HyFaB is a joint project of the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) with the aim of researching the processes for large-scale production of fuel cells, supporting the development of an industrial basis and bringing them to application.
Results to date
The research buildings have been completed, occupied and put into operation. Around 1,000 tons of hydrogen for performance and service life tests were implemented in the fuel cell test field in 2023. A reference stacking system is currently being commissioned in the production building for in-depth investigation of the sensitivity of the stacking process to accuracy and environmental influences.
The “generic stack” designed in the industrial dialog with a focus on vehicle drive applications is being used as the basis for this. The associated bipolar plates are manufactured by EKPO. With the first functional samples built in the factory, it was possible to demonstrate compliance with the performance specifications using commercially available membrane electrode units. The components of the generic stack are available to the industry for research and development work.
Fraunhofer ISE was able to upgrade the designated laboratories for production research on the membrane electrode unit. A semi-automatic machine for screen printing, a glovebox for the production of catalyst paste and a wide range of analytical equipment, in particular for quality assurance of the catalyst layers produced, were put into operation. Furthermore, test stands and test cells were implemented for in-situ characterization of the MEAs produced. This enables Fraunhofer ISE to map the entire production process of the membrane electrode assembly, both on a laboratory scale and in full format for the generic stack. A particular highlight is the production and testing of a short stack in the generic stack design, which, thanks to the cooperation between Fraunhofer ISE and ZSW, was able to achieve directly comparable performance to the commercial reference throughout the entire process chain up to the electrochemical operation of the stack.
