It is a great achievement for the Alaska Energy Technology Development Laboratory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks! It has developed a prototype propane fuel cell that ‘amazingly’ ran for more than 1,100 hours straight! It did so without any ‘measurable’ degradation in its efficiency.
Installed at the Kenai Fjords National Park’s Exit Glacier Nature Center near Seward, the cell was manufactured by Massachusetts-based Acumentrics.
Dennis Witmer, director of AETDL said,
From a technical point of view, it is an important milestone we have achieved here… It is one step closer to these kinds of fuel cells becoming devices that can be useful in remote locations.
First installed and used in the summer of 2004, this fuel cell was part of the original design for the nature center. It was since then, the researchers and technicians have been fine-tuning its performance.
In August, Park Service officials fired it up again and adding to their achievement, it ran until the end of the season!
