THE FUTURE IS NOW

FUEL CELLS:

Just a few years ago, research in fuel cell technology was an advanced area in space science. Something which perhaps in the distant future might be able to replace fossil fuels for energy production. But the future is already here today.

Denmark’s Dantherm Power is the first company in the world to launch commercial power backup systems using hydrogen-powered fuel cells. In northern Jutland, Denmark, the first hydrogen cars are cruising around the streets of the town of Hobro. And in just a few years, the first micro power plants the size of a fridge could replace both the heating supply and electricity production in ordinary homes.

“Research in fuel cell technology has been conducted in a very rapid and targeted way,” says director Jesper Themsen of Dantherm Power. “That is because the benefits of the technology are so obvious. It is almost pollution-free, and at the same time as producing heat, it produces enough electricity to meet the needs of a whole family. And there are fresh advances being made every single day regarding efficiency, utilisation and size.”

Replacing lead-acid batteries

Dantherm Power is a subsidiary of Dantherm Air Handling, one of the world’s leading companies in climate control systems. Among the parent company’s most important products are climate control systems for the electronic systems that control mobile phone masts. Today, the control systems’ power backup plants consist of 16 large and heavy lead-acid batteries. Dantherm’s angle on exploiting fuel cell technology was obvious: replace the space-consuming and inefficient lead-acid batteries with fuel cells. They take up very little space, and do not need to be replaced anything like as often as the old lead-acid batteries.

“We have also developed a special technology, which in the event of a power outage switches on the backup system in less than a millisecond. It happens so rapidly that even the computer does not have the time to register that it has momentarily been without power,” says Jesper Themsen.

Fuel cells operating the climate control systems in mobile telephone masts

Breakthrough with micro power plants

While basic research in fuel cells continues to be conducted in high gear in many places around the world, Dantherm Power's strategy is to concentrate on integrating the current fuel cells in useable systems. The company does this today in collaboration with a young Danish company, Serenergy, which has developed a fuel cell module that makes it simple and uncomplicated to incorporate the energy supply in the chosen application. In the case of Dantherm Power, it is a backup system for mobile telephone masts.

“The really big breakthrough will come when micro power plants for ordinary homes are taken into use,” says Jesper Themsen. “We can already supply a compact plant that connects directly to for example natural gas. A converter extracts hydrogen from the gas and produces both heat and electricity. The fuel cells themselves currently have a service life of 3 years, after which they need to be replaced. I am convinced that in just a few years, this service life will be almost doubled, and then the big breakthrough will come.” http://www.dantherm-air-handling.com

Jesper Themsen of Dantherm with a stack of fuel cells

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FUEL CELLS MADE SIMPLE

FUEL CELLS: Using fuel cell technology out in the real world, away from research scientists and laboratories, requires that it is made easy and simple to handle. At Serenergy A/S the motto is: we make difficult technology simple and straightforward

Mads Bang with a simple, ready-to-use power plant based on fuel cell technology

Serenergy, a small spin-off company from the Institute of Energy Technology, Aalborg University, supplies the fuel cell units that Dantherm Power uses in its back-up systems for mobile telephone masts worldwide. Serenergy, which is located in Støvring, northern Jutland, buys cell membranes and catalysts from sub-suppliers, but itself designs the cell stacks for the specific purposes of the fuel cells.

“Our aim was to construct a fuel cell which is as simple as a battery,” says Mads Bang, Serenergy’s technical director. “One plug in for hydrogen, one plug out for heat and one last plug out with the electricity. One button for starting the device and in addition just a small fan for cooling. How difficult is that?” Not difficult when you know how. And this is where Serenergy is breaking new ground with its fuel cell units. Mads Bang and his co-founder of the company, Anders Korsgaard, have developed a unique design at Aalborg University for ^{cell stacks that operate at 180}°^{C. A mini}mum of energy to run the system makes it very efficient, while at the same time minimising the unit price. Another advan^{tage of the 180}°^{C fuel cells, compared to} low and high temperature fuel cells, is that Serenergy’s cell stacks are a lot less sensitive to impure hydrogen.

“We have thought it through carefully and logically,” says Mads Bang. “We exploit a large number of existing components and then assemble them in one compact and simple system. The system can also be built up in modules to generate up to 15 kW, which in terms of size takes up no more space than a fridge.” The company is currently busy getting the production tools made that are necessary to produce large batches of the fuel cell modules.

http://www.serenergy.dk

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