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NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
Real-Time Quality-Control Testing for Fuel Cells Becomes Reality

November 16, 2017

The path from successful science to market acceptance contains twists, turns, and occasional dead-ends. One step the manufacturing process can pose an obstacle amid concerns about quality and production times.

Through early-stage research and development, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a promising technology that could enable breakthroughs in U.S. manufacturing of fuel cell components with potential for use in additional applications. During the manufacture of fuel cell membranes, critical information including variations in membrane thickness and pinhole-sized defects that the human eye can't see can be overlooked. And seemingly tiny problems can lead to big complications, such as higher rates of performance degradation or failure.

An NREL technology called Quality Control Optical Reflectance Diagnostic (QCORD) funded by the DOE's Fuel Cell Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy uses a high-resolution camera to identify defects in membranes that are made in a roll-to-roll or continuous process. As a result, quality can be maintained at increased manufacturing rates.

In an automotive fuel cell, the polymer electrolyte membrane conducts only positively charged ions and blocks the electrons, a key part of the electrochemical reaction that creates electricity from oxygen and hydrogen fuel. A single fuel cell doesn't produce enough voltage on its own to power a vehicle, so hundreds of cells are combined in stacks. The membrane manufacturing line is one of the most expensive parts of the process, and the capacity to make fuel cell systems at a high volume (up to 500,000 units per year) doesn't exist, according to an analysisPDF done earlier this year for DOE. The analysis determined that a faster production line would significantly ramp up the number of fuel cell vehicles and lower the cost to make the membrane for the fuel cell stacks.

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For more information

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
1617 Cole Blvd
Golden Colorado
United States 80401-3305
www.nrel.gov


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