Breadboard System

Stack performance and blower power consumption. Courtesy of Wuhan Intepower Fuel Cells. 

Metal hydride system. Courtesy of Beijing General Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals. 

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A breadboard system is often a necessary step in evaluating the major components of a fuel cell system together, and it is easier to rearrange the parts during the evaluation process. Figure 5.23 shows a breadboard system with most of the major parts laid on a table, and some parts placed beside and underneath the table. Figure 5.24 shows the V-I and W-I curves of the stack obtained from this system. It should be noted that the performance of a stack tested in a system can be quite different from that tested on a test stand, because the system may not be able to offer the best conditions for the stack. 

The breadboard system was also tested by using metal hydride as the H2 source (Figure 5.26). The H2 supply system was composed of 4 metal hydride cylinders. Each cylinder contained 58 kg Ti-series AB2-type metal hydride, and the total mass of each cylinder was 89 kg. Since the metal hydride could store 1.9% of H2 by weight, each cylinder stored about 1.1 kg of H2. The... 

Emonts et al. described the combination of the resulting 50-kW reformer with a hydrogen separation membrane system (see also Section 7.4) and a 1-kW Siemens PEM fuel cell to give a complete fuel processor/fud cdl system [50]. The breadboard system still required a footprint of 3 m. A flow scheme of the system along with a photograph is provided in Figure 9.3 3 kg of a copper/zinc oxide catalyst were... 

Rosa et al. [251] set up a complete 5-kW diesel fuel processor based on autothermal reforming and catalytic carbon monoxide clean-up, which was dedicated to a low temperature PEM fuel cell. The breadboard system was composed of the autothermal reformer operated between 800 and 850 °C with a ruthenium/perovskite catalyst (see Section 4.2.8), a single water-gas shift reactor containing platinum/titania/ceria catalyst operated between 270 and 300 °C (see Section 4.5.1), and a preferential oxidation reactor containing platinum/alumina catalyst operated between 165 and 180 °C. Figure 9.54 shows the gas composition and reactor temperatures achieved. The hydrogen content of the reformate was in the range from 40 to 44 vol.% on a dry basis. The carbon monoxide content of the reformate was 7.4 vol.% and could be reduced to values of between 0.3 and 1 vol.% after the water-gas shift reactor and to below 100 ppm after the preferential oxidation reactor. 

Wheeler, R. M., Mackowiak, C. L., Stutte, G. W., Yorio, N. C., Sager, J. C., Ruffe, L. M., Petersen, B. V., Berry, W. L., Goins, G. D., Prince, R. P, Hinkle, C. R., Knott, W. M. (2003). Crop production for advanced life support systems-Observations from the Kennedy Space Center Breadboard Project NTiSA Tech Mem, 211184. 

The circuitry used for the breadboard testing of NO and NOp sensor cells was very similar to that shown in Figure 2 only the applied potential was changed. An applied potential of +1.30 V versus the SHE reference electrode was used for NO oxidation while a potential of 0.75 V versus the same reference electrode was used for N02 reduction. Current measurements were again made by measuring the voltage drop across resistor RA. Three electrode systems were used for both gases. 

Power converter circuits are often the most overlooked aspect of a system. During the engineering phase, power is not a concern. There are plenty of bench power supplies scattered around the laboratory for use in breadboarding. Even in SPICE, the trusty voltage source element provides infinite voltage and infinite current for new circuit designs. 

Palo, D. R., Holladay, ). D., Rozmiarek, R. T., Guzman-leong, C. E., Wang, Y., Hu,)., Chin, Y.-H., Dagle, R. A., Baker E. G., Development of a soldier-portable fuel cell power system. Part I a breadboard methanol fuel processor, J. Power Sources 2002, 108, 28-34. 

Our first step was the construction and testing of a breadboard model of the system, as shown in Figure 2. In this configuration, a conventional automotive turbocharger (in the foreground) was coupled to the scroll compressor portion of the First Generation Compressor/Expander Module (in the... 

The confocal epifluorescent detection scheme we use is common among many who use this detection mode and features a cube-and-rail assembly system, specifically the microbench system from LINOS Photonics (Milford, MA) on an optical breadboard to maintain proper alignment of components (Figure 45.13). The excitation source is a multiline argon ion gas laser (model Reliant 150 m. Laser Physics, West Jordan, UT) that features user-selectable wavelengths (457,488, and 514 nm)... 

While still improving the earth-clock, the JPL group prepared a clock for ultra-stable deep-space applications. A breadboard ion-clock package, based once more on Hg ions shuttled between a quadru and a 16-pole RF trap, has attained an accuracy of 2 x 10" at the 1 s (10" d" ) stability level. The system is in a sealed vacuum configuration of about 2 L in preparation for flight, see Figure 11.19 [47]. 

FIGURE 1 (Left) Conventional optical systems on a breadboard. (Right) MEMS optical systems on a single chip of silicon. SOURCE (Left) Reprinted with permission from Melles Griot. (Right) UCLA. Photograph by David Scharf. 

After TRL 3, the basic components are integrated into a system in a laboratory environment (TRL 4). Peripheral components are not developed for the specific application. Such a system is often referred to as a breadboard or brassboard system. The system applicability of the different devices is checked. Components requiring further development are identified. 

Rather than beginning by building a system and testing the behavior of a breadboard model, the first step is to simulate the behavior using simulation models that approximate the processor structures. The hardware should be modeled at two levels. 

Figure 9.22 Coupled breadboard 1-kWei methane fuel processor/ fuel cell system as developed by Mathiak et at. [433],...

The Modular Fluid System (MFS) concept as base system for the realization of Micro-TAS, as well as a number of different micromechanical components for use in Micro-TAS are presented. The correspondence of MFS to electronic breadboards is discussed, and an example of a possible "mixed" fluidic/electronic board is given. The consequences of downscaling for the operation of sensors in Micro-TAS are discussed, and a number of components, sensors, sieves, mixers, valves and pumps are presented. Finally, the importance of the development of design tools and rules, especially bondgraph modelling, for MFS is emphasized. 

In this contribution we introduce the Modular Fluid System concept [1] as a generic Micro-TAS breadboard, comparable and additional to its electronic counterpart. We will treat the components or fimetions, necessary to build such a system. Systems may greatly differ in their specifications. This means that components must be available in a range to meet these specifications. Hopefully a set of components can be designed to meet this range, while on the other hand they fit into a system with standard interconnection rules. 

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