CFES Energy Seminar
Fuel Cell Systems: Engineering Challenges and Opportunities
Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Time: 1:00-2:00pm
Location: Room JEC3117, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Speaker: Dr. Donald F. Rohr
Plug Power
Abstract:The fuel cell market has been pursued by many companies in the past 10 years but has not yet truly ignited; this pre-commercial technology has also become a bit of a political football in recent years. Regardless of politics, fuel cell systems research is a challenging and rich area that will ultimately play a part in our national and global energy portfolio. The fuel cell industry is poised to take off but it needs continued research, development and excellent inter-disciplinary engineering. This presentation will provide an update of Plug Power’s efforts to innovate and develop fuel cell technology. The particular focus will be placed on the engineering R&D of a fuel cell micro-CHP system that is intended for residential and light commercial applications. Product requirements include such design stressors as; turn-down ratios of 5:1, high electrical efficiency, high thermal efficiency, fast system response, and all this delivered with low cost and high reliability. Background will be presented to describe the system architecture and design intent of this Plug Power product. In addition, operation and performance of the system and components will be discussed to provide insight into some of the technical challenges that remain ahead.
Speaker:Don Rohr is responsible for leading a team of Plug Power engineers and researchers in developing technology for stationary power systems and hydrogen generation. Prior to joining Plug Power, Dr. Rohr served as the Program Manager of Advanced Process Engineering for General Electric Global Research. He was responsible for leading a team of researchers in the development and optimization of various polymers, materials and chemical processes. Dr. Rohr has also held positions with ARCO Chemical, Dow Chemical Company and Phillips Petroleum. He has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of reaction engineering, process development and systems engineering. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Delaware. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical/Chemical Engineering and a MS degree in Chemical Engineering, both from the University of New Mexico.
Contacts: For general questions about the seminar and CFES research, contact Dr. Jian Sun, Director of CFES at , telephone 518 276-8297.For directions to the seminar room and other logistics, please contactLisa Valenti , telephone (518) 276-6754.