THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FUEL CELL DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

摘要

The traditional approach toward commercialization by fuel cell developers is to conduct carefully designed, tightly controlled field demonstrations. However, the true test comes when the fuel cells are put into normal everyday operation and expected to perform under those conditions. The intentional diverse nature of the DoD Fuel Cell Demonstration Program served to identify in a very short time period a number of shortcomings associated with the fuel cells operating under certain site specific conditions; for example, altitude, ground water contamination, heat, cold, humidity, etc. In each instance where a shortcoming was identified, it resulted in a manufacturer's retrofit to improve the product. The overall result of the program has been improved product performance that has been observable in the fleet performance data.