Panasonic launches pure hydrogen fuel cell generator
Panasonic H2 Kibou turn-on within a minute, ideal during a power outage when a quick response from generators is required.
Panasonic Corporation today (1st October) has launched a pure hydrogen fuel cell generator, produces power through a chemical reaction with high-purity hydrogen and oxygen in the air.
The polymer electrolyte type (PEFC) based single unit can produce 5 kW power, which is suitable for the demand of small-scale commercial facilities. With multiple generators, the power output can be increased according to demand. It requires Pure hydrogen (Hydrogen density over 99.97%) at 50 kPa.
Hydrogen is directly supplied to the generators and requires no fuel processing device (for extracting hydrogen from natural gas), a key device in the previous model (ENE-Farm). The hydrogen generator achieves high electrical efficiency of 56%, leading to reducing the amount of hydrogen use, cutting total running cost.
By connecting a hot water storage unit with the product, heat generated from the fuel cell can be converted into hot water for use.
A resistor unit and a startup power supply unit enables the product to generate power even during a power outage. The product can generate power during power outages simply through the supply of hydrogen, thereby contributing to business continuity planning (BCP).
In 2009, Panasonic launched the world’s first household fuel cell cogeneration system, ENE-Farm, which uses hydrogen extracted from natural gas to generate power. The ENE-Farm technology has been improved since then and applied to the current pure hydrogen fuel cell generator. The new generator is targeted for commercial use. Its power output has been enhanced to 5 kW, seven times more than the 700 W power output of a household fuel cell, ENE-Farm.
Panasonic will dub its pure hydrogen fuel cell generators ‘H2 Kibou’ in the future, where Kibou in Japanese mean ‘hope’ to realise a hydrogen society.
