FUEL CELL CALCULATOR SPREADSHEET

The CATALYTIC Fuel Cell Calculator is a tool for designing fuel cells stacks and systems. Use it to quickly and easily iterate different designs, and understand test results. For example:

– Calculate what reactant flow rate is needed to feed the stack adequately, and how much blower parasitic power that flow will cost
– Calculate what coolant flow rate is needed to keep the stack temperature stable
– Estimate humidification and predict exhaust gas water content

We are available for hire for additional projects so please email if you need more sophisticated analysis, or need to extend the tool to other devices (metal-air batteries, electrolyzers, etc.).

This file is a free Excel spreadsheet. To download, please email info@catalyticengineering.com for the download password, then click download spreadsheet (65KB). Detailed instructions can be found on the first sheet.

© 2015 Bruce Lin – this file made available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA).

CV / RESUME

Download PDF (200 KB)

This is a copy of my CV. Please email for additional contact information (telephone, Skype, FaceTime, address, etc.).

THESIS ON FUEL CELL SCOOTERS

Download PDF (6 MB) or shorter journal paper as Lin, Bruce. “Conceptual design and modeling of a fuel cell scooter for urban Asia.” Journal of Power Sources 86, no. 1 (2000): 202-213. (subscription required) doi:10.1016/S0378-7753(99)00480-2.

In 1999, fuel cells had been in space on a number of missions, but a Canadian company named Ballard had made a breakthrough in power density and was starting a renaissance of fuel cell development. I wrote a Master’s thesis to design an electric  scooter for typical Asian urban needs, and determined that fuel cells were a possible, but very expensive, solution (1 kW fuel cell + 5 kW of batteries could do it).

There wasn’t much free information available back in 1999, and this was about the same time “IT / Ginger” was going to be unveiled as a revolution in hydrogen Stirling engine powered personal transport, so I got quite a few inquiries. A U.S. Senator’s aide even got in touch about regulating hydrogen vehicles on sidewalks.

In the end fuel cell automobiles took a lot longer than most predicted, and “IT” turned into the disappointing niche Segway, but along the way I think a few people got some use out of my thesis.