La producci\u00f3n de pilas de combustible para veh\u00edculos impulsados por hidr\u00f3geno ha sido hasta ahora compleja y demasiado lenta. Un equipo de Fraunhofer pretende cambiar eso y est\u00e1 trabajando en una l\u00ednea de producci\u00f3n continua. La promesa: la l\u00ednea procesar\u00e1 los componentes de las pilas de combustible en ciclos que durar\u00e1n s\u00f3lo unos segundos. <\/p>\n
Fraunhofer razona que la producci\u00f3n de pilas de combustible es demasiado lenta para acercarse a los objetivos que se ha fijado Europa. Por ejemplo, la \"Estrategia del Hidr\u00f3geno\" de la Comisi\u00f3n Europea pretende ampliar la producci\u00f3n de electr\u00f3lisis en 40 gigavatios m\u00e1s. Suficiente para un futuro de hidr\u00f3geno, pero \"hasta ahora, Europa no dispone de ninguna instalaci\u00f3n de producci\u00f3n masiva que pueda cubrir esta demanda\", afirma Fraunhofer.<\/p>\n
Entre en escena el equipo que rodea al Dr. Christoph Baum, Director General del Instituto Fraunhofer de Tecnolog\u00eda de Producci\u00f3n IPT de Aquisgr\u00e1n. \"Necesitamos l\u00edneas de producci\u00f3n ininterrumpida que puedan soltar y procesar componentes en ciclos que duren s\u00f3lo unos segundos\", afirma Baum, con el tel\u00f3n de fondo de una industria en la que la mayor\u00eda de las veces varios productores fabrican diversos componentes por separado. Fraunhofer las denomina \"islas de m\u00e1quinas\" en las que se realizan los distintos pasos previos al ensamblaje de las pilas de combustible. Se trata de un sistema complejo \"en el que las piezas tienen que ser recogidas, colocadas y almacenadas en b\u00fafer varias veces, lo que consume mucho tiempo\", explica Baum. La soluci\u00f3n de Fraunhofer: desarrollar una l\u00ednea piloto ininterrumpida en la que los componentes de las pilas de combustible se fabriquen y ensamblen en el producto final en un solo lugar.<\/p>\n
El n\u00facleo del proyecto es la pila de combustible o los cientos de placas bipolares que la componen. Las placas bipolares se arrastran a trav\u00e9s de un intrincado sistema de canales milim\u00e9tricamente estrechos; el hidr\u00f3geno se introduce por un extremo y el agua producida por la reacci\u00f3n qu\u00edmica en la pila se expulsa por el otro. La producci\u00f3n de estas placas es todo un reto, ya que se asemejan m\u00e1s a una pel\u00edcula que a una placa y deben manipularse con extrema precauci\u00f3n y en m\u00faltiples pasos.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
La producci\u00f3n de pilas de combustible para veh\u00edculos impulsados por hidr\u00f3geno ha sido hasta ahora compleja y demasiado lenta. Un equipo de Fraunhofer pretende cambiar eso y est\u00e1 trabajando en un proceso continuo de<\/p>","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":152498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9927],"tags":[7098,215,22903,19076,22907,7097],"class_list":["post-152537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-fuel-cell","tag-fcev","tag-fraunhofer","tag-fraunhofer-ipt","tag-fraunhofer-iws","tag-fraunhofer-iwu","tag-fuel-cell"],"acf":{"inhalt_teil2":"
“We are predicting that hundreds of thousands of bipolar plates will be needed for the hydrogen economy of the future,” says Christoph Baum. “For this reason, we are striving to achieve a throughput of at least one bipolar plate per second across all plants.” Because some process steps are faster than others, the challenge is to optimize the flow as a whole, according to Fraunhofer. While the blank pressing process, which the team calls deep drawing, only takes about a second, adding a protective layer takes much longer.<\/p>\n
The team at Fraunhofer IPT has already developed a production line on which special pick-and-place handling devices hand down all components and the bipolar plates in such a way as to create a fluent process. The institute will present the pilot line during the Hannover Messe Digital Edition from 12 to 16 April. Fraunhofer IPT also teamed up with Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU to lay out their “action plan” and initial research results for the cost-effective, automated mass production of fuel cells.<\/p>\n
On the said note of automation, the CoBIP project (continuous roll-to-roll production of bipolar plates for fuel cells) drives the automation of the pilot line together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, the J\u00fclich Research Center and several industrial partners. The researchers are developing a plant for processing the bipolar plates in a film strip – “off the roll,” the team calls it. The film strip passes through the machine and all process steps. Only at the very end are the bipolar plates cut off the strip and isolated. This continuous process from the roll to the finished item will save several handling steps, according to Fraunhofer. The institute further claims that the plant is designed to be so flexible that industrial partners can exchange and test individual production modules at will.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s true that in Europe, we have a good deal of system expertise for manufacturing high-grade fuel cells. But we lack the facilities to produce fuel cells on an industrial scale at competitive prices \u2014 production lines like we already see at Hyundai or Toyota,” Christoph Baum sums up. Fraunhofer adds that the hurdle of industrial production scaling should not be underestimated when it comes to fuel cells. Similar to batteries, transferring systems from the laboratory to mass production is a complex matter.<\/p>\n