Status of fuel cells R&D activities at Sanyo

Sanyo is currently developing four types of fuel cell including phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs), polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs). PAFC portable power units are fully developed. Such units are small, high performance, clean and quiet power sources which utilize a hydrogen absorbing alloy developed by Sanyo, as the fuel supplier. Their specific performance was maintained through 600 cycle tests. PEFC and SOFC R&D are being carried out under contract from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Development of PEFCs with a high ion-conductive electrode is being carried out. A I kW module has been developed. Combined-cell stacking technology for planar SOFCs is being developed. A 160 cm(2) x 30 cell stack was assembled and achieved a maximum output power of 1064 W; the decay rate was 4.4%/1000 h over the 1800 h of operation. A 30 kW class direct internal reforming MCFC system with light petroleum fuels was developed jointly with Tonen Corporation and Toyo Engineering Corporation, with the support from the Petroleum Energy Center (PEC). This system produced an output power of 30.5 kW.