PEM Lightweight Fuel Cell Stack (PEM-LS)

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells have gained much importance for providing electric power for vehicles and other portable powerplants due to their demonstrated excellent power density and fuel economies. They are particularly suited for man-portable powerplants because of their potential for lightweight and simple systems. It is the objective of this proposed Phase I program to explore two candidate stack configurations, both of which have high potential for significant weight reduction over the conventional bi-polar plate configuration. These configurations were chosen from the results of preliminary stack weight analysis and compared to the weight of a conventional bi-polar plate configuration. Weight savings of over 35% are apparent. One configuration in particular utilizes existing fuel cell material as starting materials, and it is anticipated that this effort will be highly successful. The development of both configurations will be conducted in parallel until the time that an overall technical assessment can be made. One configuration will be selected to be fabricated into a 3 cell demonstration stack to finally evaluate its function in a stack environment. Conceptual design will be performed for a lightweight fuel cell system.