13a. Hydrogen Contaminant Detector (HCD) Transition to Production (TTP)

Hydrogen fuel offers a clean and equitable energy economy that helps address the climate crisis while alleviating reliance on foreign oil. However, contaminants in hydrogen fuel can cause expensive and irreparable damage to fuel cells in vehicles and other industrial applications. Current state-of-the-art contaminant detectors are expensive to procure, require constant maintenance, frequent calibration, and have high sustainment costs. Therefore, a new approach or solution is needed that will overcome the weaknesses of current hydrogen technologies. A novel, lower-cost analyzer has been designed, installed, and demonstrated by a national laboratory. This analyzer is based on an internal water wicking scheme and platinum catalyst that requires minimal maintenance. Its performance was proven when installed for over a year at a commercial refueling station. Based on this technology, scaling up and commercializing a deployable hydrogen contaminant detector will allow for lower cost and more reliable fuel infrastructure. The scaled-up technology will use sensors and electronics systems to transition to a commercially viable product at a lower cost than the current state-of-the-art analyzer. After identifying and documenting system requirements, a ruggedized hydrogen contaminant detector system was developed, including associated electronics and necessary packaging. Required certifications for nationwide commercial installation and servicing were identified and a preliminary system qualification test plan was developed. At the completion of the Phase I development, a technical data package and transition-to-production plan was drafted to guide Phase II design, test and certification, and transition to low-rate manufacturing. In Phase II, a fully integrated system will be built that leverages the custom packaging and electronics developed in Phase I. This system will be extensively tested in both laboratory and field environments prior to final manufacturing process definition, documentation, and assembly of multiple units through a formal manufacturing process to demonstrate feasibility of transition to production. User interfaces and documentation will be implemented, and the manufactured system formally tested and validated in preparation for releasing to the commercial market. The proposed commercial hydrogen contaminant detector product will allow for effective, low-cost monitoring of the quality of hydrogen fuel used in both consumer vehicles and industrial applications. At present, the fuel is analyzed periodically at multi-month intervals. More frequent and continuous monitoring will alert the station operator of critical fuel quality issues to avoid contaminating fuel cell vehicles and causing irreparable damage to the fuel cell. This will ultimately reduce the cost of fuel and cost of vehicle ownership, leading to wider adoption of hydrogen as a clean fuel.