Hydrogenics Corporation, a designer and manufacturer of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems, has announced the successful contract award by the Department of National Defence Canada (DND) to develop a portable power generator, for delivery in the third quarter of 2001. The power generator will be fuelled by Hydrogenics’ proprietary chemical hydride system. This contract follows Hydrogenics’ successful completion of three previous DND-sponsored projects that evaluated various
hydrogen storage and generation technologies. The most recent project involved Hydrogenics’ HyPORT portable fuel cell power generator that was demonstrated in the fourth quarter of 2000. The product in development is a compact 500-watt power generator, designed to charge batteries and to directly power instrumentation devices. Hydrogenics’ proprietary chemical hydride system will be used for both storage
and generation of hydrogen fuel for the fuel cell power module. The chemical hydride system is designed to deliver approximately 35kWh of electricity at a total system weight (including fuel) of less than 125 pounds. For the same application, battery systems generally weigh between 250 and 3500 pounds.
