Hydrogen Production

On Earth, hydrogen only occurs in combination with other elements. One of the best known and most common compounds is the compound with oxygen in the form of water. In order to produce green hydrogen, water is split into hydrogen and oxygen molecules in an electrolysis process using electricity from renewable energies. This is done, for example, with proton exchange membranes (PEMs). These are located in so-called PEM cells, which consist of different layers: cathode and anode enclose the membrane and are each provided with catalyst layers. Together, these layers form the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Together with a gas diffusion layer on both sides and two bipolar plates (BPP), they form a PEM electrolysis cell. To achieve the highest possible yields in the industrial production of hydrogen, several such cells are stacked here.

The assembly of the individual layers of a PEM stack has so far mostly been done manually and is time-consuming. In order to be able to produce large quantities efficiently and economically, increasing automation of stack production is required. For example, robotic arms can stack the layers of a PEM electrolysis cell and alternately place MEA and BPP on top of each other. To ensure that no errors occur here, various products from Pepperl+Fuchs are suitable for supporting automated production.

The innovative sensors from Pepperl+Fuchs for automated PEM stack production feature standardized IO-Link interfaces. This allows users not only to make and change settings, but also query status data. The associated IO-Link masters transmit this data to higher-level systems via OPC UA so that it can be used, for example, for analyses and simulations. The sensors used therefore meet all the requirements of modern production in the sense of Industry 4.0.