Development and Operation of a 1kW Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Stack

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. has been developing 1kW generator system of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The performance and durability characterization of a 1kW DMFC stack that the weight of the stack was decreased 20% in comparison with that of previous stack was evaluated. The DMFC operation condition was optimized from the design of experiment and the results of the net output. The overall system efficiency of the Yamaha DMFC system using the stack became a maximum in current 20A, was 30%. The stack was generated at 20A under the Daily Start up and Shutdown (DSS) condition for 1500h. This report describes some latest results concerning the durability characterization, which were obtained in the NEDO's project.