HyFaB is a joint project between the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. Its aim is to research processes for the mass production of fuel cells, support the establishment of an industrial base and bring these processes into practical application.
Results to date
The research buildings for fuel cell manufacturing technology and testing are in regular operation. The test centre has been expanded to include facilities for analysing fuel cell product water. The focus here is on trace analysis of degradation products of ion-conducting polymers. In addition, further facilities for characterising fuel cell components have been commissioned and transferred to regular operation.
The generic fuel cell stack developed as part of HyFaB in an open-source design has proven itself as a reference in various research projects within and outside the ZSW and continues to be in demand. Sixteen stacks with different numbers of cells and a large number of components have been delivered to research organisations and industrial companies.
The manual and automated manufacturing processes for the generic stack in the reference stacking system were further optimised. The focus here was on optical quality assurance measures. Development work on the automated system for manufacturing 7-layer membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) was continued in cooperation with the manufacturer. Industry has submitted requests to use both large-scale systems for research purposes.
Fraunhofer ISE has developed a comprehensive development platform for the production of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for fuel cells and electrolysis. Various process technologies are considered, from catalyst ink production to 7-layer MEAs. For ink production, this includes mixing and homogenisation processes such as ball mills, ultrasound-based processes, speed mixers, high-pressure homogenisation, etc. Slot dies, screen printing, gravure printing, flexographic printing and inkjet printing are used for coating. The wet layers are dried using convection, IR or inert drying. MEAs can be produced semi-automatically from laboratory to full formats. The investigations based on the laboratory processes serve to identify process parameters for upscaling to industrial series processes. In parallel with the production technologies, corresponding measurement methods are available for quality assurance.
