As part of the “H2FastCell” research project, a research team from Fraunhofer IPA and Campus Schwarzwald are developing a robot cell for the automated high-speed assembly of fuel cell stacks in conjunction with an industry consortium. In so doing, they are laying the foundations for the industrial mass production of this emissions-free technology.
Hydrogen looks set to play an important role as an energy source. It can be produced in electrolyzers in a carbon-neutral manner from renewable energy before being transformed into electrical energy in fuel cells. The advantages of fuel cells can especially be seen in the area of freight transport in comparison with battery-powered electric vehicles. However, there are also many future application areas for fuel cells in stationary areas.
Efficient cycle times and absolute precision are crucial when manufacturing fuel cells. The overarching aim is to reduce manufacturing costs in order to make the use of this technology more cost-effective. However, this can only be achieved through scaling effects, which call for fully automated manufacturing plants with accordingly high capacities. This kind of manufacturing plant is not yet available on the market, while the configuration of the components also requires further optimization to produce a design suitable for automation. Therefore, it is worthwhile to look for ways right now in which they can be automated and manufactured at scale.
This is exactly what the research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA and the Center for Digitization, Leadership and Sustainability Schwarzwald (Campus Schwarzwald) have sought to achieve as part of the “H2FastCell” project. Together with teams from five companies, the scientists are aiming to develop a robot cell by 2023 that can assemble the individual layers of a fuel cell in a matter of seconds and with absolute precision.
A fuel cell stack consists of layers of bipolar plates stacked on top of each other, through which hydrogen and oxygen are fed, as well as membrane electrode units in which the two chemical elements react with each other. As this reaction only produces a maximum output of a single volt, it means that around 400 fuel cells would need to be stacked to power a truck, for example. This is a process which demands utmost precision. After all, even the slightest deviation – even by a matter of microns – can diminish the performance of the fuel cell system.
For this reason, the assembly robot tasked with stacking the bipolar plates and membrane electrode units in the H2FastCell research project will scan the individual layers as they are picked up. As it builds several stacks in parallel, it is able to spontaneously allocate a layer to the stack which best fits the measurements. In so doing, performance reductions are prevented before they even arise. All of this takes place so quickly that, at one second per step, it is difficult for humans to make out the individual assembly steps with the naked eye. This means that a single stack consisting of 400 fuel cells would be completed after around only 13 minutes. A human being carrying out this process would require the same amount of time multiple times over.
“If the throughput of the stacks can be increased in this way, it will serve as the foundation for industrial mass production of fuel cells. Prices would then fall and the use of fuel cells in mobile heavy-duty applications would be conclusively competitive”, says Friedrich-Wilhelm Speckmann from the Center for Digitized Battery Cell Manufacturing at Fraunhofer IPA. Along with Erwin Groß from the Department for Corporate Strategy and Development at Fraunhofer IPA, they both lead the H2FastCell research project.
By summer 2023, the research team at Campus Schwarzwald in Freudenstadt is aiming to have built a demonstrator stacking system for automated fuel cell assembly. This system will be available to companies for further trials, feasibility analyses and validations. “With this project, we are laying the foundations for our future research center for a bio-intelligent hydrogen circular economy in the Black Forest. In so doing, our aim together with businesses in Baden-Württemberg is to make hydrogen technology usable as an energy source in both mobile and stationary applications”, says Stefan Bogenrieder, Managing Director Campus Schwarzwald.
The H2FastCell research project was launched on June 26, 2021 for a period of two years. Alongside Fraunhofer IPA and Campus Schwarzwald, five businesses from Baden-Württemberg are also involved: software developer ISG Industrielle Steuerungstechnik GmbH from Stuttgart, the vacuum technology manufacturer J. Schmalz GmbH from Glatten in the north of the Black Forest region, the sensor manufacturer imation GmbH from Rottweil, the machinery and plant engineers teamtechnik Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH from Freiberg am Neckar and the automation technology specialists WEISS GmbH from Buchen im Odenwald. The H2FastCell research project has benefited from promotional funding of around EUR 2.3 million from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg.
Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA