Fuel cell stack, vehicle application

Electrical management, or power conditioning, of fuel cell output is often essential because the fuel cell voltage is always dc and may not be at a suitable level. For stationai y applications, an inverter is needed for conversion to ac, while in cases where dc voltage is acceptable, a dc-dc converter maybe needed to adjust to the load voltage. In electric vehicles, for example, a combination of dc-dc conversion followed by inversion may be necessary to interface the fuel cell stack to a, 100 V ac motor. 

Fuel cell stacks are assembled by Ballard and tested in application situations such as vehicles and stationary power. Operating experience... 

The development of PEM fuel cell technology and the demonstration of its application to transportation vehicles have grown rapidly in the last 15 years. In 1993, Ballard demonstrated the first PEM fuel cell-powered bus. Then, following the announcement of the first fuel cell stack with a power density of 1 kW/1, a... 

Yamamoto, S., S. Sugawara, and K. Shinohara. 2009. Fuel cell stack durability for vehicle application. In Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Durability, eds. F.N. Buchi, M. Inaba, and T.J. Schmidt, pp. 467-482. New York, NY Springer. 

Currently, there is a lot of interest in developing power sources in the 10-100 W range for portable power applications (Kundu et al, 2007 Service, 2002). One promising approach involves the use of a reformer that produces hydrogen from a hydrocarbon source, coupled with a fuel cell stack that utilizes the hydrogen to produce power. Such a device can be used to power radios, computers, electronic displays, and small unmanned air vehicles (National Research Council, 2004 Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2005). 

The conditions that a fuel-cell stack will encounter depend upon the application. PEFCs are currently being considered for cars, buses, industrial vehicles, defense applications, portable electronics, back-up power, and other stationary applications. Describing all practical methods to maintain the desired operating conditions in these diverse applications is beyond the scope of this chapter. Instead, this chapter... 

Fuel Cell Stack Durability for Vehicle Application... 

Toyota s completely in-house fuel cell—the Toyota FC Stack—not only has applications in its own fuel cell vehicle, but also in a variety of fuel cell products developed in cooperation with other industry-related companies. 

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