Fuel Cell Education

Although many roles to be filled in the new industry will be familiar from other areas (for example, marketers, production and software engineers) it is clear that a number of new disciplines may be required. As an example, in the United Kingdom, learned bodies for chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, civil and mechanical engineering all show interest in this growing area, with a considerable overlap.

And with this amount of interdisciplinary crossover, how are we to train people already in the workplace? And how can we develop the next generation to fill the roles required? Until recently, this has been carried out under the guidance of traditional university departments around the world, making it a significant challenge to find a training course or even an academic to guide a research project specifically related to fuel cells.

Now, however, we are beginning to see the first signs of fuel cell research centers being built or brought together in universities around the world. In much the same way as materials science has often emerged from the junction between chemistry, physics and metallurgy, fuel cell "departments" can now be seen appearing in numerous places.

A North American example

The University of Connecticut, for one, has recently set up a department with five chairs for permanent faculty staff to teach undergraduates and lead research. The Connecticut Clean Energy fund has helped to support this from subsidies paid by energy users within the state and the overall aim is to use the expertise already present in the state at the likes of FuelCell Energy and United Technologies (amongst many others) to maintain the area’s high profile in fuel cells and hydrogen. The overall mission is wider though, with a desire to move the industry forward in general, not just in the North-Eastern USA, by providing both research and training.

Other competition

In the United Kingdom, London’s Imperial College is fast emerging as a leading centre for fuel cell work. In different departments, fuel cell integration, PEMFC and SOFC are studied alongside quite different work in looking at the social, political and economic aspects of introducing fuel cells into general use. Again, part of the reasoning behind this development is to maintain Imperial’s position amongst the top science institutions in the country and to help develop a locale where fuel cell work can come together.

The third interesting example is back in the USA. Michigan’s Kettering University is to create a Centre for Fuel Cell Systems and Powertrain Integration. Here, the Department of Mechanical Engineering will lead this project (as in many other universities), with the aim of educating the automotive workforce for the fuel cell economy, and of performing cutting-edge research, demonstration, and testing of fuel cell applications.

The political climate

After George W. Bush’s well-publicised speech on the Freedom CAR programme and his desire to develop a path to a hydrogen vehicle (and perhaps even a hydrogen economy), Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan gave her response:

"Last week the President committed the federal government to the development of fuel cell powered cars within a generation. As your Governor, I make my own commitment – not only will we build those cars in Michigan, our Automotive Technology Corridor will help develop the fuel cell technology those cars will run on."

Michigan, home of Detroit, has long seen itself as the hub of the world’s automotive industry. And, with an economy that depends heavily on the automobile and competition staring from across the border in Canada, fuel cells have come as something closer to a threat than to an opportunity. Defending jobs in the car industry, particularly in some of the more depressed areas, is important both politically and economically and training and education of a highly technologically-literate workforce is a key step to meeting this (as has been recognised elsewhere, for instance in the form of the London Hydrogen Partnership).

And, this is where Kettering University fits in. Known as the General Motors Institute from 1926 (and wholly owned by General Motors until 1982) it was renamed in 1999 after the automotive inventor and entrepreneur Charles ‘Boss’ Kettering. Its central purpose has been to prepare engineers and managers through an education programme run in cooperation with a large number of industrial companies and organisations, from the big car companies to Delphi, General Hydrogen and United Technologies. The aim of the current project is to provide a similar service to the fuel cell industry, most likely with an emphasis on the automotive sector. The logic runs that by training people here, a pool of talent develops, encouraging companies to locate not only research and development but also manufacturing facilities nearby.

In a high technology sector like fuel cells, this approach does make much logical sense. Indeed, the State of Michigan has recognised the importance of pursuing a fuel cell strategy both to secure its existing automotive workforce and capture the potential growth from consumer products and stationary applications for fuel cells. The main part of this initiative is known as NextEnergy and has gained significant financial support for the site to be located in urban Detroit. Kettering University (located a reasonable distance away in Flint, Michigan) is collaborating with key partners involved in both the Freedom Car Initiative and NextEnergy and aims to benefit from these programmes and also to supply expertise into them.

The main strand of this support will be the construction and development of a fuel cell centre. In order to house this centre, the University is spending US$35 million on a new building for both Mechanical Engineering and chemistry, a fitting home for a new interdisciplinary body. This should be completed around the middle of 2003, providing a little below 10,000 square feet of space for fuel cells (perhaps half of that available at the University of Connecticut).

What can the universities do?

In common with other academic institutions, such as Imperial College and the University of Connecticut, Kettering’s fuel cell centre aims to meet both undergraduate and graduate training needs for fuel cells. It should also provide another location for fuel cell companies to place a product and gain in-field experience. In terms of education, specific goals include the development of leading, original degree programmes in fuel cell engineering that prepare current and future automotive manufacturing and service technicians for the introduction of hydrogen and fuel cells.

In a wider context, the University is looking to help demonstrate vehicle and other fuel cell prototypes; validate codes and standards; address safety issues and manufacturing questions; and encourage technology transfer and incubate new technologies and new companies that could benefit from this environment.

The technical specifications that the centre will meet have already been published. A 200kW natural gas fuel cell will be the main power source for the building as well as providing an opportunity to demonstrate the technology to visitors at first hand. Hydrogen generators will produce the gas required to run four test stands, each of which can test stacks of up to 10kW in size.

Taken together, the Kettering project is a creative way of utilising the abilities and resources already in the Michigan state to meet a local need of preserving and perhaps even creating jobs as well as forcing the fuel cell industry forward by providing the skills needed. It will be interesting to see what effect the first generation of graduates from all of these institutions will have.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more links on fuel cell education, visit here or here on Fuel Cell Today.