Powercell
Powercell and EKTOS – a cooperation in development
February 17, 2024
The Swedish company Powercell is now producing clean, hydrogen-fueled generators
The only byproducts from a fuel cell powered by hydrogen are water and heat – this makes hydrogen the cleanest source of energy.
The Swedish company Powercell has produced fuel cell power systems for ten years, and is now also developing hydrogen-fueled generators based on fuel cell stacks. Hydrogen-fueled generators is an alternative to batteries or diesel generators at locations where reliable and clean power backup is needed and which doesn’t pollute the local environment.
We have worked with Powercell for more than three years. One of the main tasks for us was to develop a DC-DC converter for their fuel cell system, and today we are assisting Powercell in preparing the DC-DC converter and other electronics for volume production.
“The main benefit with working with a relatively small company like EKTOS is that there are no long communication paths, and there’s no real hierarchy.” Rickard Nilsson, project manager at Powercell
Can’t find a suitable converter? Then make one!
One of the challenges Powercell met when they started developing their fuel cell system was the lack of a DC-DC converter on the market which met their requirements: it should be compact, cost-efficient, powerful, and it should not require any forced ventilation. Since no such converter existed, Powercell decided to develop their own converter, and for that reason they got in touch with us at EKTOS.
Rickard Nilsson, project manager at Powercell, found a good match in EKTOS: ”The main benefit with working with a relatively small company like EKTOS is that there are no long communication paths, and there’s no real hierarchy,” and Rickard adds: ”They are open minded regarding how to solve issues in a practical way.”
The next step: Preparing for production
Powercell’s fuel cell systems are now in the process of being upgraded and prepared for volume production. Rickard Nilsson tells that except for added functionality, achieving reduced costs and assembly time are some of the main objectives of the work related to the preparation: ”We have collected components with different functionalities on one PCB, that were wired up manually before in order to reduce production costs.” Rickard adds that meeting legal requirements and standards also became a key point of the preparation task – testing and making compliance reports was a part of the development package we offered at EKTOS.
The strength lies in the ability to overcome issues
”Definitely the DC-to-DC development has been challenging, and there have been ups and downs, and things that were not working, but everything has been sorted out in the end, and that’s very good.” Rickard says about Powercell’s cooperation with us, and he continues: ”No one has stepped back before an issues was solved. During development you always have issues and the strength is to overcome them.”
“No one has stepped back before an issues was solved. During development you always have issues and the strength is to overcome them.” Rickard Nilsson, project manager at Powercell
We hope that the hydrogen powered generator will bring good business to Powercell and we hope that our collaboration will continue for many years with new, interesting challenges.
Det svenske firma Powercell udvikler nu brint-drevne strømforsyninger baseret på brændselsceller
Det eneste spildprodukt en brændselscelle producerer, når den omdanner brint til elektricitet, er vand og varme – dette betyder, at brint er den reneste energikilde, der findes.
Det svenske firma Powercell har produceret brændselscelleanlæg i ti år, og nu udvikler de også brint-drevne strømforsyninger baseret på brændselsceller. En strømforsyning, der bruger brint som brændstof, er et alternativ til batterier eller dieselgeneratorer til steder, hvor en pålidelig og miljøvenlig back-up-generator er nødvendig, og som ikke forurener lokalt.
Vi har arbejdet sammen med Powercell i over tre år. En af vores største opgaver var at udvikle en effektomformer til deres brændselscellesystem, og i dag bistår vi Powercell med at gøre effektomformeren, som er en DC-DC-konverter, samt andre elektroniske dele klar til serieproduktion.
”En af de største fordele ved at arbejde med en relativt lille virksomhed som EKTOS er, at der ikke er lange kommunikationskanaler, og der er ikke noget reelt hierarki”, Rickard Nilsson, projektleder hos Powercell
Mangler du den helt rigtige omformer? Så lav din egen!
En af de største udfordringer, som Powercell mødte, da de begyndte at udvikle deres brændselscellesystem, var manglen på en DC-DC-konverter, som levede op til deres krav: den skulle være kompakt, billig, kraftfuld, have høj virkningsgrad, og den skulle ikke have tvungen ventilation. En passende konverter fandtes ikke, så derfor besluttede Powercell at udvikle deres egen – i den forbindelse tog de kontakt til os hos EKTOS.
Rickard Nilsson, projektleder hos Powercell, fandt en god samarbejdspartner i EKTOS: ”En af de største fordele ved at arbejde med en relativt lille virksomhed som EKTOS er, at der ikke er lange kommunikationskanaler, og der er ikke noget reelt hierarki”, fortæller Rickard, og tilføjer: ”De er åbensindede omkring, hvordan udfordringer kan håndteres på en praktisk måde.”
Styrken ligger i evnen til at løse problemer
Intet udviklingsprojekt er problemfrit, og det var udviklingen af konvereten heller ikke, fortæller Rickard: ”Der har helt sikkert været udfordringer i udviklingen af DC-DC-konverteren, der har været op- og nedture, og der har været nogle ting, som ikke virkede fra starten, men alt blev løst til sidst. Ingen lagde projektet fra sig, før alle problemer var løst. I et udviklingsprojekt vil der altid være problemer, og styrken ligger i evnen til at løse dem.”
“Ingen lagde projektet fra sig, før alle problemer var løst. I et udviklingsprojekt vil der altid være problemer, og styrken ligger i evnen til at løse dem.” Rickard Nilsson, projektleder hos Powercell
Vi ønsker Powercell held og lykke med deres ny generator, og vi håber, at vores samarbejde vil fortsætte i mange år fremover med flere interessante problemer.
