Advanced Manufacturing Techniques for High-Efficiency Functional Gradient Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Optomec’s M3D technology will be utilized to fabricate functionally graded fuel cell structures, a methodology that could result in significant performance/weight improvements over existing designs. One of the main applications for the light-weight, high performance cells is in UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) which are being used increasingly in military activities. Phase 1 research has clearly demonstrated the applicability of Optomec’s M3D technology to solid-oxide fuel cell fabrication on a laboratory scale. The main purpose of the work proposed in Phase II is to demonstrate scalability of the technology such that a cost effective production system can be realized in Phase III. Optomec’s commercialization successes and more recent work in high-volume applications enunciates their ability to play this role.