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Ceres Power reports 40% increase in power output of its Steel Cell
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Ceres Power reports Convion SOFC relies 40% increase in power on Fraunhofer IKTS, output of its Steel Cell Plansee innovations
U
K-based Ceres Power says that early test results show an increase of more than 40% in the overall power density of its Steel Cell technology, through a variety of material and mechanical improvements to cell and stack design. This milestone has been achieved against the company’s internal roadmap, and further validates the route to affordable products based on its unique intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) technology. Ceres expects these improvements to be brought forward from R&D to customer programmes later this year, resulting in lower product costs and accelerating the adoption of end-user products using the technology. The company is working with leading power systems companies to develop and commercialise power products. Considerable technical progress has been made in the past six months, and all of the key technical performance milestones have been met, with net electrical efficiency increased to 47%. Ceres says that this is equivalent to the highest performance achieved for SOFCs in the Japanese market, and is superior to existing offerings from PEM fuel cell technology providers. The target for the next period is to demonstrate that the Steel Cell technology can enable a net efficiency exceeding 50%. This would enhance the already significant benefit to the residential consumer in terms of economic payback, and widen the potential of the technology to other markets, such as prime and backup power applications for businesses. ‘The impact of this performance improvement is potentially a 40% reduction in stack cost, and in the region of a 20% reduction in overall system cost,’ says CTO Mark Selby. ‘We have a number of exciting technology development programmes, like this one, that will translate into a sustained competitive advantage.’ Last autumn Ceres signed a next-stage joint development agreement with a leading global Japanese power systems company, following extensive testing of Ceres’ IT-SOFC technology in the UK and Japan [FCB, November 2014, p6].
Ceres Power, Horsham, West Sussex, UK. Tel: +44 1403 273463, www.cerespower.com
May 2015
M
ore details have emerged of the collaborative effort behind the recent launch of Convion’s C50 solid oxide fuel cell product for distributed power generation [FCB, April 2015, p6]. This features an innovative SOFC stack design jointly developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Germany and Austrian metal components specialist Plansee. In February Convion started operation of its innovative C50 SOFC cogeneration system, using MK351 stacks produced by Fraunhofer IKTS. Manufacturing of the product has been successfully finalised, and validation has begun at 20 kW net power. Convion is seeking to commercialise the new product, bringing it to market with interested partners and showcasing the future of distributed power generation. The MK351 stack design was jointly developed by Fraunhofer IKTS and Plansee. It comprises only a few component parts, allowing simple and automated assembly. All the stack components can withstand high temperatures, and system and temperature cycles. Careful matching of components allows the desired high power density of the cell and the required cycle stability. Currently, the performance degradation of a stack integrated in a hot box is <0.7 %/1000 h, confirmed by several experiments including a long-term test with over 18 000 h of operation. Fraunhofer IKTS and Plansee are offering licences for the latest background technology and intellectual property (IP) for the MK351 stack design, so that interested companies can start commercial stack production. The interconnects in the stack are made using CFY, a chromium-base alloy containing 5 wt% iron plus traces of yttrium. CFY’s physical properties make it ideal for use in SOFCs. The coefficient of thermal expansion is adapted to match that of the high-performance electrolyte, based on stabilised zirconium oxide, for example 10ScSZ (10 mol% scandiastabilised zirconia) or 8YSZ (8 mol% yttrriastabilised zirconia). ‘Plansee CFY interconnects are based on a scalable, cost-effective powder-metallurgical net-shape production, which significantly reduces production costs through a high degree of automation and high material yields,’ explains Professor Dr Lorenz Sigl, head of innovation services at Plansee. The company
2015 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition The 2015 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition will take place 16–19 November at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, California. This year’s event will bring together more than 1000 delegates from around the world and representing the entire global fuel cell industry supply chain. Call for Abstracts The Call for Abstracts is now open, as the organisers seek abstracts for session speakers and poster presentations from academics, industry, and government professionals to be featured during the conference. Abstracts must be submitted online via the website, with the submission deadline of Friday 29 May. The topic areas (and sub-topics) for the 2015 Fuel Cell Seminar Call for Abstracts are: • Fuels and Renewable Energy: hydrogen production & storage; renewable energy fuel generation; hydrocarbon fuel processing, conversion, handling, and utilisation by fuel cells; fuel safety & training. • Fuel Cell Industry Status & Analysis: fuel cell industry status & forecasts; fuel cell commercialisation, trends, new markets, scale-up and cost analysis; application market economics, value propositions, financing and customers; industry, academic and public partnerships; public involvement, investment or promotion of fuel cell and related energy industries, government policy. • Fuel Cell Applications: automotive, bus and other motive applications; emerging market applications (including materials handling equipment, telecom backup power, ground support equipment); stationary (primary and backup distributed generation, CHP, trigeneration, micro and smart grids, renewable energy/fuel cell hybrid systems); auxiliary power units (terrestrial, aviation, maritime); military; and portable. • Fuel Cell Technology Development: PEM, alkaline exchange membrane, molten carbonate and phosphoric acid, solid oxide, other fuel cell technology, balance of plant, and advancements in manufacturing and assembly. • Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Related Technologies for Energy Storage: reversible fuel cells; flow batteries; and technology validation (demonstrations, cost analysis, market economics). • Fuel Cell Education & Training: fuel cell and energy curriculum development; and student and general public outreach. More information: www.fuelcellseminar.com/abstracts
