MEA Bonder

Thomas J. Willis, a Miamisburg businessman who is a private partner in the project, plans to use the machine for high-volume production of a component membrane used in one type of fuel cell.

This type of fuel cell has a quick startup and is used as a backup power source for computers. With further development, these cells could someday also be used to power electric cars, said Michael Martin, vice president of alternative energy technology at the state-backed Edison Materials Technology Center in Kettering, which works with companies to develop improved manufacturing procedures for technology products.

The center, using a $719,200 grant from the state’s Third Frontier fuel cell program, organized and led the project that involved Willis’ Precision Energy and Technology firm; Faraday Technology Inc., of Clayton; and Case Western Reserve University. The U.S. Department of Energy provided a $100,000 grant toward the $1.3 million project, which included private investment.

The machine was developed in an area Willis leases from the University of Dayton Research Institute at the National Composite Center.

It could make those proton exchange membrane fuel cells more affordable by more efficiently and rapidly producing the membrane exchange assemblies that generate electricity and are stacked in the fuel cells to increase their power output, Willis said.

The exchange assemblies are supplied with hydrogen and oxygen. The membranes that the machine bonds together allow protons to pass through in the process that generates electricity, and gives off water vapor.

At a membrane manufacturing symposium the Edison Materials Center sponsored last August, Willis said he was surprised when a Toyota official who learned of the machine’s development expressed interest in buying one. Selling them isn’t the first priority, he said. “My real interest here is to move it into production before anything else,” Willis said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

 

By Greenlees/Staff photo

Precision Energy and Technology president Thomas J. Willis shows a membrane electrode assembly, top, and complete fuel cell. Willis’ company produces the membrane electrode assemblies on the machine behind him.

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Fuel cell development

Fuel cells are commonly used as power sources in industry and for devices including laptops and other computers, cell phones and video cameras.

The Ohio Department of Development’s Third Frontier fuel cell program is intended to build the state’s capability for support of fuel cell technology and production.

The Third Frontier grant will help Technology Management Inc. in a Dayton-area project to develop a small-scale solid oxide fuel cell into a bigger unit to provide power in heavy trucks, state officials say.

California-based UltraCell Corp., which manufactures methanol fuel cells for portable power, announced plans in October 2006 to open a plant near Dayton International Airport that will employ about 360 people during the next four years. UltraCell is a supplier of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

This article can be found at Dayton Daily News