Advantages of a fuel cell versus battery powered central power supply for emergency lighting systems.

• Batteries do alter over time and need to be replaced every 5 to 10 years in average.
• Fuel cells can offer much longer emergency operation times
• Fuel cells contain no environmental harmful materials such as lead, mercury etc. Only small amounts of water and heat are generated as a byproduct during operation.
• Fuel cells can operate in a wide temperature range (0°C to 40°C) without power sacrifices, while battery power is very much dependant on temperature.
• Fuel cells do not discharge over time

Hydro Power Fuel Cell Emergency Lighting System

The heart of the Hydro Power unit is a 1000 Watt PEM fuel cell system. In case of an grid power failure the unit starts automatically. During the startup time of app. 30 seconds a small buffer battery provides power to the fuel cell unit and supplies the emergency light system.

The fuel cell system is designed for high reliability and low maintenance and therefore is ideally suited for applications such as emergency and backup power. Multiple 1000 Watt units can be combined to provide up to 5kW of output power.

The modular cartridge technology increases reliability and enables easy service and maintenance.

Single cartridge unit.

A single 10 litres compressed gas cylinder at 200 bar with hydrogen quality of 99,95%, is sufficient to operate the 1000 Watt fuel cell unit for app. 2h. With a 50 litres compressed gas cylinder an operation time of close to 10h at full load is possible. To achieve longer off grid operation times, multiple cylinder can be connected together. Gas suppliers such as Messer Griesheim offer bundles of 12 x 50 litres as a standard product.