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This is the final scientific/technical report for the project "Compact MEMS Electrocaloric Cooling Module" sponsored by ARAPA-E as part of its Building Energy Efficiency through Innovative Thermodevices (BEEIT) program.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) objective for this project is to identify performance needs for onboard energy storage of early motive fuel cell markets by working with end users, manufacturers, and experts. The performance needs analysis is combined with a hydrogen storage technology gap analysis to provide the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program with information about the needs and gaps that can be used to focus research and development activities that are capable of supporting market growth.
Achieving DOE's stated 5000-hr durability goal for light-duty vehicles by 2015 will require MEAs with characteristics that are beyond the current state of the art. Significant effort was placed on developing advanced durable cathode catalysts to arrive at the best possible electrode for high performance and durability, as well as developing manufacturing processes that yield significant cost benefit. Accordingly, the overall goal of this project was to develop and construct advanced MEAs that will improve performance and durability while reducing the cost of PEMFC stacks. The project, led by UTC Power, focused on developing new catalysts/supports and integrating them with existing materials (membranes and gas diffusion layers (GDLs)) using state-of-the-art fabrication methods capable of meeting the durability requirements essential for automotive applications. Specifically, the project work aimed to lower platinum group metals (PGM) loading while increasing performance and durability. Appropriate catalysts and MEA configuration were down-selected that protects the membrane, and the layers were tailored to optimize the movements of reactants and product water through the cell to maximize performance while maintaining durability.
This NREL Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Highlight describes a time-lapse geographical visualization map of early market use of fuel cells for telecommunications backup power. The map synthesizes data being analyzed by NREL's Technology Validation team for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program with DOE's publicly available annual summaries of electric disturbance events.
This fact sheet describes opportunities for leading fuel cell industry partners from the United States and abroad to participate in an objective and credible fuel cell technology performance and durability analysis by sharing their raw fuel cell test data related to operations, maintenance, safety, and cost with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory via the Hydrogen Secure Data Center.
This report is the sixth in an annual series of reports that summarize the progress of fuel cell electric bus (FCEB) development in the United States and discuss the achievements and challenges of introducing fuel cell propulsion in transit. The report also provides a snapshot of current FCEB performance results over the last year. There are 25 active FCEBs in demonstrations this year at eight locations.
This progress report is a programmatic summary of a formal MOA between NREL and the European Union Joint Research Center, Institute for Energy and Transport to be presented at the Steering Committee Meeting, December 3, 2012.
The Department of Energy’s High Temperature, Low Relative Humidity Membrane Program was begun in 2006 with the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) as the lead organization. During the first three years of the program, FSEC was tasked with developing non-Nafion® proton exchange membranes with improved conductivity for fuel cells. Additionally, FSEC was responsible for developing protocols for the measurement of in-plane conductivity, providing conductivity measurements for the other funded teams, developing a method for through-plane conductivity and organizing and holding semiannual meetings of the High Temperature Membrane Working Group (HTMWG). The FSEC membrane research focused on the development of supported poly[perfluorosulfonic acid] (PFSA) – Teflon membranes and a hydrocarbon membrane, sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone). The fourth generation of the PFSA membrane (designated FSEC-4) came close to, but did not meet, the Go/No-Go milestone of 0.1 S/cm at 50% relative humidity at 120 °C. In-plane conductivity of membranes provided by the funded teams was measured and reported to the teams and DOE. Late in the third year of the program, DOE used this data and other factors to decide upon the teams to continue in the program. The teams that continued provided promising membranes to FSEC for development of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) that could be tested in an operating fuel cell. FSEC worked closely with each team to provide customized support. A logic flow chart was developed and discussed before MEA fabrication or any testing began. Of the five teams supported, by the end of the project, membranes from two of the teams were easily manufactured into MEAs and successfully characterized for performance. One of these teams exceeded performance targets, while the other requires further optimization. An additional team developed a membrane that shows great promise for significantly reducing membrane costs and increasing membrane lifetime.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in association with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), held a Biogas and Fuel Cells Workshop on June 11–13, 2012, in Golden, Colorado, to discuss biogas and waste-to energy technologies for fuel cell applications. The meeting was spearheaded by the Fuel Cell Technologies Program in coordination with the Biomass Program. The overall objective was to identify opportunities for coupling renewable biomethane with highly efficient fuel cells to produce electricity; heat; combined heat and power (CHP); or combined heat, hydrogen and power (referred to as CHHP or “trigeneration”) for stationary or motive applications. The workshop focused on biogas sourced from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), landfills, and industrial facilities that generate or process large amounts of organic waste, including large biofuel production facilities (biorefineries).
