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Fuel Cell Technologies The Albuquerque-based corporation of Fuel Cell Technologies, Inc. sets the global standard for fuel cell testing hardware, and accelerates a novel form of energy generation.
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corporate profile | fuel cell
POWERING Powering Fuel Cell Technologies:
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Envision automobiles that are fueled by electricity; a cordless iPad convenient for air travel; and the elimination of batteries. Fuel cell technology—the process of converting the electrochemical cells of a source fuel into an electric current— may be the revolutionary procedure to evoke such changes. Chuck Derouin, who has always been on the pioneering edge of this innovative technology, continues to break new ground in the fuel cell industry today as the President of Fuel Cell Technologies, Inc. This Albuquerque-based corporation sets the world standard for testing hardware and software to determine the potency of fuel cells, and propels a fresh source of electrical energy into further development. “We should go down the track of what’s going to happen in the future. Through analysis and looking around, we’ve thought that fuel cells might be a viable solution,” Derouin said. A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that generates electricity when reactions between a fuel and an oxidant are triggered in the presence of an electrolyte. While the reactants flow into the cell the reaction products flow out, producing an electric current. “The process is like the experiment in high school chemistry class with electrolysis water,” Derouin said. “Back then you put two electrodes into water, passed a current through the electrodes, and you would generate hydrogen in one electrode and hydrogen through the other. This is called electrolysis in water. A fuel cell is the exact opposite. You put in the hydrogen
fuel cell | corporate profile
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and the oxygen, and then these gases react and generate electricity and water as a byproduct.” Fuel cells can operate continuously, as long as long as the necessary reactant and oxidant flows are maintained. Test stations are then the devices that allow users to load a fuel cell and control the amount of electrical current generated. “You can program any sequence that you come up with into the load box to load a fuel cell,” Derouin said. “There are lots of things you can do, and your imagination is the limit.” Derouin, a leader in fuel cell technology, has experience in the industry that stretches back to the 1970s. Along with Fuel Cell Technologies Software Engineer Don McMurry, Derouin worked as a technologist for more than fifteen years at Los Alamos National Laboratory Fuel Cell Core Research Program. The scientists, engineers, and technicians in this group developed what is today modern fuel cell technology. “At Los Alamos we purchased an old golf cart, and we modified it and put a 1.5 kw fuel cell on it,” Derouin said. “We built that fuel cell powered vehicle as a demonstrator. Evidently, enough people were impressed with it that they funded some core research money. That money started coming in 1980, and that started the fuel cell program at Los Alamos, which is still going strong.” During the 1980s, Los Alamos became interested in a PEM fuel cell devised by G.M., and the company purchased test stations and cell hardware to begin trial of these cells. While
previous fuel cells had been relatively simple to operate, the PEM cells could now be pressurized; yet in order to do so, the gases had to be humidified via humidifiers, bubblers, and temperature controllers. It was at this point, in the mid 1980s, that Derouin began to design customized test stations. “It got to be a lot of instrumentation that was a little awkward on the work bench, so I consolidated everything into what we call a test station. We’ve been doing them ever since.” Fuel Cell Technologies was incorporated in 1992, and Derouin brought the expertise gained from years of exposure to a wide range of fuel cell applications. The company expanded in following years, and in 1998 Derouin retired and devoted full time to fuel cell technology. Today, the corporation has expanded to serve a global network, with clients in China, Korea, Europe, South America, India, and Australia, and representatives across the continents. It has eight employees, and is one of the oldest fuel cell test station manufacturers in the world. “We’ve certainly grown a lot,” Derouin said. “In the early years, we would sell maybe three or four test stations per year. Now we have over 300 systems worldwide and we probably sell over 50 custom systems per year.” Fuel Cell Technologies supplies three main lines of products; testing systems, cell hardware, and humidification systems. Specializing in fuel cell test stations, the corporation is distinguished from others in the industry for custom designs that fit the exact Summer 2010 5
corporate profile | fuel cell
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fuel cell | corporate profile
specifications of virtually any fuel cell testing application. “Other companies have a standard cookie cutter model,” Derouin said. “We offer the option of some standard models, but we also do a lot of custom work where we configure the test station to meet whatever the customer’s requirements are.” The systems range in size from 60 watts to 5 kilowatts, and control flow, temperature, and pressure for anode and cathode gases. Each station incorporates a DC electronic, two humidity bottles, and also includes LabView software, which is designed to gather and plot data for the I-V curves, life-cycle tests, and read a reference electrode. “The software has been continuously developed. We’ve been doing this for over 17 years, so the software has evolved into a very nice package that has a lot of flexibility and a lot of features,” Derouin said. The company also develops single cell hardware, which consists of a pair of Poco Graphite Blocks with a precision, machined-flow pattern, and a pair of gold plated connectors fastened to aluminum end plates. “I took a long time to make sure that I got everything right, and it’s a world standard now. Just about everybody uses our cell hardware,” Derouin said. The third main product line consists of humidification systems, which incorporate Swagelok fittings for gas inputs and outputs that are welded into 316 stainless steel Humidity bottles. Nafion tubing is inserted into a stainless steel spring for support, and then coiled in the bottle to provide dew-point humidity level for the gas passing through the tubing. Fuel Cell Technologies testing systems are the tools to innovative applications of fuel cell energy generation. While the development of infrastructure to support this form of energy is still in the research stage, Derouin envisions a future in which fuel cells will become more economically viable. “I don’t think you’ll see a tremendous amount of fuel cells in the general population, but you could certainly see fleets of
fuel cell buses that all operate out of a central terminal where the fuel cell maintenance and refueling can be done,” he said. Government support for fuel cell technology has primarily been garnered from the Department of Energy, although the Department of Defense has also provided funding for research. “There are other applications of fuel cells, such as a soldier suit that has it’s own air conditioning, has various electronics, and has a fuel cell as a power pack,” Derouin said. On the public level, fuel cells may ultimately be used to power small electronic devices. Derouin imagines cell phones charged via a small power pack that sends out low amounts of current; and laptop cases that charge computers with fuel cells, making computers battery free. “These ideas are down the road, but I think there are some companies that have started developing small fuel cells for those exact things,” Derouin said. “We are certainly quick to adjust to whatever current needs there are. I think that fuel cells, in one form or another, will be here for a long time.” ELT 1. Floor standing 20 cell stack test station with enclosed stack area, voltage monitoring and AC impedance (EIS). 2. Staff technicians (Santiago Lopez, Austin Hayden, and Ted Yamada) fabricating test stations 3. Software Engineer, Don McMurry designing custom LabVIEW software programs 4. Standard/University test station with computer and monitor 5. Single Cell Hardware, left is a 25 cm2 triple serpentine flow pattern and right is a 5 cm2 single serpentine flow pattern 6. Dual bottle humidification system. 8. SOFC test station using Applied Test Systems (ATS) tube furnace with ProbaStat button cell fixture (not shown). All photos courtesey of Fuel Cell Technologies
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