Home fuel cell

A home fuel cell or a residential fuel cell is an electrochemical cell used for primary or backup power generation. They are similar to the larger industrial stationary fuel cells, but built on a smaller scale for residential use. These fuel cells are usually based on combined heat and power (CHP) or micro combined heat and power (Micro-CHP) technology, generating both power and heated water or air. A commercially working cell is called Eni-Farm in Japan and is supported by the regional government, which uses natural gas to power up the fuel cell to produce electricity and heated water. Since it is in general not possible for a fuel cell to produce at all times exactly the needed amount of both electricity and heat, home fuel cells are typically not standalone installations. Instead they may rely on the grid when the electricity production is above or below what is needed. Additionally, a home fuel cell may be combined with a traditional furnace that produces only heat. For example, the German company Viessmann produces a home fuel cell with an electric power of 0.75kW and a thermal power of 1kW, integrated with a traditional 19kW heat producing furnace, using the grid for electricity needs below and above the fuel cell production. PEMFC fuel cell m-CHP operates at low temperature (50 to 100°C) and requires high purity hydrogen. It is prone to contamination, and changes can be made to operate at higher temperatures and improve the fuel reformer. The SOFC fuel cell m-CHP operates at a high temperature (500 to 1,000 °CP) and can handle different energy sources, but the high temperature requires expensive materials to handle the temperature. Changes can be made to operate at a lower temperature. Because of the higher temperature, SOFCs in general have a longer start-up time. Because the home fuel cell generates electricity and heat that are both used on site, theoretical efficiency approaches 100%. This is in contrast to traditional or fuel cell non-domestic electricity production, which has both a transmission loss and useless heat, requiring extra energy consumption for domestic heating.