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Case Study:
Global Thermoelectric Inc., Calgary, Canada

Getting products to market as quickly as possible

Summary

Global Thermoelectric is a world leader in the development of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) products. The company is also the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of thermoelectric power generators for use in remote locations.

Global is currently developing fuel cell products that are compatible with natural gas or propane and test systems for residential and remote applications.

Advanced Measurements came in at a crucial time - automating several complex test and production devices for the company which allowed them to streamline their operations.

Details

Problem

Global Thermoelectric needed a Fuel Cell Test Stand that would improve efficiency. It needed to be:

• A flexible test platform.
• Available for development and validation testing of their solid oxide fuel cells.
• Automated to run independent, unmonitored and long-term tests.

Solution

The test architecture that Advanced Measurements developed for Global Thermoelectric created an automated solution that was very effective for the company. Specifically, it allowed Global to:

• Automate furnace control to 1000°C.
• Automate gas flow for hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, air and many other gases.
• Create testing procedures specific to testing fuel cells (power curve and fuel utilization tests).
• Measure up to 100 data channels at 1 khz.
• Build in extra safety systems.

Benefits

The solution developed by Advanced Measurements has automated the Global Thermoelectric fuel cell testing system, which has improved the company's overall operations. As a result of the solution, Global has:

• Been able to automate their test processes and control of test stand components, giving them greater freedom to continue developing high-quality products.
• Freed up important company resources for development.
• Seen a dramatic improvement in equipment reliability and software stability, as well as quality and reliability of data and data collection.
• Increased the testing efficiency and ability to acquire data, which means they are able to bring products to market quicker and more easily.

The end result of the automated solution provided by Advanced Measurements has increased the efficiency of the testing program at Global Thermoelectric considerably, providing them with the freedom they needed to focus on the business of fuel cell development and advancement.

Technical Details

Hardware:

A National Instrument's SCXI modular solution was used

Software:

LabVIEW 6.1

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