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Teledyne delivers 12 kWe PEM power plant to Nasa M aryland-based Teledyne Energy Systems has delivered a 12 kWe 'engineering model' PEM fuel cell power plant to Nasa's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The delivery completes Phase II of the company's contract, awarded in 2001, to develop a more reliable, powerful and low-maintenance fuel cell power plant for use in future Nasa spacecraft [FCB, October 2003].
The power plant includes an advanced hydrogen/oxygen PEM fuel cell stack that provides 30 V and up to 12 kWe of power without any power electronics, providing weight and reliability advantages. The engineering model also demonstrates advances in startup time, response to power changes, water management and fuel efficiency, according to Teledyne.
The engineering model will undergo testing at Nasa, including vibration and thermal vacuum testing to simulate operation in space. The results will be used to validate the system's readiness to proceed to the flight hardware development stage.
According to Teledyne, which is developing PEM fuel cells for space, aircraft and defense applications, these systems offer several advantages over the alkaline fuel cells currently used for spaceflight. These include the ability to use propellant-grade reactants, the potential for lower cost resulting from wider commercial use, lower maintenance costs because of their simpler design, and a greater operational flexibility created by their wide power band.
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