Volkwagen’s High-Temp Fuel Cell Makes Others Obsolete
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by Mike Zazaian November 1, 2006 - 4:46pm, 1 Comment
The key innovation in the new fuel cell is a thinner, more durable membrane that allows higher temperatures to be achieved within a smaller package. The result is more powerful fuel cell that can be implemented in a wider array of vehicles, from compacts to pickups. Said Juergen Leohold, head of Volkswagen’s corporate research:
The low-temperature gas cell hardly can compare when it comes to mass production…[The high-temperature fuel cell] will make the overall system in the car lighter, more compact, stable and cheaper.
Current low-temperature fuel cell technologies operate at 176 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80 degrees Celsius. These lower temperature allowances are restrictive to the amount of energy that a fuel cell can produce, and require a larger cooling unit to operate. Exceeding these temperatures could also cause permanent damage to the low-temp cell.
The high-temperature fuel cell (HTFC), however, operates at 248 degrees Fahrenheit, or 120 degrees Celsius. A coating of phosphoric acid on the membrane facilitates higher energy production with a smaller cooling system. To prevent water in the fuel cell from dissolving the phosphoric acid researchers at the Volkswagen Technology Center in Isenbuettel lined the cell membrane with a special carbon fiber cloth.
Unfortunately for environmentally conscious motorists, Volkswagen isn’t planning to implement the high-temperature fuel cells in consumer vehicles until 2020. Until then we’ll all just have to carpool more and hope that the world doesn’t explode in the meantime.
