ADVANCED FUEL CELLS

THE MOST CRITICAL ASPECT OF THE RADIO FREQUENCY POWER SUPPLY FOR THE NEUTRAL PARTICLE BEAM INTEGRATED EXPERIMENT IS ITS POWER TO WEIGHT RATIO. IN ADDITION, THE SPACE-QUALIFIED 45V POWER SUPPLY MUST BE ABLE TO SUPPLY 27,000 AMP PULSES DOWN TO 350 MICROSECONDS WITH ONLY A 2 - 3% VOLTAGE DROP. PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS HAVE POTENTIALLY THE HIGHEST POWER TO WEIGHT RATIO OF ANY TYPE OF FUEL CELL. THE TREADWELL CORPORATION CURRENTLY HAS A 45 VOLT PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL UNDER DEVELOPMENT, WHICH HAS AN EXCELLENT CHANCE OF SATISFYING THE STATED SPECIFICATIONS. THE SPECIFICATIONS ARE OUTSIDE THE NORMAL OPERATING ENEVELOPE OF THE PRESENT FUEL CELL DESIGN, SO FURTHER INFORMATION AND TESTING ON THE LABORATORY PROTOTYPE WOULD BE NEEDED. TREADWELL THEREFORE, PROPOSES TO TEST ITS CURRENT PROTOTYPE PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL TO BE CERTAIN THAT THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL FILL THE STATED NEEDS.