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Case Study:
Alberta Research Council, Edmonton, Canada

More data, more quickly

Summary

The Alberta Research Council (ARC) has embarked on an innovative fuel cell research program. Its goal - successful development of micro-SOFC fuel cells for portable applications such as cell phones, laptops and PDAs.

Prior to their purchase of the fuel cell test stand from Advanced Measurements, all testing at the Alberta Research Council was done on a bench top with data collection completed by hand.

But that has all changed. The new fuel cell test system provided by Advanced Measurements has enabled the Alberta Research Council to test cells more efficiently through features like test scripting and automatic data collection.

Details

Problem

The Alberta Research Council needed a test system that would improve the quality of data collected and provide tighter, more integrated control of the testing process.

Specifically, these were the requirements:

• A test stand which would provide an integrated testing solution.
• A complete system to deal with gas handling, humidification, furnace control, electronic load and test result measurement.
• A system that had the capability for future expansion.

Solution

AMI built a custom control and monitoring system based around National Instruments hardware.

• A PCI-6527 provides I/O capability, while a PCI-6034E provides analog input measurement capability.
• A custom designed humidifier from Whiteshell Technologies, a Kikisui PLZ-153W electronic load and Alicat mass flow controllers were also integrated.
• The turn-key solution was delivered in a custom-designed Bosch equipment rack, complete with CSA certification.

Benefits

The solution developed by Advanced Measurements has automated the ARC system, which has been crucial to improving their R&D operations. Specifically:

• The Alberta Research Council has been able to collect more data, more quickly without the need for hands-on operation.
• In addition to requiring less effort to operate than the previous system, the system can now measure and record data from all sensors on regular, precisely timed intervals. This has significantly improved the quality of test data. By automating this test process, Advanced Measurements has helped the Alberta Research Council use their funds as efficiently as possible, speeding up their ability to develop a marketable product.
• As a result of the automated solution provided by Advanced Measurements, ARC has been able to increase the efficiency of their testing program considerably, providing them with the freedom they needed to focus on important fuel cell research.

Technical Details

Hardware:

PCI-6034E
PCI-6527

Software:

LabVIEW 6.1

Other:

In addition to providing manual test capability, the system also provides test scripting functionality. This allows researchers to easily program sophisticated recipes into the system and execute them automatically.

About The Alberta Research Council

The Alberta Research Council Inc. develops and commercializes technologies to give clients a competitive advantage. A leader in innovation, ARC provides solutions globally to the energy, life sciences, agriculture, environment, forestry and manufacturing sectors.

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