220 Watt, Man-Portable, Chemical Hydride Based Fuel Cell System for Arms Control Applications

"Now that reliable, robust, commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are available, the problem has shifted to fuel storage. PEMFCs function most efficiently (>50%) when supplied with pure hydrogen. Unfortunately, storing large quantitiesof hydrogen in a compact, lightweight form has proven to be very difficult. Most of the hydrogen storage methods that have been developed for fuel cell powered vehicles, including liquid hydrogen, compressed hydrogen, methanol, gasoline reformers, etc.,are not appropriate for man-portable systems. However, chemical hydrides, such as LiH, LiAlH4, LiBH4, NaH, and NaBH4, produce large quantities of pure hydrogen, when reacted with water. The problem with chemical hydrides has been the difficulty incontrolling these exothermic reactions to prevent runaway. At Trulite, we have developed a simple, fail-safe method for controlling the reaction of chemical hydrides with water, resulting in a pure hydrogen source with the highest, overall energy densityof any other source. We propose to design (Phase I) and demonstrate (Phase II) a 220 watt, man-portable PEMFC system that will provide 12 hrs of continuous DC electrical power and will weigh less than 5 pounds. Our proposed chemical hydride supplied PEMFCpower source will be ideal for all types of portable electronic equipment, including biological, chemical and nuclear threat detection equipment. In addition, the compact, lightweight desi