How Schaeffler enhances the efficiency of hydrogen applications
Hydrogen has evolved into an important strategic business segment for Schaeffler. As a motion technology company, Schaeffler has comprehensive expertise in the field of precision metal forming and stamping technology and in-depth process know-how for high-volume manufacturing of bipolar plates (BPPs). Schaeffler uses them for electrolysis to produce hydrogen and as a key component of fuel cell stacks for all kinds of mobile and stationary fuel cell applications to generate electricity from hydrogen.
Based on its expertise, Schaeffler has now managed to replace the very expensive titanium that has been used for bipolar plates up to now by stainless steel. The Enertect PC+ coating system with a proton exchange membrane that Schaeffler has developed specifically for metallic bipolar plates prevents corrosion on the stainless- steel bipolar plates and thus drastically cuts costs. But that’s not all: the utilization of stainless steel instead of titanium reduces the coating’s carbon footprint by more than 90 percent and that of the entire metallic bipolar plate by 20 percent.
“Per year, we coat more than one billion components such as bipolar plates with application-focused coating systems. We can precisely adjust any coating according to a modular system, depending on the individual requirement,” explains Dr. Mehmet Öte, Director Coating Technology at Schaeffler. Recognition with the prestigious 2023 MATERIALICA Design + Technology Award as well as many inquiries from the industrial environment prove that Schaeffler has achieved a real breakthrough with Enertect PC+. “Innovative coating technologies like Enertect play a key role for sustainable technologies of the future, for instance in the strategic forward-looking field of hydrogen. With our intensive research and development activities in the field of surface technology we make an important contribution to making hydrogen technology sustainable and futureproof,” says Professor Tim Hosenfeldt, Senior Vice President, Corporate Research and Innovation & Central Technology at Schaeffler.
Schaeffler is now preparing industrialization. Florian Windisch, Head of the Strategic Business Field Hydrogen at Schaeffler, adds, “We’re seeing very keen interest on the industrial side in the bipolar plates we’ve developed.” In Herzogenaurach, the technology group manufactures the new bipolar plates for fuel cells for numerous prototypes and small series. The fully automatic manufacturing equipment is designed for producing the larger plates for electrolyzers as well. In addition, Schaeffler is going to start manufacturing bipolar plates at the Innoplate joint venture established jointly with Symbio in Haguenau, France.