Ballard Power Systems

Ballard Power Systems of Canada (see web site) is the Titan, the co-ordinating major force in the international proton exchange fuel cell or polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) business. Ballard claims over 500 patents Also, a worldwide complex of allies serves its international interests. 

Fuel Cells, Engines and Hydrogen - An Exergy Approach Frederick J. Barclay 2006 John Wiley Sons, Ltd 

POLYMER ELECTROLYTE AND DIRECT METHANOL EUEL CELLS 

Moreover, hydrogen storage onboard vehicles and ships remains in pressurised tanks. An alternative solution seems to be needed, which may be the liquid hydrogen tank developed by Air Liquide for the Renault fuel cell. See the listed Renault web site for the Renault/du Vera vehicle fuel cell project. 

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Siemens AG has been involved in R D on PFFCs, and Vickers Shipbuilding Engineering Ltd. (United Kingdom) is evaluating PFFCs from Ballard Power Systems for power generation. A 35-ceU stack was successfully tested for more than 300 h. Plans are under way to test a 20-kW PEFC. 

Ballard Power Systems, in conjunction with the province of British Columbia and the government of Canada, have converted a diesel bus for Vancouver, B.C. Transit (43). This 9.1-m vehicle is powered by a 105-kW fuel cell. Gaseous hydrogen, stored on board the bus in DOT-approved glass-wound composite cylinders operating at 20.7 MPa (3000 psi), provides the necessary fuel requited for the 150-km projected vehicle range. 

The achievements of a small Canadian startup company, Ballard Power Systems, in Vancouver, are the main reason for my view that polymeric-membrane cells have the automotive market at their feet. The stages of the company s achievements. 

Campbell S. 2006. Ballard Power System. Development of transition metal/chalcogen based cathode catalysts for PEM fuel cells. DOE Hydrogen Program Review, May 16-19, Washington, DC. Available at http //www.hydrogen.energy.gov/annual review06 fuelcells.html (click on catalysts section). 

In 1997, Ford announced that it would invest 420 million in a global alliance with what was then Daimler-Benz and Ballard Power Systems. This provided Ballard with an important infusion of capital. As a result of these investments, Ford owned 15% of Ballard and DaimlerChrysler 20%. It was a critical moment for fuel cells since the total investment was reaching almost 1 billion, including the 450 million by DaimlerChrysler. The alliance of Ford, Volvo, and DaimlerChrysler was pushing the leading edge of fuel cell innovation. Ballard has focused on PEM cells with a goal to have commercial fuel cells available by 2010. 

Ballard Power Systems supplied one of the first fuel cell demonstration projects for British Columbia Transit. Ballard is a pioneer and major producer of fuel cells which it installed in several Vancouver, Canada city buses. The fuel cell powered New Flier buses are much cleaner than new diesels and they are not adding to Vancouver s smog problem. A similar demonstration has taken place in Chicago, where the modified city buses have been called the Green Machines. 

Ballard Generation Systems, a subsidiary of Ballard Power Systems, has produced a PEFC stationary on-site plant. It has these characteristics ... 

Recently, the major activity in transportation fuel cell development has focused on the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). In 1993, Ballard Power Systems (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada) demonstrated a 10 m (32 foot) light-duty transit bus with a 120 kW fuel cell system, followed by a 200 kW, 12 meter (40 foot) heavy-duty transit bus in 1995 (26). These buses use no traction batteries. They operate on compressed hydrogen as the on-board fuel. In 1997, Ballard provided 205 kW (275 HP) PEFC units for a small fleet of hydrogen-fueled, full-size transit buses for demonstrations in Chicago, Illinois, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Working... 

N.C. Otto, P.F. Howard, "Transportation Engine Commercialization at Ballard Power Systems," Program and Abstracts 1996 Fuel Cell Seminar, November 17-20, 1996,... 

There has been an accelerated interest in polymer electrolyte fuel cells within the last few years, which has led to improvements in both cost and performance. Development has reached the point where motive power applications appear achievable at an acceptable cost for commercial markets. Noticeable accomplishments in the technology, which have been published, have been made at Ballard Power Systems. PEFC operation at ambient pressure has been validated for over 25,000 hours with a six-cell stack without forced air flow, humidification, or active cooling (17). Complete fuel cell systems have been demonstrated for a number of transportation applications including public transit buses and passenger automobiles. Recent development has focused on cost reduction and high volume manufacture for the catalyst, membranes, and bipolar plates. 

This coincides with ongoing research to increase power density, improve water management, operate at ambient conditions, tolerate reformed fuel, and extend stack life. In the descriptions that follow, Ballard Power Systems fuel cells are considered representative of the state-of-the-art. 

Manufacturing details of the Ballard Power Systems cell and stack design are proprietary (18), but the literature provides some information on the cell and stack design. An example schematic of a manufacturer s cell is shown in Figure 3-1. 

K. Prater, "The Renaissance of the Solid Polymer Fuel Cell," Ballard Power Systems, Inc., Journal of Power Sources, p. 29, 1990. 

The fuel cell itself liberates heat that can be utilized for space heating or hot water. The reference article did not list any operating conditions of the fuel cell or of the cycle. The PEFC is assumed to operate at roughly 80°C. Another recent article (49) published by Ballard shows numerous test results that were performed at 3 to 4 atmospheres where fuel utilizations of 75 to 85% have been achieved. Performance levels for an air fed PEFC are now in the range of 180 to 250 mW/cm. Ballard Power Systems has performed field trials of 250 kW systems with select utility partners. Commercial production of stationary power systems is anticipated for the year 2002. Similarly sized transportation cycles also are anticipated for commercial production in the same year. 

David P. Wilkinson, (Ballard Power Systems) and David Thompsett (Johnson Matthey Technology Centre), "Materials and Approaches for CO and CO2 Tolerance for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells," presented at the 1997 Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on New Materials for Fuel Cells and Modern Battery Systems, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 6-10, 1997. 

The author is associated with Automotive Fuel Cell Cooperation (AFCC). AFCC is owned by Daimler, Ford, and Ballard Power Systems. The company was established in February, 2008 and is mainly based on the automotive fuel cell division of the previous Ballard Power Systems. 

Prior to this appointment. Dr. Wilkinson was the director, and then vice president of research and development at Ballard Power Systems and involved with the research, development, and application of fuel cell technology for transportation, stationary power, and portable applications. Until 2003, Dr. Wilkinson was the leading all-time fuel cell inventor by number of issued US. patents. Dr. Wilkinson s main research interest is in electrochemical power sources and processes to create clean and sustainable energy. He is an active member of the Electrochemical Society, the International Society of Electrochemistry, the Chemical Institute of Canada, and the American Chemical Society. 

This brief history of century-old investigations toward hydrogen interaction with solid materials and nanomaterials brings us to the current state of affairs when the hydrogen storage for fuel cell systems still remains to be solved. Indeed, in the first decade of the new Millennium, and at the advent of the Hydrogen Economy, fuel cell stacks for use in mass transportation, like those developed by Ballard Power Systems based in Canada, are ready for mass commercialization. Also, hydrogen... 

FIGURE 5.19 A zero-emission Mercedes Citaro bus operating in London, powered by a Ballard fuelcell engine. (Courtesy of Ballard Power Systems.)... 

High pressure hydrogen tanks run across the top of this bus provided by Ballard Power Systems for testing in Chicago. Water is produced at the anode. 

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