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| This page contains detail on the manufacturing process of the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Test Unit.
Machining of Ceramic Housing The first step in the manufacturing process was to machine the pieces of the ceramic fuel cell housing. We machined the first piece ourselves, but relied on the Physics Machine Shop at FSU to machine the other 3 pieces.
Once the pieces were machined, they had to be fired in a furnace to get to the final composition. The pictures below show what the pieces looked like before and after firing and also give a size reference using a quarter.
Machining of the Ceramic Inlet and Outlet Tubes In order to direct gas flow from the inlet tubes into the suabassembly, holes were machined perpendicular to the axis of tubes and the opening at one end of each tube was sealed using ceramic epoxy. Due to the brittle nature of the ceramic tubes, the holes had to be sanded down using a piece of copper The picture below shows a picture of one of the completed ceramic tubes.
Machining the Insulation Bricks The insulation bricks from Thermcraft had to be machined in order to fit the contours of our system. Luckily, this was not a difficult task and was completed in a couple of hours using simple tools such as a hacksaw, hammer, and screwdriver. The following picture shows what a single brick looked like before and after destruction.
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