The air compressor needs to be domestically manufactured to ensure the efficient and reliable operation of fuel cells

With the continuous development of fuel cell automobile industry, air compressor, which is one of its core components, has gradually become a research hotspot.

The air compressor is an important part of the cathode gas supply system for automotive fuel cells. By supercharging incoming air, the power density and efficiency of the fuel cell are improved, and the size of the fuel cell system is reduced. Its performance directly affects the efficiency, compactness and water balance of the fuel cell system.

Since the 1950s, China has been conducting research on fuel cell-related technologies. However, most of the core technologies are controlled and monopolized abroad. The hollowing out of key parts technology has left China's fuel cell industry in a passive position.

Air compressor is one of the technical problems. In order to change the situation in which technology is subject to human beings, China has given strong support in policy and accelerated the localization of air compressor technology. Foreign companies have taken the opportunity to eat the Chinese market at this time.

Ensure efficient and reliable operation of fuel cells

Fuel cell vehicles consist of fuel cell systems, hydrogen storage bottles, driving Motors, vehicle control systems, and auxiliary battery systems. The fuel cell system accounts for about 63 % of the vehicle's cost, including fuel cell reactors (catalysts, bipolar plates, proton exchange membranes), air circulation systems, hydrogen supply, and water/heat management systems.

The air compressor plays an important role in the air circulation system.

The air compressor participates in the air circulation system: After the air is pressurized by the compressor, it is sent to the fuel cell reactor after being humidified, where an electrochemical reaction occurs with hydrogen from the hydrogen source to output electrical energy for power output. After the input gas consumes part of the oxygen, it is discharged from the reactor. After water separation and fog removal, part of the pressure energy is recovered from the pressure gas by the Expander, which is converted into mechanical energy feedback to the compressor, thus saving the gas supply unit. The electricity needed.

Because the proton exchange membrane of fuel cell has good working characteristics, it is required that the compressed air supplied by the gas supply system to the fuel cell stack is absolutely clean, which is very high for the air compressor technology.

Nowadays, the types of air compressor commonly used in the market are slide type, screw type, centrifugal type, vortex type and Roz type air compressor. Among them, vortex and double screw air compressor is the mainstream technical route.

The fuel cell systems of Japanese Toyota (TOYOTA), UTC and other companies use vortex machinery as the core component of their gas supply system.

The fuel cells of General Motors, PlugPower, Xcellsis of Germany, Ballard of Canada and other companies all use the screw air compressor / expansion machine air supply system. The sprinkler screw compressor used by Volkswagen in Bora fuel cell engine vehicles was one of the major advances in international fuel cell technology in 2002.

However, there is a lack of domestic air compressor that is efficient and can provide clean and oil-free gas for fuel cells.

Policy to Promote Technology Progress of Domestic Air Press

The "Made in China 2025", the "Action Plan for Energy Technology Revolution and Innovation" and the "Strategic Emerging Industry Key Product Catalogue 2016" mainly support the research and development of key components of fuel cell vehicles.

As the core components of the fuel cell system, air compressors have always been the focus of localization. In China, there are many companies such as Cypress Bearing Technology Co., Birken Energy Co., Ltd. and Deburn Power Co., Ltd. to join the air compressor technology R&D lineup.

Saitelesi bearing technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., for the proton exchange membrane in the electric reactor sensitive to oil pollution, traditional air compressor oil lubrication or oil cooling methods are no longer suitable for this problem, Innovative use of automotive cooling liquid (ethylene glycol) medium for the water lubrication bearing electric centrifugal air compressor technology program, trying to develop a fuel cell car dedicated to efficient, oil-free air compressor.

In July of this year, Birken Energy Company publicly demonstrated its fuel cell air compressor products. The product features single-stage centrifugal compressor, adjustable speed high-speed DC permanent magnet brushless motor, foil air bearing, compact structure, high efficiency and oil-free, CAN bus control, maximum speed of 100,000 rpm, pump head pressure ratio 2 Above, the air compressor head efficiency reaches 75%, providing full purity oxygen for the entire fuel cell system to fully burn hydrogen.

On August 3, Jiaxing Dede Fuel Power System Co., Ltd. (abbreviation: De burning power) released two fuel cell dedicated air compressor developed by the company at its headquarters. The two models released this time are FAC-40-D, and the FAC-50-D air compressor is tailor-made for the 15kW-50kW fuel cell engine system for vehicles. It has the following technical features:

Oil-free lubrication: The drive system adopts advanced oiling lubrication technology, which completely avoids the risk of damage to the electric reactor caused by the leakage of lubricant;

Two-stage supercharging: The two-stage supercharging method of the international mainstream double-leaf worm shell is more in line with the operating requirements of the medium-high voltage reactor to high pressure ratio;

Low noise and low energy consumption: the impeller adopts high speed motor direct drive, which reduces the energy consumption of the low-altitude press while effectively reducing the noise of the transmission system;

Cooling and lubrication: The system of air compressor can be operated reliably for a long time by means of mandatory liquid cooling and lubrication channel design.

The introduction of this air compressor may break the lack of efficient air compressor that can provide clean and oil-free gas for fuel cells.

Foreign enterprises seize the Chinese air compressor market

At present, China's domestic air compressor technology is still a road to go. The fuel cell industry is a huge market that is coveted by foreign companies. UQM Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviation: UQM) will develop the Chinese market as an important part of its development strategy.

In July 2017, UQM received an order from a Chinese vehicle factory for its R340 vehicle fuel cell air compressor system with a total order value of US$ 2.2 million.

In April, Chinese customers added a follow-up purchase order for the R340 fuel cell compressor system to UQM, worth $1.3 million, which is expected to be shipped in the spring of 2018 and completed in the fall of 2018.

At the end of July, UQM announced the establishment of a customer service center in Shanghai, China, to support the fuel cell compressor system and propulsion system business.

UQM has announced it has received orders for a new vehicle fuel cell air compressor system for about $3M from new and existing customers in China, including its main original equipment manufacturer. UQM stated that all new purchase orders are expected to be delivered throughout 2018 to 2019.

The market of air compressor in China is divided by foreign enterprises, which is pressure and power for the manufacturers of air compressor in our country. It is the magic weapon to win only if we concentrate on research technology and accelerate the process of localization of air compressor technology.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.