3D Printed Housing Unit for PEM Fuel Cell Bi-Polar Plates

质子交换膜燃料电池（pemfc）在运输行业的脱碳中发挥着至关重要的作用。pemfc使用氢作为燃料来发电，只排放水作为副产品。这使得pemfc成为一种有吸引力的汽车动力技术，因为它们不排放有害污染物或温室气体。然而，较高的重量、复杂的制造工艺和成本是pemfc商业化的主要障碍。本项目提出了一种新型的质子交换膜燃料电池的研制和制造工艺，可使燃料电池的重量和成本降低40-60%。这将通过两个主要步骤实现；首先，采用开孔泡沫材料作为燃料电池的流板通道；其次，采用熔融沉积建模3D打印制成的塑料外壳构建完整的PEM单体电池。

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) can play a crucial role in decarbonizing the transport industry. PEMFCs use hydrogen as fuel to produce electricity, emitting only water as a by-product. This makes PEMFCs an attractive technology for powering vehicles, as they do not emit harmful pollutants or greenhouse gases. However, the higher weight, complex manufacturing processes and cost are the major barriers in commercialization of the PEMFCs. In this project, a novel manufacturing process is proposed to develop and manufacture the Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, which will reduce the fuel cell's weight and cost by 40-60%. This will be achieved by two major steps; firstly, using an open-pore cellular foam material as flow plate channels for the fuel cell and secondly, constructing complete PEM single cell using a plastic housing made by fused deposition modeling 3D printing.