Water recovery (WR) for hydrocarbon fueled fuel cells can increase energy density, by reducing the weight of the fuel mixture by up to 75% depending on the fuel. However, WR systems typically utilize a condenser, which cannot condense sufficient water at ambient temperatures >~40C. Hence in real-world scenarios, water must carried with the fuel adding weight and reducing the energy density advantage promised by fuel cells. UltraCell has developed a design for a novel, ultra compact, water recovery (WR) system for man portable fuel cells, which can operate at high >55C ambient temperatures (WR-HAT), withstand below freezing storage and which is orientation independent. This WR system will be first integrated into UltraCell's GEN II, 20W Reformed Methanol Fuel Cell (RMFC) , and will result in a 3-day energy density of ~800 Whr/Kg, and provide a >30% improvement when compared to the GEN II system without WR. The WR system can also be applied to UltraCell's proven, TRL-7, Mil Spec tested, XX25 man portable to increase its energy density from ~360Whr/Kg to ~485Whr/Kg. The WR-HAT is lightweight so that the GEN-RW will have high energy density even for short missions (~150 & ~280 Whr/Kg for 6 or 12-hr missions.)
Keywords: Fuel Cell, Water Recovery, Rmfc, Reformer, Membrane Humidifier, Thermo Electric Cooler, Wick
