Sized for Discovery

The objective was to test the in-situ performance of the novel fuel cell materials that I created. This required a test cell with a small active area, as material size was constrained by manufacturing equipment. Reviews and trials of commercial-off-the-shelf test cells revealed that none were acceptable – so I developed my own.

A test cell was developed to accommodate cells from 2.25-5.00 cm2. It featured liquid temperature control and pneumatic cell compression. It also featured several cost/time/performance improvements versus our larger cell design: drop-in cell assembly; reduced thermal mass; and fewer and simpler components.

Multiple cells were built to serve our group’s research. Enabled by my other laboratory hardware investments, the design is fully in-house serviceable and manufacturable.