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GES Delivers 50W Direct
Methanol Fuel Cell System
July 30, 2002 - Newton, MA - Giner
Electrochemical Systems, LLC, (GES,
www.ginerinc.com), an electrochemical research and development company,
announced today that it has delivered a complete liquid feed direct methanol
fuel cell (LFDMFC) system providing a 50W/12V output to the U.S. Army Research
Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD. This lightweight, compact, portable device was
fabricated under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract. It
incorporates many of the inventions and technological advances made by GES on
various LFDMFC programs funded by DARPA during the last ten years.
A LFDMFC stack utilizing a
low-methanol crossover membrane developed by GES under SBIR/ARL funding supplied
all system power. According to Jack Kosek, Director of Energy Conversion
Programs at GES, "The innovative membrane, in addition to reducing methanol
crossover by over 60% compared to previous membranes, has demonstrated a long
shelf life and the ability to provide state of the art LFDMFC performance.
Development of reduced methanol crossover membranes directly improves the
overall system efficiency."
“This device is extremely
lightweight and is poised to satisfy many of the military's portable power
requirements. Portable auxiliary power requires a rapidly refuelable, reliable,
and rugged system. We believe that the DMFC is uniquely suited to fill this
need”, said Tony Vaccaro, President of GES.
The DMFC system provides 50W
during normal use, and has a maximum power output of 90W. The use of
off-the-shelf components resulted in a package with dimensions of
45 x 33 x 17 cm (20 x 13 x 7 inches) and a
weight of 6 kilograms (13 pounds). Optimization of
system components is expected to result in a 50% reduction in size and weight.
The system is entirely self-contained, with enough on-board methanol storage for
800W-hr of operation. The system is approximately one-third the weight of a 150W
DMFC system GES delivered to ARL in October 2001. The heart of the system, a
LFDMFC stack, is based on GES' proprietary molded graphite bipolar plate
technology and uses membrane-electrode assemblies specifically developed by GES
to exploit the advantages of the new membrane. The
stack provided an average cell voltage of 464 +/- 12mV at 100mA/cm2
during 60°C testing using low-pressure air, prior to insertion into the complete
system.
Contact Information:
Cecelia C. Cropley (ccropley@ginerinc.com)
Director, Systems Engineering
Phone: (781) 529-0506; Fax:
(781) 893-6470
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