Fuel Cells

Delphi Solid Oxide Fuel Cell: Auxiliary Power Unit. 2005 Generation

Fuel Cells

Delphi has been developing fuel cell technology for over 10 years, and is a leader among industry-wide efforts to bring fuel cell technology to the marketplace.

Delphi is focusing on the development of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells that generate auxiliary electric power for commercial vehicles, stationary applications, military applications and passenger vehicles. The Solid Oxide fuel Cell converts chemical energy in conventional fuels, such as diesel, gasoline, or natural gas, directly into useful electrical power without combustion. It has very few moving parts and, as a result creates only a low level of sound. In addition, the Delphi SOFC system produces high quality by-product heat that can be used for a range of purposes.

Delphi and its partner Battelle Pacific Northwest Division are one of the industry teams in the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) program at the Department Of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy. The SECA program objective is to accelerate development and commercialization of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology. Details of the Delphi program can be found here.

Delphi is a member of the United States Fuel Cell Council.

Automotive applications

For automotive applications, Delphi's Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology will be implemented as an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) providing an efficient, compact, quiet, low emissions on-board source of energy.

This energy can be used to power current belt-driven vehicle accessories and loads such as air conditioning, and removing them from the primary engine. With this architecture, the end customer will benefit from the availability of climate control when the engine is turned off. During normal vehicle operation, fuel savings are achieved by running all electrical systems with the fuel cell.

In future hybrid and electric vehicles, the Delphi SOFC will provide the ability to extend ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) range by recharging the batteries and optimizing the energy usage for improved fuel economy.