Fit-4-AMandA: Fit for Automatic Manufacturing and Assembly
Completed Research Project

Fit-4-AMandA: Future European Fuel Cell Technology: Fit for Automatic Manufacturing and Assembly

Fit-4-AMandA focusses on the industrialisation of stack production and delivering affordable fuel cell systems in larger quantities to saturate the emerging market/demand. Heart of the project is to build a worldwide new and unique machine which allows serially produce the centrepiece of fuel cell system: the stack. This will revolutionize the way how stacks are produced in future.

Motivation:

Most manufacturers of fuel cell stacks are still assembling stacks manually
Automation of the stacking process is necessary to achieve higher yields
Non-destructive quality assurance (NDT-QA) test methods need to be accelerated accordingly

Objectives:

Establish the technological roadmap to scale up from less than hundred stacks/year to 50,000 stacks/year in 2020 and beyond
Redesign (adaptation) of current MEA and stack to optimise for manufacturability
Development of an alternative concept to graphitic BPP based on a metallic BPP technology
Development of fast inline NDT-QA test methods for automated production of MEAs and stack assembly
Design and development of an automated processing unit/system for the manufacturing of key/critical stack components, i.e. MEAs
Development, manufacturing and testing of technology and machine system for the automatic assembly of PEMFC stacks
Validation of the developed designs, hardware, tools and software for the automated production of MEAs and automated stack assembly and the fast inline NDT-QA test methods
Integration and field testing using prototype stacks manufactured by the automated processes into a light commercial vehicle provided by UPS

H2020 RIA project:

Submitted within the call H2020-JTI-FCH-2016-1
Duration: 45 months
Start date: 1 March 2017
EC Funding: €2,999,185

Project partners:

Proton Motor GmbH
IRD Fuel Cells A/S
Aumann AG
Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkzeugmaschinen und Umformtechnik IWU
Technische Universität Chemnitz - Professur Alternative Fahrzeugantriebe
UPS Europe
Uniresearch B.V.

Contact:

Dr. Martin Biák

This project has received funding from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 735606. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Hydrogen Europe and N.ERGHY.