STATUS OF FUEL-CELLS RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES AT SANYO

Sanyo is currently developing four types of fuel cell including phosph oric acid fuel cells (PAFCs), polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) . PAFC portable power units are fully developed. Such units are small, high performance, clean and quiet power sources which utilize a hydro gen absorbing alloy developed by Sanyo, as the fuel supplier. Their sp ecific performance was maintained through 600 cycle tests. PEFC and SO FC R&D are being carried out under contract from the New Energy and In dustrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Development of PE FCs with a high ion-conductive electrode is being carried out. A I kW module has been developed. Combined-cell stacking technology for plana r SOFCs is being developed. A 160 cm(2) x 30 cell stack was assembled and achieved a maximum output power of 1064 W; the decay rate was 4.4% /1000 h over the 1800 h of operation. A 30 kW class direct internal re forming MCFC system with light petroleum fuels was developed jointly w ith Tonen Corporation and Toyo Engineering Corporation, with the suppo rt from the Petroleum Energy Center (PEC). This system produced an out put power of 30.5 kW.