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The Enable Fuel Cell Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of DCH Technology, acquired the exclusive rights and associated technology of a hydrogen PEM fuel cell that lends itself to high-volume manufacturing and assembly and the use of a packaged solid fuel.

Dr. Ulf Bossel, a world renowned fuel cell authority and innovator of cell designs for everyday consumer use, sold the rights to his small, portable PEM fuel cell to Enable, which plans to bring the product to market. Bossel will serve as an advisor to Enable on engineering, testing and manufacturing of his innovative technology. Financial terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

The Bossel design is unique in three key areas, said Stephanie Hoffman, general manager and vice president of Enable. First, it features a highly efficient, proprietary system for fueling the cell with hydride powder—a chemical akin-to, and as environmentally benign as, limestone. With this technology, the user simply adds a replaceable sealed canister of the powder to the bottom of the cell stack and water to a small compartment at the top of the cell stack to generate electricity.

Second, the Bossel design replaces difficult-to-manufacture carbon components in the cell with stamped metal components that can be produced and assembled in high volume. This has been a nagging concern to volume manufacturing. Third, and most important to Enable management, the design provides the benefits of a portable fuel cell in a very simple, safe package as approachable to the average consumer as a flashlight battery.

"Dr. Bossel's innovations complement our own technologies extremely well, particularly how they readily integrate with our own unique circular PEM architectures and the power flow and heat management advantages that they provide," Hoffman said. "It also complements our high-volume manufacturing posture, as well as our strategy to use a low cost hydrogen fuel that doesn't require a future commercial gas infrastructure dependant on the coordination of many industrial sectors."

DCH Technology develops and manufactures hydrogen-enabling technologies, including the newly announced Enable PEM Fuel Cell product family and the Robust Hydrogen Sensor. DCHT has its headquarters and sensor facilities in Valencia, CA, fuel cell development and fabrication facilities in Madison, WI, and a communications office in Washington, D.C.

Edited by April C. Murelio
editor@poweronline.com