Fuel cell production of the future – starting signal for the “i-skaB” project.
Within the framework of i-skaB, the processes of fuel cell production are to be further developed in such a way that production, which is still largely manual, can become fully automated production. This should increase annual production 20-fold: from up to 25,000 to more than 500,000 fuel cells per year on one line in the medium term.
The degree of automation in production lines for fuel cells and their central components such as bipolar plates (BPP) and membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) is still very low today. A production line currently has such short cycle times that it can only produce a few fuel cell stacks per day.
The project consortium consists of five industrial companies and two research partners. Only the bundled know-how of all partners allows the future industrialization and scaling of fuel cell production.
Quality assurance based on computer vision and digital holography
The project requires completely new, completely automatable and innovative production technologies. All key technologies of the production process are to be optimised, tested and validated within the project period of three years. An important part of the project is B. the establishment of a fast optical quality assurance based on innovative computer vision approaches and 3D measurement techniques such as digital holography.
Further information
The project i-skaB (innovative, scalable fuel cell production), sub-project “Development, construction and testing of a digital-holographic measuring system for quality assurance of fuel cell components” is funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) (funding code 03B1 1033 C). The project sponsor is Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH.
Fuel cell production of the future – starting signal for the “i-skaB” project, May 22, 2023
