From: howard.smith@spacebbs.com (Howard Smith) 
Newsgroups: sci.energy
Subject: Sources for Fuel Cells (o
Date: 27 Jan 93 12:47:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: SPACE BBS - Menlo Park, CA - 10 Lines + 4gB - 415-323-4193
Reply-To: howard.smith@spacebbs.com (Howard Smith) 

BU>I was wondering if anyone knows of vendors of fuel cells (doubtful I know)
BU>or the plans for general (reversible) hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells. Any
BU>information would be appreciated. I have seen the plans (old) for the
BU>20kWatt fuel cell used (or proposed?) for the shuttle program but would
BU>like some current technology. The fuel cells require a closely spaced
BU>cathode/anode seperated by a gas permeable membrane. And I seem to
BU>remember that the actual area was about the size of a half-dollar. This
BU>fuel cell was supposed to be very expensive (>$50k).

There  is  a great flurry of activity in the field of  fuel  cell
design  going on all over the world. An international  conference
on fuel cells, 29Nov-2Dec,1992, in Tucson, Arizona drew over  500
participants  and there were many papers on fuel cells for  vehi-
cles. The 645 page collection of abstracts "Fuel Cell - 1992 Fuel
Cell Seminar" is available from

Courtesy Associates, Inc.
655 15th Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202)639-4994
Fax: (202)347-6109
$30 postpaid.

Also
"Fuel Cell Handbook" by A.J. Appelby and F.R. Foulkes
Van Nostrand - Reinhold, NY 1989
Library of Congress Catalog# 8820913
ISBN# 00-442-31926-6

The "Journal of the International Association for Hydrogen  Ener-
gy" has much information on fuel cells.

International Association for Hydrogen Energy
POB 248266
Coral Gables, Florida 33124

Mark DeLuchi is leading the effort in the application of hydrogen
fuel  cells  at the Institute for Transportation Studies  at  the
University  of California at Davis, He has recently  published  a
158 page paper on the subject. (a more detailed address I  cannot
supply at the moment).


One  company, H Power, is developing a 10kW stack for  automotive
use.

H Power Corporation
60 Montgomery Street
Belleville, NJ 07109
Tel: (201)450-4400
Fax: (201)450-9850

Also  Ballard  in Canada, Energy Partners in Florida  and  Eagle-
Picher  are developing fuel cells for automobiles.  The  Japanese
and Europeans are in there too.

The  reason that fuel cells have cost so much in the past is  the
cost  of the platinum catalyst of which 0.4-1.0 grams per  square
centimeter were required. For a cell using 2,000 to 3,000  square
centimeters  of  cell area that was a lot of  platinum.  However,
recent  developments in proton exchange membrane,  hydrogen  fuel
cells have reduced that requirement to 100 micro-grams per square
centimeter.

There  is a list of the participants in the fuel cell  conference
with  phone,  fax, E-mail and address information on  a  bulletin
board set up for the American Hydrogen Association. Virtually all
the  companies  involved in the field are  listed  there.  Unfor-
tunately, the BBS does not have a link with any net yet. The name
of the file with the names is "fcellmtg.zip" (45K). All are  wel-
come to call and to download this list of contacts.

Howard Smith

American Hydrogen Association BBS (415)494-3116
1200-14,400 baud (V.32bis V.42bis)  8N1  24 hrs
Hydrogen Energy -  Prosperity without Pollution
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