Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Material Handling Equipment Deployment

MT004 Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Material Handling Equipment Deployment

2013 DOE Annual Merit Review, Crystal City, VA

Todd Ramsden, Mike Ulsh, Sam Sprik, Jennifer Kurtz, Chris Ainscough

May 15, 2013 This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise restricted information. NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC. Overview Timeline Barriers Addressed • Start: June, 2010 • Non-technical issues • Contract Award February, 2011 preventing full • Finish: June, 2013* commercialization of • 98% Complete fuel cell systems

Budget • Total Project Funding: $2.58M • Oorja cost share: $1.4M (60%) Collaborators • DOE share for deployment: $920K • Oorja Protonics • NREL project management & analysis (FY10-FY13): $255K • Demonstration Sites: • Unified Grocers • Earp Distribution • Testa Produce

*Sub-contract deployment completed in December 2012

2 Relevance Project Objectives Oorja Protonics: • Deploy and operate DMFC powered MHE and methanol infrastructure • Compile operational and maintenance data and deliver to NREL NREL: • Validate performance under real world conditions and provide independent technology assessment • Reliability and durability of fuel cell systems • Performance of infrastructure • Overall value proposition • Support the market for fuel cells in material handling applications by providing relevant results for the key stakeholders

3 Approach Project Overview Oorja Protonics: • Operate and maintain 75 DMFC-based Class III pallet jacks operating in four commercial wholesale distribution centers • 15-month deployment at each site • Two shifts per day, 6 days per week • Target 3,500–5,000 total operation hours on each unit • Use data loggers to provide detailed tracking of DMFC system performance NREL: • Manage competitive solicitation and subcontract • Validate performance of systems and infrastructure • Assess value proposition Photo courtesy of Oorja Protonics

4 Approach Incorporation of Learnings • As reported last year, initial deployment of 75 units experienced failures due to methanol sensors and other design issues • As a result, many learnings were gained and new system designs were implemented • However, the project budget did not allow for complete overhaul of the initial 75 units • In a follow-on commercial order, a second fleet of systems was deployed, which incorporated the design updates resulting from the initial 75 unit deployment • Fleet of 35+ units at separate end-user distribution site

5 Approach Analysis and Reporting of Real-World Operation Data

Bundled data (operation and maintenance/safety) delivered Internal analysis to NREL quarterly completed quarterly in HSDC

Results DDPs

Public CDPs

Detailed Data Products (DDPs) Composite Data Products (CDPs) • Individual data analyses • Aggregated data across multiple systems, • Identify individual contribution to CDPs sites, and teams • Shared every six months only with the • Publish analysis results every six months partner who supplied the data1 without revealing proprietary data2

1) Data exchange may happen more frequently 2) Results published via NREL technology validation website, conferences, and reports (http://www.nrel.gov/hydrogen/proj_learning_demo.html) 6 Collaborations Collaborations

• Oorja Protonics: • Built and maintained DMFC Class III MHE systems for customer sites • Provided operational data to NREL • Commercial food distribution warehouses: • Unified Grocers • Testa Produce • Earp Distribution • Fourth end-user agreed to provide data from separate deployment

Photo courtesy of Oorja Protonics

7 Accomplishments Methanol Fueling Infrastructure Deployed

• Indoor dispensing via Oorja’s OorjaRigTM methanol dispenser • OorjaRig designed for indoor methanol fueling of OorjaPacTM DMFCs • Equipped with methanol storage in two standard 55-gallon drums, pumps, safety connect dispenser nozzle, sensors • Cabinet is FM-rated for Class 1 Div 2 operation, meets NFPA code • Bulk methanol outdoor storage in 2,000 gallon UL-rated, double-walled tanks Photo courtesy of Oorja Protonics meeting relevant NFPA codes Data previously shown

8 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Unit Elapsed Calendar Days of Operation

Stack Calendar Days 30

36 units have had > 300 operation days 25

15 Stack Count

10 Operational Target Operational months 15 for days/week 6

0 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 NREL cdpDMFC_mhe_75 Calendar Days Created: Apr-30-13 3:19 PM | Data Range: 2010Q1-2012Q4

9 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Unit Operational Hours

Cumulative Fuel Cell Operation Hours - DMFC Combined Fleet Through 2012Q4 12

25% units25% haveof FC Systemstotal hours > 2,370 > 2,370Hours hours

10 FCFC SystemSystem FleetFleet AverageAverage FCFC SystemSystem HoursHours

% Fuel Cell Systems 4 Min Operational Target

0 0 250 500 750 NREL cdpDMFC_mhe_02 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 3250 3500 3750 4000 >4000 Created: May-02-13 9:46 AM | Data Range: 2010Q1-2012Q4 Fuel Cell Operation Hours

10 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Unit Operation Time Between Fills

Operating Time Between Fuelings - DMFC Combined Fleet 1400

Average: 12 8.7 hours 1200 10

1000 6

4 800 2 Average Hrs Op Fuelings between

Count 0 Range of 600 Site Averages Units, on average, fill once a day as all 400 fleets average between 7 and 10 hours of operation a day. 200

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 1,2 1) Some fueling events not recorded/detected NREL cdpDMFC_mhe_08 Operating Hours Between Fuelings due to data noise or incompleteness. Created: Apr-24-13 4:17 PM | Data Range: 2010Q1-2012Q4 Excludes Data > 30 hours 2) Data indicative of actual use and does not represent the max capability of the systems.

