Low Cost MEA
November 1, 2007
The DOE / EMTEC Hydrogen Infrastructure Program Grant was awarded to Precision Energy and Technology (PET) for supporting continuous reel to reel, high volume and low costs MEA production for hydrogen generation purposes. This program concentrates on the material selection and improvement in processing and manufacturing of MEA in conjunction with the PET MEA Bonding Machine. This goal of this program is an automated program that provides a flexible sizing of MEA component for commercialization of electrolysis products.
Educational Fuel Cells
August 9, 2007
The team of Precision Energy and Technology (PET) and Sinclair Community College (SCC) has received an EMTEC Core Grant for the development of educational fuel cells and supporting products. The development centers on a QFD of regional educators in the Ohio. The targeted educational institutions include two year technical schools e.g. Sinclair, Stark, Hocking, etc and 4 year institutions e.g. Case, UD, Rhodes State, Youngstown, etc.
Determining what educators want in the classroom to teach fuel cells is paramount in the success of this program.
Hydrogen Microballoon
March 15, 2007
The team of PowderMet and Precision Energy and Technology (PET) has won a DOE Phase II Hydrogen Program through EMTEC for the development of a Hydrogen Microballoon system that will deliver high pressure hydrogen in a safe, cost effective means.
Stacking SOFC Machine
March 1, 2007
The team of EMTEC, Technology Management Inc (TMI), Precision Energy and Technology (PET), and Ricardo have been awarded a Third Frontier program to build APU’s based on the TMI SOFC. The project will focus in 2 areas. The application of TMI’s SOFC and the packaging required to meet the trucking needs for APU power. The second segment of this project makes use of PET’s expertise in Manufacturing Technology to design and build a high speed fuel cell stacking machine. The stacking machine should reduce labor and increase quality of the SOFC stacks over current manual practices.
MEA Bonder
January 20, 2007
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.
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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