DEVELOPMENT OF A 0.25-KW PHOSPHORIC-ACID FUEL-CELL STACK

The R&D activities on Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) technology at t he Energy Research Institute, KACST, have progressed successfully duri ng the past 3 years. The development of components with ''in-house'' k now-how of half cells, mono cells, 100W, and 250W stacks has been quit e successful. The 0.25 kW PAFC stack is the first prototype developed in the Gulf countries (GCC) with ''in-house'' know-how for the prepara tion of the large size porous carbon electrodes (anodes/cathodes), ele ctrolyte matrices, graphite bi-polar plates, external aluminum gas man ifolds, and other components necessary for constructing the PAFC stack s. In this paper, details of the preparation of the porous carbon elec trodes, electrolyte matrices, design and fabrication technique of grap hite bi-polar plates are given. The assembly and the experimental test results of the half cells, mono cells, 100 W, and 0.25 kW PAFC stacks are reported.