Ballard Fuel Cell Product Receives Awards

Jun 1, 2004 4:28 PM
Edited by PETech Staff

Ballard Power Systems received two Frost & Sullivan Awards at the Annual Excellence in Industrial Technology Awards Ceremony in Miami on May 19. The Nexa RM Series, a hydrogen-fueled stationary fuel cell generator based on Ballard’s Nexa fuel cell platform, was named 2004 Energy Product of the Year. The Nexa RM Series was also named the 2004 Alternative Technology of the Year for its innovative attributes as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

“Ballard is one of the very few companies that has successfully commercialized its fuel cell technology for stationary power applications and this award commends Ballard’s latest fuel cell product offering, the Nexa RM Series,” says Frost & Sullivan analyst Farah Saeed. “This award validates Ballard’s successful technology development and introduction, and we expect the NexaRM Series fuel cell product to significantly benefit the power generation industry.”

The Nexa RM Series has been developed to meet the needs of the UPS and telecommunications power markets, and is based on the technology developed from Ballard’s first commercial fuel cell product, the Nexa power module, which is suitable for both portable and stationary fuel cell power applications.

The Nexa RM Series is modular and is designed for industry-standard 19-in. rack mounting. The scalability of the product, in 1-kW increments, provides the versatility to meet application-specific load requirements across the power range. For telecom, a typical application is in the range of 5 kW to 20 kW. The system includes electrical connections, an exhaust system and safety features, along with N+1 redundancy capability for specific market requirements. Hydrogen fuel for the Nexa RM Series is available from existing hydrogen gas suppliers.

Ballard’s Nexa RM Series fuel cell modules are powering MGE UPS SYSTEMS’ Pulsar EX RT online UPS, which features extended run backup power for critical network systems as long as hydrogen fuel is supplied. With proven double-conversion online technology, the rack system offers power protection optimized for maximum reliability and long backup times for high-density IT applications and servers. The hydrogen fuel, which is contained in replaceable cylinders, is piped directly to the fuel cell module. Like a battery, the fuel cell module produces DC voltage that is then bussed to the UPS. Scaleable fuel cell modules are suited to meet the needs of the UPS and telecommunications markets, where the limitations of batteries›including inadequate runtimes, ongoing maintenance, periodic replacement and disposal, and excessive weight and floor space requirements›have long presented difficulties for applications requiring backup in excess of one hour.

For more information, visit www.ballard.com.

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