In order to make the production of hydrogen drives for vehicles more cost-efficient and of higher quality, modular components for production lines for bipolar plates are being developed by a network of Fraunhofer institutes in the H2GOproject.
In Dortmund, the Fraunhofer IWS has now put a pilot plant into operation that enables an essential step in the process chain, the coating of the bipolar plates. It works in roll-to-roll operation (R2R) and has vacuum coating chambers in which metal strip is coated from the roll. First a corrosion protection layer and then a 100 nanometer thin graphite layer are deposited on the approximately 100 micrometer thin metal strip by vacuum evaporation (PVD). The coated metal strip can then be structured in further process steps and joined to form the finished bipolar plate.
