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Article
Design and Demonstration of Automated Technologies for the Fabrication and Testing of PEM Fuel Cell Systems
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research
  • Vladimir Gurau, Georgia Southern University
  • Daniel Cox, Georgia Southern University
  • Devin C Fowler, Georgia Southern University
  • Matthew Carter, Georgia Southern University
  • Adedayo Ogunleke, Georgia Southern University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2020
DOI
10.18178/ijmerr.9.5.640-645
Abstract

This paper describes the research efforts at Georgia Southern University to develop robotic technologies for the fabrication of fuel cell components and stacks, as well as the design and fabrication of a High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (HT-PEMFC) power system to be used as motive power and auxiliary power unit (APU) for a long range, unmanned, fully autonomous forest rover. The paper describes a manufacturing workcell consisting of a Yaskawa Motoman SDA5F dual arm robot with machine vision used for sorting, reorientation and stacking fuel cell components in presenters in preparation for their subsequent robotic assembly in fuel cell stacks. It also describes a manufacturing workcell consisting of a Fanuc LR Mate 200iD robot, an in-house made computer numerically controlled (CNC) router and programmable logic controller (PLC) used for automated fabrication of graphite bipolar plates for fuel cells. It presents the design and integration of a fully automated test stand used for testing fuel cells up to 4 kWe power and the design and fabrication of a 250 W, 166 cm2 active area fuel cell stack prototype. The operation characteristics of this short stack prototype are studied before a larger 3 kW fuel cell system will be built.

Comments

Copyright © 2020 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Citation Information
Vladimir Gurau, Daniel Cox, Devin C Fowler, Matthew Carter, et al.. "Design and Demonstration of Automated Technologies for the Fabrication and Testing of PEM Fuel Cell Systems" International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research Vol. 9 Iss. 5 (2020) p. 640 - 645 ISSN: 2315-4462
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/vladimir-gurau/46/