technology (hydrogen-air fuel cells). I wonder what the NRL will prove in 2013, if they keep on this trajectory!

New PNNL Catalyst

Jun Liu at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has published a new paper titled Stabilization of Electrocatalytic Metal Nanoparticles at Metal-Metal Oxide-Graphene Triple Junction Points. A paperweight for platinum, a press release from PNNL, summarizes the cathode catalyst work.

Liu and co-workers synthesized indium tin oxide (ITO) on graphene, then added platinum to create a reportedly more stable, more active oxygen reduction catalyst. Both density functional theory (DFT) modeling on a supercomputer and electrochemical testing showed marked stability and activity improvements over the classic platinum on carbon catalyst, or even platinum on graphene. Fuel cell testing has not yet been completed.

This is important and interesting work that builds on the early research by Chhina et al, An oxidation-resistant indium tin oxide catalyst support for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Apparently by supporting the ITO/Pt particles on the graphene substrate, Liu is able to produce these activity and stability improvements. The interesting thing is that in his ongoing DOE-funded research program Development of Alternative and Durable High Performance, Cathode Supports for PEM Fuel Cells, Liu did not initially choose to research ITO as a catalyst support. It was only as his research progressed that he started testing ITO, leading to this new ternary catalyst!

Now we have to wait fuel cell test results! Unfortunately, too many catalysts have shown promise in preliminary tests, only to show problems and limitations during subsequent comprehensive tests. Good luck!

Smart New Membrane

It has been fun here at Giner Electrochemical Systems watching some smart people conceive of and develop a fundamentally different proton exchange membrane (PEM). This new Dimensionally Stable Membrane (DSM™) offers a marked improvement in mechanical properties over conventional PEM membranes like DuPont's Nafion^® 112.

Recently released U.S. Patent 7,867,669, Solid polymer electrolyte composite membrane comprising laser micromachined porous support describes a new Giner patent covering another aspect of its structure. In this patent, a perforated sheet of a strong engineering plastic has its holes filled with (for instance) a low equivalent-weight PEM material. Subsequently, different equivalent weight PEM is added to both sides of the central sheet. This composite DSM material shows stellar mechanical stability compared to the “gold-standard” DuPont Nafion 112 (Nafion) with a creep rate, as well as X-Y in-plane swelling at least one order of magnitude lower than Nafion.

This new material can be used in hydrogen fuel cells, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC), electrolyzers, and for any application that uses PEM, to provide improved electrochemical performance. For instance, in 2008, Giner demonstrated DSM™ membrane on a 160 cm² active area cell that met the DOE’s electrolyzer performance targets for 2012.

Congratulations Han, Tony, Corky, Tom, and everyone else working on DSM!

7,867,669

Solid polymer electrolyte composite membrane comprising laser micromachined porous support