Development of a 2.2 kW alkaline fuel cell compact power source

This paper reports on the design, development and test of a compact stand-alone hydrogen fuelled power source, with alkaline fuel cell (AFC). In the first part, the choice of the key components and the architecture of the system is described. A control system has been developed and implemented on PLC in order to assure the appropriate operation of the power stack and of the auxiliary subsystems. Particular care has been dedicated to the management of the gas and liquid flows and to the safety of the system. The second part describes the experimental results. The power source has been tested under various operating conditions. The obtained performances are satisfactory, although some problems with the gas flow distribution among the stack have not allowed to reach the nominal performances claimed by the stack manufacturer. The achieved electrical efficiency was also lower than expected. The device developed demonstrates the technical feasibility of a clean and rather silent alkaline fuel cell generator with small sizes and weight (40x70x90 cm, 110 kg).