Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells Message Board

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Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells

BLDP 2.315

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3:59 PM EST

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To: Sid Turtlman who wrote (722)	6/2/1997 12:49:00 PM
From: Fred J Bealle	of 5827

Dear Sid. It's nice to see the shorters are still chipping away at Ballard. (I'd be pleased to see it go down for a few nanoseconds.) Brian was probably referring to power conditioning machinery. Any fuel cell would (I guess) output direct current. To make it usable on any utility line, it needs to be inverted to 60 Hz alternating current, which would certainly take a fair amount of silicon (or rotating dynamo) to accomplish. With 2 MW output, that is one heck of a big inverter -- with perhaps 5 - 10% energy losses to be fan-cooled. Ballard would need the same sort of inverter, for any utility purpose. Imagine the voltage of a 240 KW (320 hp) DC fuel cell stack -- could be designed to be anything from 20 to 200 volts. For traction purposes, DC is fine. (Short distances to transmit, predictable load voltages.) I think that custom DC traction motors could be designed to perfectly match most fuel cell outputs. But for utility f.c. purposes, Ballard will need inverters, just as ERC does, and Ballard has acknowledged they will leave that "PS" design to outside experts. Fred Bealle

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