Dana Incorporated is contributing to the industrialization of high-performance fuel cell stacks through its support of the Autostack Industry project, an alliance of German automotive manufacturers, suppliers, and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research.
To help the project advance toward fuel-cell stack commercialization, Dana designed and optimized its metallic bipolar plate to meet cost and performance targets for early market entry. The company displayed its latest fuel-cell technologies at Hannover Messe 2018, April 23-27, in Hannover, Germany.
Fuel cells offer a clean energy alternative for today's vehicles and are considered a great power source for vehicles with long range requirements, such as delivery trucks, city buses, and passenger cars, as they can be rapidly refueled. The Autostack Industry project is focused on decreasing the cost and improving the quality of fuel cells to further the opportunity for large-scale production.
"Dana leverages the latest research in new energy solutions to introduce cutting-edge fuel-cell components, assisting the industry in moving toward commercializing automotive fuel cells," says Dwayne Matthews, President of Dana Power Technologies. "The possibilities for fuel-cell technologies are very exciting and we believe our expertise in design-to-cost and high-volume manufacturing strongly supports the efforts of Autostack Industry."
At Hannover Messe, Dana showcased its e-mobility products, including battery and electronics cooling solutions and fuel-cell components. Among the fuel-cell components exhibited will be bipolar plates made from stainless steel or graphite composite. These plates feature integrated sealing and conductive coating technologies and take advantage of the company's precision stamping and molding, as well as fluid management capabilities to deliver increased performance and reliability at a lower cost. Other fuel-cell component products Dana will showcase are its charge air coolers and a range of gas-to-liquid cooling solutions, as well as valves.
In addition, Dana displayed its thermal management subsystems, which are critical in advanced fuel-cell engine performance. With state-of-the-art designs, they provide enhanced performance with reduced parasitic energy losses to help customers meet fuel efficiency and durability targets.
Dana first joined Autostack CORE, the predecessor to Autostack Industry, in 2010. Autostack Industry is comprised of major automotive manufacturers, including BMW, Daimler, Ford, and Volkswagen, with the objective to develop a generic fuel-cell stack.
In 2016, Dana announced it had joined the Project INSPIRE, a consortium made up of Europe's top fuel-cell catalyst researchers and development organizations along with BMW, to collaborate on accelerating the commercialization of fuel cells. For its role in this consortium, Dana engineers at its technology center in Neu-Ulm, Germany, will lead the development of an advanced metallic bipolar plate design for automotive fuel cells.
Dana is a proven supplier of solutions for tomorrow's power sources and has a long history of innovation in fuel-cell product technologies. The company has displayed these solutions at Hannover Messe for more than a decade.
