Weld­ing of fuel cells

Bipo­lar plates

The heart of the fuel cell

In fuel cell tech­nol­o­gy, the bipo­lar plate plays a key role and can jus­ti­fi­ably be called the heart of the fuel cell. This seem­ing­ly sim­ple, but cru­cial com­po­nent not only links the indi­vid­ual cells, but also orches­trates the har­mo­nious flow of hydro­gen and oxy­gen to gen­er­ate elec­tri­cal ener­gy. In the man­u­fac­tur­ing of the fuel cells, laser weld­ing enables pre­cise small-sized weld seams, which is par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant, as fuel cells often have com­plex and fine structures.
Loss of material in the weld seam due to overheating
Loss of mate­r­i­al in the weld seam due to overheating
Increasing gap (from left to right)
Increas­ing gap (from left to right)
Jammed sheet metal due to a positioning error
Jammed sheet met­al due to a posi­tion­ing error
The laser weld­ing of bipo­lar plates holds par­tic­u­lar chal­lenges. Insuf­fi­cient mon­i­tor­ing of the weld­ing process can lead to errors, which can impact on the struc­ture and func­tion­al­i­ty of the fuel cell. This includes for exam­ple incom­plete weld seams, pores or gaps which affect tight­ness of the cell or result in leaks. There­fore, togeth­er with the > Fraun­hofer Insti­tute for Laser Tech­nol­o­gy ILT in Aachen, we have ana­lyzed how and to what extent the > 4D.watch­er can be used for auto­mat­ic mon­i­tor­ing dur­ing welding. 

Chal­lenges

Bal­anc­ing of sev­er­al influences

  • Fast process with high vol­umes: non-detect­ed process devi­a­tions and a high rate of pseu­do errors
  • Mate­r­i­al com­plex­i­ty: Fuel cells con­sist of dif­fer­ent lay­ers of mate­ri­als, which each have spe­cif­ic prop­er­ties; the laser beam must be opti­mal­ly adapt­ed to this range in order to gen­er­ate an effi­cient weld seam with­out dam­ag­ing the sen­si­tive components.
  • Fluc­tu­at­ing mate­r­i­al: Fluc­tu­a­tions in thick­ness, alloys and coat­ings make trou­bleshoot­ing more difficult
  • Ther­mal influ­ence: Laser weld­ing gen­er­ates heat, and the fuel cells often con­tain tem­per­a­ture-sen­si­tive parts; pre­cise con­trol of the ther­mal effect is cru­cial to avoid unwant­ed effects, such as defor­ma­tions or degra­da­tion of the materials
  • Size of the fuel cells: a pre­cise focus of the laser beam onto small, com­plex com­po­nents requires advanced opti­cal sys­tems and high­ly devel­oped weld­ing techniques
  • Automa­tion: the inte­gra­tion of robot­ics and advanced con­trol sys­tems is nec­es­sary to max­i­mize the effi­cien­cy and accu­ra­cy of the weld­ing process

Find out more about our products

Mon­i­tor­ing of
42+ phys­i­cal process variables

Find out more about the 4D.watcher

4D.watch­er

The lat­est gen­er­a­tion of process monitoring.
Mod­ern software.
Ful­ly inte­grat­ed hardware. 

Mul­ti­spec­tral sen­sor system


Find out more about the 4D.TWO

4D.TWO®

Mul­ti-sen­sor data source for (almost) any laser application.

Mon­i­tor­ing of
42+ phys­i­cal process variables

Find out more about the 4D.watcher

4D.watch­er

The lat­est gen­er­a­tion of process mon­i­tor­ing.
Mod­ern software.
Ful­ly inte­grat­ed hardware. 

Mul­ti­spec­tral sen­sor system

4D.TWO®

Mul­ti-sen­sor data source for (almost) any laser application.

Just ask us!

If you would like to learn more about our prod­ucts and ser­vices, or would like to request a cus­tomized offer, please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us. You can con­tact us by phone, via email or by using our con­tact form. We look for­ward to receiv­ing your enquiry!

Con­tact
Sched­ule con­sul­ta­tion appointment

Just ask us!

If you would like to learn more about our prod­ucts and ser­vices, or would like to request a cus­tomized offer, please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us. You can con­tact us by phone, via email or by using our con­tact form. We look for­ward to receiv­ing your enquiry!

Con­tact
Sched­ule con­sul­ta­tion appointment
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