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5
Ceres Power reports Convion SOFC relies 40% increase in power on Fraunhofer IKTS, output of its Steel Cell Plansee innovations
U
K-based Ceres Power says that early test results show an increase of more than 40% in the overall power density of its Steel Cell technology, through a variety of material and mechanical improvements to cell and stack design. This milestone has been achieved against the company’s internal roadmap, and further validates the route to affordable products based on its unique intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFC) technology. Ceres expects these improvements to be brought forward from R&D to customer programmes later this year, resulting in lower product costs and accelerating the adoption of end-user products using the technology. The company is working with leading power systems companies to develop and commercialise power products. Considerable technical progress has been made in the past six months, and all of the key technical performance milestones have been met, with net electrical efficiency increased to 47%. Ceres says that this is equivalent to the highest performance achieved for SOFCs in the Japanese market, and is superior to existing offerings from PEM fuel cell technology providers. The target for the next period is to demonstrate that the Steel Cell technology can enable a net efficiency exceeding 50%. This would enhance the already significant benefit to the residential consumer in terms of economic payback, and widen the potential of the technology to other markets, such as prime and backup power applications for businesses. ‘The impact of this performance improvement is potentially a 40% reduction in stack cost, and in the region of a 20% reduction in overall system cost,’ says CTO Mark Selby. ‘We have a number of exciting technology development programmes, like this one, that will translate into a sustained competitive advantage.’ Last autumn Ceres signed a next-stage joint development agreement with a leading global Japanese power systems company, following extensive testing of Ceres’ IT-SOFC technology in the UK and Japan [FCB, November 2014, p6].
Ceres Power, Horsham, West Sussex, UK. Tel: +44 1403 273463, www.cerespower.com
May 2015
M
ore details have emerged of the collaborative effort behind the recent launch of Convion’s C50 solid oxide fuel cell product for distributed power generation [FCB, April 2015, p6]. This features an innovative SOFC stack design jointly developed by Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS in Germany and Austrian metal components specialist Plansee. In February Convion started operation of its innovative C50 SOFC cogeneration system, using MK351 stacks produced by Fraunhofer IKTS. Manufacturing of the product has been successfully finalised, and validation has begun at 20 kW net power. Convion is seeking to commercialise the new product, bringing it to market with interested partners and showcasing the future of distributed power generation. The MK351 stack design was jointly developed by Fraunhofer IKTS and Plansee. It comprises only a few component parts, allowing simple and automated assembly. All the stack components can withstand high temperatures, and system and temperature cycles. Careful matching of components allows the desired high power density of the cell and the required cycle stability. Currently, the performance degradation of a stack integrated in a hot box is <0.7 %/1000 h, confirmed by several experiments including a long-term test with over 18 000 h of operation. Fraunhofer IKTS and Plansee are offering licences for the latest background technology and intellectual property (IP) for the MK351 stack design, so that interested companies can start commercial stack production. The interconnects in the stack are made using CFY, a chromium-base alloy containing 5 wt% iron plus traces of yttrium. CFY’s physical properties make it ideal for use in SOFCs. The coefficient of thermal expansion is adapted to match that of the high-performance electrolyte, based on stabilised zirconium oxide, for example 10ScSZ (10 mol% scandiastabilised zirconia) or 8YSZ (8 mol% yttrriastabilised zirconia). ‘Plansee CFY interconnects are based on a scalable, cost-effective powder-metallurgical net-shape production, which significantly reduces production costs through a high degree of automation and high material yields,’ explains Professor Dr Lorenz Sigl, head of innovation services at Plansee. The company
2015 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition The 2015 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition will take place 16–19 November at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, California. This year’s event will bring together more than 1000 delegates from around the world and representing the entire global fuel cell industry supply chain. Call for Abstracts The Call for Abstracts is now open, as the organisers seek abstracts for session speakers and poster presentations from academics, industry, and government professionals to be featured during the conference. Abstracts must be submitted online via the website, with the submission deadline of Friday 29 May. The topic areas (and sub-topics) for the 2015 Fuel Cell Seminar Call for Abstracts are: • Fuels and Renewable Energy: hydrogen production & storage; renewable energy fuel generation; hydrocarbon fuel processing, conversion, handling, and utilisation by fuel cells; fuel safety & training. • Fuel Cell Industry Status & Analysis: fuel cell industry status & forecasts; fuel cell commercialisation, trends, new markets, scale-up and cost analysis; application market economics, value propositions, financing and customers; industry, academic and public partnerships; public involvement, investment or promotion of fuel cell and related energy industries, government policy. • Fuel Cell Applications: automotive, bus and other motive applications; emerging market applications (including materials handling equipment, telecom backup power, ground support equipment); stationary (primary and backup distributed generation, CHP, trigeneration, micro and smart grids, renewable energy/fuel cell hybrid systems); auxiliary power units (terrestrial, aviation, maritime); military; and portable. • Fuel Cell Technology Development: PEM, alkaline exchange membrane, molten carbonate and phosphoric acid, solid oxide, other fuel cell technology, balance of plant, and advancements in manufacturing and assembly. • Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Related Technologies for Energy Storage: reversible fuel cells; flow batteries; and technology validation (demonstrations, cost analysis, market economics). • Fuel Cell Education & Training: fuel cell and energy curriculum development; and student and general public outreach. More information: www.fuelcellseminar.com/abstracts
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5