11 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Unit MWh Generated

Energy Generated Over Time (kWh) 14 140

An understanding of the energy 12 generated by the fuel cell systems 120 is an important metric in the 10 value proposition. 100

8 80

6 60

4 40 Monthly Fleet Energy Generation (MWh) Generation Energy Fleet Monthly Cumulative Fleet Energy Generation (MWh) 2 20

0 0 Oct-10 Jan-11 Apr-11 Jul-11 Oct-11 Jan-12 Apr-12 Jul-12 Oct-12 Jan-13 NREL cdpDMFC_mhe_74 Created: Apr-30-13 2:48 PM | Data Range: 2010Q1-2012Q4

12 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Voltage Degradation Analysis

Voltage vs. Operation Hours at 300A: Vehicle19-Stack1

300 Example Data Stack Weight Factors 1 290 0.8 288 0.6 280 0.4

Weight Value Weight 0.2

0 270

DR1ciDR2ci OverallDatQtyDatGap

260 259 A voltage and power degradation Voltage 250 analysis is completed for each unit and fleet. The degradation analyses 240 are projected times to 10% voltage 871 degradation and1 data pta every lower 1seconds power limit. pts per fit=2500

230 847 900 Actual results notamp rate filt=1000published A/s because pwr rate filt=1000 kW/s the results arewarm-up proprietary. time=10 min 220 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Created: Oct-09-08 3:01 PM Op Hours

13 Progress DMFC Maintenance Data

• Summary of maintenance data provided by Oorja Protonics in FY11-12

Data previously shown

14 Summary

Performance Summary Validation: Sites 5 • Technology Durability – Number of fuel cell forklift power units Analysis completed 131 analyzed • Technology Reliability – Total hours of operation 251,000 Not yet completed due to insufficient data Total methanol fueling events >14,000 • MHE Value Proposition – Average hours of operation between ~9 Not yet completed due to fueling insufficient data Average daily hours of operation per 8-10 system • Re-design performance

Average daily methanol fills per system ~1 benchmark – In progress

Median DMFC system hours of operation 1391

15 Future Work Proposed Next Steps • Demonstration completed in December, 2012 • Project close-out and final reporting between NREL, Oorja, and DOE • Maintenance data to be provided by Oorja for FY12-13 • Pending sufficient data and continued project funding, evaluations on

o Value proposition o Reliability o Safety o Benchmark system re-design performance

Questions and Discussion

Photo courtesy of Oorja Protonics

17 Backup Slides

18 Relevance: Project Background • Fuel cells can offer lower total cost of ownership in material handling applications compared to battery systems • Battelle Early Fuel Cell Markets study found that fuel cells can lower total cost of ownership of MHE compared to batteries • DOE and NREL are currently evaluating the use of hydrogen PEM fuel cells in MHE applications • Considering all costs, NREL estimates that H2 PEM fuel cell Class III MHE can yield $700 in annual savings per lift compared to traditional battery MHE • DMFCs hold promise to deliver many of the same operational benefits of hydrogen PEM fuel cell MHE • Notably, long runtimes, short refueling times, increased productivity • Liquid fuels like methanol offer reduced infrastructure costs

19 Accomplishments OorjaPacTM DMFC Systems Deployed • Oorja built and deployed 75 direct-methanol fuel cell systems on Class III pallet jacks using its OorjaPac Model 3 DMFC power pack • All units deployed as of June 2011 • OorjaPac is a variant of a PEM fuel cell system that uses an anode catalyst to extract hydrogen from the methanol molecule • OorjaPac Model 3 specifications include: • Power output: 1.5kW • Output voltage: 24V/36V/48V • Methanol tank volume: 12 liters • Energy output: 20kWh per tank Photo courtesy of Oorja Protonics • The OorjaPac acts as an on-board battery charger, allowing: • Grid independence • Elimination of battery change-outs and quick refueling • Increased autonomy (up to 12-14 hours on single refueling)

20 Accomplishments Fuel Cell Units Providing Data

Since FY12 AMR, data from units at original sites decreased in 2012 and data from units upgraded to newer technology operating an additional site increased.

Units not reporting data does not necessarily indicate a retired system. 21