Homecell: design and development of a 2 kW fuel cell based electric energy generating system, for the domestic market

'Full text:' Even though fuel cell technology has been known in industry for decades now, it has come to the fore in recent years hand in hand with renewable energy sources and the hydrogen vector, as a clean, reliable and efficient electric energy source. Within the stationary applications of fuel cells, the production of high output electric energy has always stood out and this could range from several hundreds of watts to megawatts to supply large plants. The objective of this project is to develop, construct and experimentally validate an electric energy generating system for domestic applications of up to 2 kW. This is due to the fact that multiple domestic applications currently exist for which an electric output of 2 kW is sufficient. On the other hand, an electricity supply might not exist, or might be deficient; and this system will enable electricity supply even under these circumstances. Moreover, the existing system is very versatile and could be complemented with other hydrogen production ones (using photovoltaic energy for example), or else two systems could be used in parallel if outputs up to 4 kW were required, and other applications in other markets, such as telecommunications or tele-metering systems, could be undertaken. (author)