With the sudden rise in interest of Electric Vehicle technology, Fuel Cells are making their way back into energy ecosystem. Ecosense’s Fuel Cell lab is focused on familiarizing user with Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology and enabling them to design a micro–Fuel Cell enabled standalone system.

Ecosense’s Fuel Cell Training system is a standalone Fuel Cell system, the output of fuel cell is connected to a charge controller and charge controller is further connected to a battery, an inverter, and AC and DC Loads to run utilities.

Fuel Cell unit receives dry hydrogen from the Hydrogen gas cylinder at preset LPM. The generated power can be used directly by a DC load but as per the V-I curve of Fuel cell system, the voltage reduces as we increase the load, therefore, the power generated by fuel cell system cannot be used directly hence the output is connected to a charge controller which charges the battery and maintain output as per the battery voltage. The battery bank is further connected to a home inverter so that home utilities can be used as a load for the fuel cell system.

By using the Fuel Cell training system, a user will be able to understand characteristics of fuel cell with the help of resistive load or DC-DC converter, output power variation of fuel cell with change in hydrogen supply, fuel cell performance with DC/AC load and output variation of fuel cell with a change in temperature.

Technical Characteristics ≫

• Study characteristics of fuel cell with the help of a resistive load
• Output power variation of fuel cell with change in hydrogen supply
• Fuel Cell performance with DC load only
• Fuel Cell performance with AC load only
• Fuel Cell performance with AC and DC load (standalone system)
• An active measurement panel to measure different voltages, currents and temperature
• Option to add more fuel cell stacks in parallel
• Option to add an electrolyser for hydrogen production

Technical Advantages ≫

• Modular and Scalable design
• System is rigorously tested and can work continuously without switching off
• Require very less space for installation
• Reliable Quality: Basically, no after sales service is required
• System comes with an illustrated experiment manual detailing every wiring connection to be made
• Specifications can be customized as per requirement
• Detailed demonstration and training of system is done during commissioning of the system

Experiments ≫

• Draw Characteristics of fuel cell with the help of resistive load or DC-DC converter
• Output power variation of fuel cell with change in Hydrogen supply
• Evaluate Fuel cell system performance with only DC load connected to the charge controller with battery bank
• Evaluate Fuel cell System performance with only AC load connected to the inverter with battery bank
• Evaluate Output power variation of fuel cell with change in temperature

Research Options ≫

• System can be developed as a grid-connected system
• System can be developed as a hybrid grid connected system
• Using Power Electronics converters instead of charge controller and inverter, user can test MPPT algorithms and different control algorithms

Specifications ≫

Type of fuel cell	PEM
Number of cells	48
Rated Power	1000W
Performance	28.8V @ 35A
H2 Supply valve voltage	12V
Purging valve voltage	12V
Blower voltage	12V
Reactants	Hydrogen and Air
External temperature	5 to 30ºC
Max. stack temperature	65ºC
H2 Pressure	0.45-0.55bar
Hydrogen purity	≧99.995﹪ dry H2
Humidification	self-humidified
Cooling	Air (integrated cooling fan)
Stack weight (with fan & casing)	4000 grams(±100grams)
Controller weight	400 grams(±30grams)
Dimension	23.3cm x 26.8cm x 12.3cm
Flow rate at max output*	13 L/min
Startup time	≦30S at ambient temperature
Efficiency of stack	40% @ 28.8V
Low voltage shut down	24V
Over current shut down	42A
Over temperature shut down	65℃
External power supply**	13V(±1V),8A

Power Control Unit

Charge Controller	1 kW PWM Charge Controller
Battery Bank	12 V, 26 Ah, 2 Batteries in series
Inverter	24 V Battery, 1650 VA Home Inverter