Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for communication applications

An advanced portable power source using a 50 Watt (PPS-50) polymer electrolyte membrane cell EMFC) system was developed by Ball Aerospace under the US Army, Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and the Office Special Technology (OST) joint program. The PEMFC system was designed as required for commercial and military applications. The system as evaluated extensively under different environmental temperatures and humidity conditions. The thermal behavior and discharge performances of the PEMFC system at different discharge currents, temperatures and relative humidities were also investigated. The temperature range was from −10 to 50°C and the relative humidity (r.h.) from 10 to 90%. The PPS-50 system can provide a normal power output about 50 W at 12 V, while the peak power output can reach approximately 65 W (11 V, 6 A). The water production efficiency from the cathode was approximately 70%, and the residual 30% diffused to the anode side. The system was also used to power PRC-119 radios for communication applications, and it performed extremely well during the retransmission site test, operating continuously for over 25 h.