Long endurance materials for aluminum fuel cell systems
- Loral Defense Systems, Akron, OH (United States)
Appropriate selection of long endurance materials is critical to the cost effective use of fuel cell technology for near-term commercial and defense applications. To effectively transition this technology from laboratory prototype to fielded system, the durability of all fuel cell subsystems must be addressed. Material selection based upon a thorough understanding of system performance requirements, operational environments, and user interfaces not only provides high reliability and enhanced safety, but also lowers life cycle costs. This paper discusses the development of an Aluminum Fuel Cell Power System (FCPS) for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) program, focusing on the operational endurance testing that was conducted to evaluate candidate materials for cell stack, electrolyte, and coolant subsystems. The FCPS is a 15 kW closed aluminum-oxygen fuel cell system that provides up to 1.1 MWh energy. Loral has completed small-scale bench tests and is currently fabricating a full-scale system to be demonstrated in 1995. A materials/component endurance test program was established and conducted early in the design phase of the FCPS program. To date, Loral has completed over 3,000 operational test hours, with nearly 8,000 hours of accumulated exposure to KOH. Results of these tests have been incorporated into the FCPS detailed design, and are expected to significantly enhance the performance of the fielded system. This program is sponsored by ARPA Maritime Systems Technology Office under NASA contract NAS3-26715.
- OSTI ID:
- 162930
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950412-; ISBN 1-55899-296-0; TRN: IM9604%%34
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Spring meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS), San Francisco, CA (United States), 17-21 Apr 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Materials for electrochemical energy storage and conversion -- Batteries, capacitors and fuel cells; Doughty, D.H. [ed.] [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Vyas, B. [ed.] [AT and T Bell Labs., Murray Hill, NJ (United States)]; Takamura, Tsutomu [ed.] [Rikkyo Univ., Tokyo (Japan)]; Huff, J.R. [ed.] [Ballard Power Corp., Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; PB: 463 p.; Materials Research Society symposium proceedings, Volume 393
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Assessment of a multi-stage underwater vehicle concept using a fossil-fuel Stirling engine
Operational feasibility of underwater Stirling engine systems using oxygen-seawater extraction