Technology Validation

One important component of CGFCC's plan is to assist in the validation of fuel cell systems for our partnering organizations. This validation process includes running the systems in house, performing various tests and finally analysis of the results. Highlights of a few of those programs are as follows:

• FuelCell Energy, Inc. of Danbury Connecticut has worked with the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center (CGFCC) to develop an advanced Electrochemical Hydrogen Separator (EHS); a device that will be used with the company's Direct FuelCell® power plants. This program was sponsored by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and targets the demonstration of a novel technology that separates hydrogen from other gases. In 2006, a prototype EHS system, built by FuelCell Energy, was installed in the CGFCC's service laboratory. Since installation this unit has operated for well over 7,000 hours, demonstrating highly invariant performance and exceeded the performance objectives of the overall program.
  
  
• UTC Power and CGFCC have partnered together for a Yankee Ingenuity grant titled "Enabling Fuel Cells for Distributed Telecom Backup Power Applications: Accelerated Reliability Testing Capability and Methods". This program was awarded in July 2006 and according to a UTC Power spokesman, "it will be the first application of a reliability assurance methodology to fuel cell systems." The method has been developed by the research team at the Center over a period of years, and has been adapted in the last few years to PEM fuel cells as part of an earlier research program funded by UTC Power. This program will contribute substantially to the deployment and commercialization of a 5 kW fuel cell-based backup power system designed for the telecommunications industry. Click here for a photo taken of the installation at CGFCC.