pic: Green Machine Competition - 10 Cell Fuel Cell Stack

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by sparksandtabs

I am a little confused, I don't see a PEM in the stack, and from looking at the picture of the plates, I don't see how the gasses flow through.

*I am new to fuel cells...I am only used to seeing PEM fuel cells

-john

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The MEA (the proton exchange membranes) are very thin, and there's one (and two surrounding PTFE gaskets) between each bipolar plate. The reason you can't see them in this picture is simply because of the angle at which it was taken at.

This fuel cell system is "open breathing," as the oxygen just enters from the outside into the spaces inbetween the plates. We got computer fans to increase air flow to the cell.

The hydrogen enters through the tube seen in the picture.

Nice close-ups by the way

Yeah it's a pretty lose fitting system, and not the most efficiently way you would think but it's cost effective and produces a good bit of electricity. Fans included in the kit not only make it more efficiently by cooling it, help it produce more electricity. Because of the design, the first time you run it your supposed to run it essentially on no load to help it flow better.

Originally Posted by chris31

Oh. OK. I didnt think just one would be enough to power much.

With a 1 cell stack, it would be pretty hard to get 1 volt, let alone 1 amp out of it, unless it was really big.