Giner Electrochemical Systems LLC (GES, Newton, MA), a partnership between Giner Inc. and General Motors Corp. (Detroit, MI), announced that it has delivered a complete liquid-feed, direct-methanol fuel cell (LFDMFC) system providing a 50W/12V output to the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL, Adelphi, MD). The lightweight, compact, portable device was fabricated under a small business innovation research contract, and incorporates many of the inventions and technological advances made by GES on various LFDMFC programs funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arlington, VA) during the last 10 years.
The DMFC system provides 50W during normal use, and has a maximum power output of 90W. The use of off-the-shelf components results in dimensions of 45cm x 33cm x 17cm (20in x 13in x 7in) and a weight of 6kg (13lbs). The system is entirely self-contained, with enough on-board methanol storage for 800Wh of operation. The heart of the system, a LFDMFC stack, is based on GES' proprietary molded-graphite, bi-polar plate technology and uses membrane-electrode assemblies developed by GES. The stack provides an average cell voltage of 464 ±12mV at 100mA/cm² during 60 degrees C testing using low-pressure air, prior to insertion into the complete system.
