Appliance Design - March 2008 - (Page 16)

POWER illustrating how quickly the subsidy reduces as the number of units increase. The target is a zero-subsidy unit by 2012. Ballard Power Systems, a fuel-cell producer based in Vancouver, Canada, has developed a fuel-cell stack for CHP appliances that are being marketed in Japan. Ballard partnered with Ebara, a Japanese company, and jointly set up a company called Ebara Ballard. That company has signed agreements with Tokyo Gas and Nippon Oil, two of Japan’s largest utility companies, to make and distribute the units. Unlike the U.S., in Japan the utility companies sell and service the heating and hot water appliances, says Terry Howe, market segment manager for Ballard. The Canadian-based company focused on Japan because it saw a market need for the technology and because of the Japanese government’s support, Howe says. The islands of Japan have few energy resources and as a result imports 84 percent of its overall fuel needs and nearly 100 percent of its oil. Because of that, the Japanese consumer pays some of the highest energy prices in the world – approximately 21 cents a kW/hr as compared to about 7 cents per kW/hr in the U.S. Ballard’s Mark1030(TM) fuel cells are designed for CHP appliances made by Tokyo Gas, which makes the natural gas version, and Nippon Oil products, for the kerosene version. This system is made up of two units. The first unit, which stands about 1 meter tall houses the fuel cell stack and the reformer technology that extracts the hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas or kerosene. The second unit, roughly 2 meters tall, houses a 200-liter water tank. Tokyo Gas and Nippon Oil have developed fuel-processing technology that reforms natural gas and kerosene respectively into a hydrogen rich gas, which then powers the Ballard fuel cell. The technology is an integrated vessel, which contains the steam reformer, shift reactor and final stage to remove carbon Ballard’s Mark10 v.3 has been tested to withstand 40,000 hours of operation. monoxide. The fuel cell’s core technology is based on a proton exchange membrane (PEM). A PEM fuel cell is made up of two plates, two electrodes, and two thin layers of platinumbased catalyst. The catalyst is separated by a plastic membrane which, when fed with hydrogen fuel, reacts electrochemically to create electricity. Hydrogen and oxygen from airflow is fed through channels in the plates. The hydrogen flows on one side of the membrane, and air on the other side. The catalyst splits the hydrogen molecule into protons and electrons. The protons can pass through the membrane, but the electrons cannot, and have to pass through an external circuit, creating electricity. On the oxygen side of the membrane, the protons and the electrons react with oxygen from the Ceres is developing a fuel cell stack that will look like this one. 16 applianceDESIGN March 2008 www.applianceDESIGN.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - March 2008

Appliance Design - March 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch A New Appliance is Set to Break into Homes Soon - the Micro CHP Unit, which Generate both Heat and Power. Thermally Enhanced Varistors Help Protect Low-Power Systems Against Damage Caused by Over-Current, Over-Temperature and Over-Voltage Faults. Hybrid Controller Reduces Standby Power Consumption and Improves Active-Mode Efficiency. Battery-Management ICs Solve Design Challenges for Cordless Appliances Using High-Voltage, Lithium-Ion Battery Technology. A Semiconductor Solution Protects the Relay in a Temperature Controller for a Cooking Appliance. New Polyurethane Foam Insulation System Optimizes both Insulation Performance and Productivity. Innovations in Decorative, Pre-Finished Metals Expand Range of Design Options for Appliance Designers. Design Marts Association Report: AHAM Advertiser's Index

Appliance Design - March 2008

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