Stack production
Manufacturing of fuel cell stacks takes place in a 1200 m2 building refurbished for the purpose. The facilities were co-funded by the EU Life Environment program via the DEMO SOFC project.
The facility was inaugurated in January 2008.
Installed manufacturing capacity is 5 MW per year.
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The present stack production layout accommodates rapid design improvements. This implies manual assembly of the stack parts with a potential for automation. Quality control is performed inline and offline on both completed stacks and individual components as a part of the production flow.
Manual assembly of parts to form a stack is still a preferred method, allowing rapid prototyping and design development. |
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Assemblies of stack parts are mounted in custom-built equipment for simultaneous conditioning and electrical testing of several stacks.
Stack production development includes extensive automation in quality control and stack assembly, as well as efforts to combine design flexibility with industrial perspectives.
Left: The production crew with another shipment of Topsoe Fuel Cell alpha-stacks for installation in a test unit at Wärtsilä. |