Fuel Cell Testing

The testing of fuel cells for commercial and military applications was instigated at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawaii at Manoa through a partnership between HNEI and the Naval Research Laboratory, funded through an Office of Naval Research initiative. Under this initiative, HNEI has partnered with the Hawaiian Electric Company, the state's largest electric utility, and UTC Fuel Cells, one of the world's leading manufacturers of fuel cells, to develop the Hawaii Fuel Cell Test Facility (HFCTF).

Overview of test facility

Test stand with fuel cell installed

Located on HECO property in downtown Honolulu, this 4,000 sq ft facility was dedicated in April 2003. The test facility currently houses eight test stands, five for up to 100cm² single cells and three with the capability to handle full size (up to 600cm²) single cells or small stacks. One of the smaller test stations was designed and built for high speed hardware-in-loop (HiL) testing to characterize dynamic performance of small fuel cell systems for vehicle applications. Furthermore, HFCTF has a host of supporting equipment including on-site hydrogen generation and storage, extensive safety systems, and on-line high resolution gas analysis. Capabilities allow long-term life testing and cell performance characterization over a wide range of operating conditions, including hydrogen or reformate fuel, air or oxygen, and temperatures up to 100°C. The test stands employ active thermal and water management systems allowing precise control and characterization of these functions. Future work is anticipated to encompass higher cell operating temperatures, membrane and stack testing, transient measurements, and the impact of fuel and air contaminants. The HFCTF's mission is to accelerate acceptance and deployment of fuel cells for commercial and military applications. The Institute is seeking other commercial and public sector partners to participate in this program.

Details of test stand components

At this time, the HFCTF team is active in several fuel cell projects:

1. Contaminant project with ONR
   • Establishment of impurity testing capabilities
   • Development of testing, analysis and diagnostics of contaminant experiments
   • Studies of the impact of air contaminants on fuel cell performance
   • Impact of mixed contaminant
   • Mitigation of impact of air contaminants
2. Fuels purity project with ISO WG12/TC197:
   • Studies of the fuels purity impact on PEMFC performance
   • CO is identified as canary constituent of industrially produced H₂ from natural gas
   • 1, 2, 10 ppm CO tested at various operating conditions
3. Hardware-in-Loop project
   • Development of HiL capability for fuel cell applications
   • Dynamic testing
   • System simulation under HiL conditions
   • Evaluation of (dynamic and static) fuel cell and fuel cell systems
4. Service Testing
   • Testing for industrial partner on large-scale and small-scale levels UTC (Service Testing)/Arkema (new DOE project polymer type)

HFCTF Features

• Eight test stands on site
• Capacity for additional test stands
• Fuel options include hydrogen and reformate
• Air and oxygen operation available with built-in dew point humidifiers
• On-site hydrogen production (Proton Energy Systems' Hogen 6M) and storage
• On-line high resolution gas analysis
• Computerized process control and data acquisition with secure data lines
• Extensive safety features, including gas, heat and exhaust-flow sensing

Fuel cell test assembly details

Planned Capabilities

• Stack testing (up to 5 kW)
• Extended temperature range to accommodate high temperature membrane testing
• Expanded protocols, including transient response measurements and analysis
• Component evaluation: including catalysts, membranes and bipolar plates
• Hardware-in-the-Loop for rapid prototyping of integrated systems
• Validation of dynamic cell, stack, and overall fuel cell system simulations
• On-line viewing of test stand meter readouts during recent actual testing operations

As indicated above, operation of the HFCTF is currently focused on cell and stack testing.

Future work will also include the testing of complete fuel cell systems. Within the arena of fuel cell systems work, both modeling and actual hardware efforts will be involved. Modeling work will include a variety of simulation activities. Under hardware research for fuel cell systems, HNEI will put attention on hardware-in-loop testing with the possibility of rapid system prototyping at some future date.

Related programs at HNEI are sustained via a thrust called the Hawaii Hydrogen Partnerships. This element aims to facilitate and support the deployment and acceptance of fuel cell systems and renewable energy technologies. As a prime example, the State of Hawaii, through its Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT), is developing a Hydrogen Power Park in the islands, based on a U.S. Department of Energy award. HNEI is the implementing partner, and is working with DBEDT, industrial partners such as UTC Fuel Cells, Stuart Energy Systems, local utilities, Sunline Services, and Sentech, Inc., as well as the California Energy Commission, to test the combination of hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells, and renewable energy in a real-world demonstration of these technologies.

Funding of fuel cell related activities is coming from two main sources. The first is the Hawaii Energy and Environmental Technology Initiative (HEET), (a multimillion-dollar federal appropriation through the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Naval Research), as mentioned above, with efforts directed to the assessment and characterization of sea-bed methane hydrates and the development and testing of fuel cells. The other primary source is the Hawaii Hydrogen Center for Development and Deployment of Distributed Energy Systems (HHC) (a multimillion-dollar federal appropriation through the U.S. Department of Energy). In addition, a variety of private industry companies are seeking fuel cell and fuel cell component testing services at the HFCTF.

To return and view the four components of HNEI's overall fuel cell program, click here.

Contact: Richard E. Rocheleau, HNEI Director