Cell production

Manufacturing of fuel cells takes place in a 1400 m² building constructed for the purpose. The facilities were co-funded by the EU Life Environment program via the DEMO SOFC project.

The pre-industrial scale facility was inaugurated in April 2009, stepping up from the developmental pre-pilot facility at Risoe DTU.

All processes are semi-automated, modular and scalable. The facility layout capacity exceeds 5 MW per year, and expands as product development, automation and process optimization proceeds.

Basic processes for cell manufacture include modules for slurry fabrication, tape casting, spray coating, screen printing and sintering.

		Tape casting establishes the anode support. This layer is produced first and provides the basis for the following functional layers as well as mechanical integrity for the cell. The custom-built unit is mounted with post-handling of the tape. Spray coating is used to apply selected functional layers to the cell. The automated spray coating unit is custom-built as a high capacity production line module, mounted with pre- and post-handling to allow stand-alone operation.
		Screen printing is used to apply selected functional layers to the cell. The automated line module includes automated handling, quality control and drying.
		Sintering of the cells is done in batch kilns, with potential for transferring to tunnel kilns. Assembly, loading and deloading of kiln structures is semi-automatic. Several stages of in-line and off-line quality control are incorporated in the production flow.