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Dipl.-Chem. Thorsten Derieth
vize head of
Department Fuel Cells and Systems
phone: +49-203-7598-3327
t.derieth(at)zbt-duisburg.de
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Metallic Bipolar Plates
Construction and characterization of bipolar plates made of stainless steel sheets
ZBT also is engaged in the construction and characterization of metallic bipolar plates since 2007. Advantages of metallic bipolar plates are the weight and volume reduction compared to common graphite-polymer-compound based bipolar plates. For the material selection for metallic bipolar plates technical aspects like corrosion affinity, electrical conductivity and formability as well as economic aspects have to be considered.
A main activity is the characterization of base materials and corrosion protective coatings in ex-situ and in-situ tests as well. For a quick test of metallic bipolar material under real fuel cell operation conditions, a small single-cell was designed.
- Comparison of a 5-cell-stack consisting of compound based bipolar plates (top) and metallic bipolar plates (bottom)
- Cathode of a metallic bipolar plate test cell (~ 11 cm2 active area)
For the investigation of structured and unstructured metallic material samples the following tests can be performed:
- conductivity measurement (contact resistance measurement)
- voltammetric measurements
- accelerated emersion test (chemical stability)
- In-cell-tests of bipolar plates
- Size accuracy measurement for production quality assurance by TTV-3D
- measurement (total thickness variation): topographical measurement on both sides and surface analysis (roughness & peak-to-valley ratio)
- Measurement of tensile and flexural modulus
Constructing metallic bipolar plates from thin metal sheets (100 – 500 µm) is a certain challenge, considering that it is not possible to produce embedded structures. But anyhow, technical requirements coming from fuel cell operation regarding media supply (fuels, coolants), production process (conversion, cutting, joining) and finally stack assembly (deformation of gas diffusion layer, gaskets and concept of mounting) have to be considered. Therefore professional CAD- and simulation software is used e.g. for thermal and mechanical simulations.
This work was partly conducted within the project „Metallbip – nano-coated, metallic bipolar plates for PEFC”. The project 03SF0325A (07/2007 - 12/2010) is promoted from funds of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) within the program „Netzwerke Grundlagenforschung erneuerbare Energien und rationelle Energieanwendungen“, project partners are Gräbener Maschinentechnik GmbH & Co. KG, HU Berlin, University of Duisburg-Essen and „Forschungsinstitut für Edelmetalle und Metallchemie“ FEM.
