Celeroton receives funding from SERI within a Horizon 2020 project
Celeroton receives funding, within the scope of the European Horizon 2020 framework programme, from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) for the design and realisation of a gas bearing turbo compressor for use in a 100 kW fuel cell system. Volvo Car Group will integrate and test the system.
The Horizon 2020 and SERI funding was applied for through the program “Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking” together with companies and research institutions from several European countries. The aim of the project is to develop advanced components for fuel cell systems used in passenger cars to improve efficiency and reliability as well as reduce costs.
Celeroton will design, realise and test an oil-free turbo compressor with air bearings based on its high-speed motor and radial turbo compressor technology. Our technology achieves the lowest ratio of volume and weight for given pressures and mass flows, and optimizes the thermodynamic and electromagnetic properties to achieve the highest total efficiency. The targeted efficiency is 85% with a power density of 0.5 kW/kg and a power range of 10-12 kW. In addition, Celeroton will design and realise customised electronics to drive the turbo compressor system. The oil-free turbo compressor will supply air to a fuel cell stack from the Swedish company PowerCell which is designed to meet the demanding automotive requirements. Other peripheral components, called Balance of Plant, will be developed by partners in the consortium. Volvo Car Group will integrate and test the system in one of their passenger cars.
The 3-year project, named INN-BALANCE, started at the beginning of 2017 and has a total project funding of approx. EUR 6.2 m.
The consortium consists of following European companies and research institutions: Celeroton AG (Switzerland), PowerCell Sweden AB (Sweden), Volvo Car Group (Sweden), Fundacion Ayesa (Spain), Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft (Germany), AVL LIST GmbH (Austria), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt EV (Germany), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Spain), and Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (Germany).