The Flexible Fuel Cell

燃料电池有一个问题。目前常见的燃料电池的几何设计是不容错的，并要求所有的组件在一个几乎理想的方式操作。这是因为燃料电池堆中的每个发电单元都是串联的：燃料电池链中最薄弱的环节决定了性能和可靠性。简单地说：如果一个燃料电池就像一串电池连接在一起，那么这个燃料电池只能和所有电池中表现最差的一样工作。如果一个电池坏了，那么整个燃料电池就坏了。这意味着每个电池（或燃料电池中的膜电极组件）必须按照非常高的标准生产。我们需要确保它们在燃料电池堆的使用寿命期间不会出现故障。这使得燃料电池电极很难生产，并大大增加了成本。但是如果我们可以设计一个燃料电池堆，这样我们就可以把坏的单元换掉，让燃料电池继续工作呢？这样的燃料电池将显示出对不利环境和内部影响的容错性和弹性。事实上，甚至有可能护理表现不佳的电极，并哄它们恢复健康（或至少阻止它们完全失效）。简而言之，这就是这个项目的目的——从根本上重新设计燃料电池的工作方式。这将使我们能够更好地控制燃料电池的运行，而不是其他地方使用的配置。新设计的一个有趣的副产品是，我们可以将动力控制电子设备直接与燃料电池集成在一起。这意味着我们可以实现显著的空间节省和控制电子成本的降低。为了生产这种新型燃料电池，我们需要化学和化学工程方面的工作紧密结合。新型电极的开发是由与“透膜”连接器生产相关的一些微妙化学指导的。将这些电极集成到一个堆叠中需要一种完全不同的外壳。这样的工作必须通过建模和仿真来仔细指导，并且需要反馈结果来优化电极。因此我们需要化学家和工程师之间的密切合作，以确保项目的成功。研究小组将得到四个外部合作伙伴的协助。这些合作者将协助燃料电池系统的开发，并代表一个代表开发链的平衡团队：一个技术转让公司（帝国创新有限公司）将管理帝国理工学院这项工作的商业化；应用程序开发人员（应用智力资本），负责定义市场并建立精确的操作需求；材料供应商/开发商（SPC Technologies Ltd），将提供用作流场和密封材料的样品材料，并在多孔塑料的加工方面提供专业知识；和一个潜在的最终用户（国防科学技术实验室），他们将根据步兵任务的要求测试坚固的轻型设计。

Fuel Cells have a problem.The current geometrical design of common fuel cells is not fault tolerant and requires all components to operate in an almost ideal manner. This is because each power generating unit in a fuel cell stack is connected in series: the weakest link in the fuel cell chain dictates performance and reliability. Put simply: if a fuel cell is like a string of batteries all connected in a line, then that fuel cell can only operate as well as the worst performing of all of the batteries. If one of the batteries fails, then the entire fuel cell fails. This means that each battery (or membrane electrode assembly in the fuel cell case) must be produced to very high standards. We need to make sure that none of them fail during the operational life of the fuel cell stack. This makes the fuel cell electrodes very difficult to produce and contributes significantly to their cost. But what if we could design a fuel cell stack so that we can switch out bad units and allow the fuel cell to continue operation?Such a fuel cell would then show fault tolerance and resilience to adverse environmental and internal influences. Indeed it might even be possible to nurse poorly performing electrodes, and coax them back to good health (or at least stop them from failing entirely). In a nut-shell, that is the purpose of this project - to radically redesign how fuel cells operate. This will allow us to have much greater control of the fuel cell operation compared to the configuration used almost exclusively everywhere else. An interesting by-product of the new design is that we can integrate the power control electronics directly with the fuel cell. This means that we can achieve significant space savings and a decrease in the cost of the controlling electronics. In order to produce this new type of fuel cell, we require a very tight coupling between both Chemistry and Chemical Engineering aspects of the work. The development of new types of electrodes is guided by some subtle chemistry associated with the production of 'through-membrane' connectors. The integration of those electrodes into a stack requires a radically different type of housing. Such work must be carefully guided by modelling and simulation, and the results need to be fed back to optimise the electrodes. Thus we require close cooperation between both chemists and engineers in order to ensure the success of the project. The research team will be assisted by four collaborating external partners. These collaborators will assist with the development of the fuel cell system and represent a balanced team representing the development chain: a technology transfer company (Imperial Innovations Ltd) who will manage the commercialisation of this work out of Imperial; an applications developer (Applied intellectual Capital) who will define the market and establish precise operational requirements; a materials supplier / developer (SPC Technologies Ltd) who will supply sample materials for use as flow fields and sealant material and contribute expertise on the processing of porous plastics; and a potential end user (The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory) who will test the robust lightweight design against requirements for infantry missions.