Brennstoffzellen. Brennstoffzellen für portable und stationäre Kleingeräte. Technikbewertung und Potenziale

A discussion relates to a study by the Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft eV on the fuel cell commissioned by the Bavarian state ministry for trade, traffic, and technology. According to the study, in many areas of use portable and stationary small fuel cell devices have recently entered the market and have the potential within a few years to penetrate the mass market as a niche application. Topics include usage possibilities; engineering measurement studies; market potential; and summing up. The type of usage considered are the hand-helds such as for mobile telephones; portable devices such as for battery chargers; power tools; mobile office systems; and stationary uses such as traffic control systems, measurement engineering, corrosion protection, illumination, and pumps. The smallest portable devices are up to 10 w in power (hand helds). The portable devices operate at 10-50 w. Power tools require 10-1,000 w peak output. Mobile office systems require 100-1000 w and stationary small applications require 1-1000 w. From these five groups three representative devices with different properties are chosen to analyze the use of fuel cell systems to supply energy. As conventional energy supply nickel-metal hydride, nickel-cadmium, lithium ion, and lead batteries are used. Fuel cells considered are the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and direct methanol (DM) fuel cells. The hydrogen fueled PEM fuel cell has the advantage of high output density and requires compared with the DM fuel cell less complex accessory apparatus. The problem inheres in the storage of the hydrogen that at today's state of the art is achieved by the use of metal hydrides and eventually gas cartridges. In this respect the DM fuel cell profits from the high energy density of methanol as fuel. The high expectations relating to fuel cell technology are mirrored by the numerous research activities in the field, mainly in Europe, Japan, and the US with a focus on the low output range. Industry also has a great interest in fuel cell systems.