Rolls-Royce Power Systems announced that significant progress has been made at its Friedrichshafen facility in Germany regarding the new hydrogen fuel cell it has developed. Accordingly, the company announced that it has completed the installation of a 250 kW fuel cell demonstrator at the facility to test the zero-carbon energy systems of the future and bring this system together with its customers.
Andreas Schell, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said: “We are confident that our fuel cell technology will contribute greatly to a successful energy transition. For this reason, as Rolls-Royce, we take a leading role in fuel cell applications and take steps in this direction.” Schell continued: “The fuel cells we
In response to the question of why fuel cells were preferred, it was pointed out that fuel cells have very high efficiency levels when producing electrical energy from hydrogen and oxygen, and when they are operated with pure hydrogen, a zero carbon emission rate is achieved. In addition, it was stated that fuel cells that only produce water vapor operate with low noise and vibration and require less maintenance.
Rolls-Royce PowerLab Vice President Dr. Peter Riegger said, “The biggest energy benefit of our fuel cells is that they work with regeneratively produced hydrogen. In this way, we ensure that gas emissions that cause pollution and harm the climate are completely eliminated. Thus, we increase the potential of fuel cells to become an important technology for decarbonizing propulsion and electric power supply systems.”
In addition, important developments in the Friedrichshafen plant were mentioned. As an example, the installation of the complex hydrogen infrastructure and the installation of the container with 4 low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell modules are shown. It was stated that these developments were completed with great effort by engineers in different locations. It was stated that the container, whose design was made at the company’s Ruhstorf, Bavaria and Friedrichshafen facilities, has two separate compartments for fuel cells and batteries for safety reasons, and also houses a series of power electronics. In addition, it was stated that the unit control system was completely improved, the air conditioning system was taken to the roof and maintenance operations were simplified with a rack system. In this way, it has been announced that it is possible to change the system modules individually when necessary.
Stating that energy systems using fuel cell modules from the automotive industry were tested at a test stand, and Rolls-Royce engineers were very satisfied with the results, Dr. Peter Riegger said, “The power stretching feature of the fuel cell we have developed and its performance are currently excellent. As expected, it works without any vibration or loud noise.” Riegger also stated that the next step planned for the second half of 2021 is to connect the batteries and power circuit by connecting the 4 demo modules together in the container.
It has been announced that the developed demonstrator will be used for testing purposes and to show the relevant parties for what purposes the system is suitable. It was stated that these features include standby power, primary power, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and the ‘black start’ feature, which allows the system to start from scratch without a mains connection. It was stated that the entire system consists of fuel cell modules, batteries, fire protection device, air conditioning and safety systems, cooling, gas supply and automation sections.
For detailed information on fuel cell technology, you can access the promotional document and the images of the fuel cell at https://www.mtu-solutions.com/eu/en/news-and-media/media-center.html.