Two series of silicate glasses that contain gallium as the primary critical component have been identified and optimized for viscous sealing of solid oxide fuel cells operating from 650 to 850°C. Both series of glass sealants crystallize partially upon heat treatment and yield multiphase microstructures that allow viscous flow at temperatures as low as 650°C. A fully amorphous sealant was also developed by isolating, synthesizing and testing a silicate glass of the same composition as the remnant glassy phase in one of the two glass series. Of ~40 glasses tested for longer than 500 hours, a set of 5 glasses has been further tested for up to 1000h in air, wet hydrogen, and against both yttria-stabilized zirconia and aluminized stainless steel. In some cases the testing times reached 2000h. The reactivity testing has provided new insight into the effects of Y, Zr, and Al on bulk and surface crystallization in boro-gallio-silicate glasses, and demonstrated that at least 5 of the newly-developed glasses are viable viscous sealants.
Today's Leaders for a Sustainable Tomorrow is a collaboration of five residential environmental learning centers (Audubon Center of the North Woods, Deep Portage Learning Center, Laurentian Environmental Center, Long Lake Conservation Center and Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center) that together increased energy efficiency, energy conservation and renewable energy technologies through a number of different means appropriate for each unique center. For energy efficiency upgrades the centers installed envelope improvements to seal air barriers through better insulation in walls, ceilings, windows, doors as well as the installation of more energy efficient windows, doors, lighting and air ventilation systems. Through energy sub-meter monitoring the centers are able to accurately chart the usage of energy at each of their campuses and eliminate unnecessary energy usage. Facilities reduced their dependence on fossil fuel energy sources through the installation of renewable energy technologies including wood gasification, solar domestic hot water, solar photovoltaic, solar air heat, geothermal heating and wind power. Centers also installed energy education displays on the specific renewable energy technologies used at the center.
This document highlights DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's advancements in transportation technologies, alternative fuels, and fuel cell technologies.
This presentation describes the results of NREL technology assessments for two early market full cell applications, backup power and material handling equipment.
This report from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory includes early fuel cell market composite data products for the third quarter of 2012 for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and combined (IAA, DLA, ARRA) deployment projects.
This document summarizes the comments provided by peer reviewers on hydrogen and fuel cell projects presented at the fiscal year (FY) 2012 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program and Vehicle Technologies Program Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting (AMR), held May 14-18, 2012, in Arlington, VA.
In the past year, the DOE Hydrogen Program (the Program) made substantial progress toward its goals and objectives. The Program has conducted comprehensive and focused efforts to enable the widespread commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in diverse sectors of the economy. With emphasis on applications that will effectively strengthen our nation's energy security and improve our stewardship of the environment, the Program engages in research, development, and demonstration of critical improvements in the technologies. Highlights of the Program's accomplishments can be found in the sub-program chapters of this report.
Progress is reported on 20 different projects in a wide variety of areas ranging from nuclear chemistry and radiation detection to energy storage and renewable energy.
This report discusses an analysis of the total cost of ownership of fuel cell-powered and traditional battery-powered material handling equipment (MHE, or more typically 'forklifts'). A number of fuel cell MHE deployments have received funding support from the federal government. Using data from these government co-funded deployments, DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been evaluating the performance of fuel cells in material handling applications. NREL has assessed the total cost of ownership of fuel cell MHE and compared it to the cost of ownership of traditional battery-powered MHE. As part of its cost of ownership assessment, NREL looked at a range of costs associated with MHE operation, including the capital costs of battery and fuel cell systems, the cost of supporting infrastructure, maintenance costs, warehouse space costs, and labor costs. Considering all these costs, NREL found that fuel cell MHE can have a lower overall cost of ownership than comparable battery-powered MHE.