Karlskoga, Sweden
Cell Impact's modern high-volume production facility located in northern Europe.
Cell Impact Forming™
A fast new method to accurately manufacture high-quality flow plates in large quantities.
At the core of Cell Impact Forming™ is a one-stroke high-kinetic forming process, where two specially designed tools come together at a high and precisely controlled velocity to shape the material between them. At impact, the material properties change briefly, allowing a smoother shaping process with substantially reduced stretching and thinning. The result is a high-quality flow plate with an almost uniform material thickness – every time.
Fast and environmentally friendly
The process is conducted cold, meaning that the metallic material is cold before and after it has been processed, and the energy consumption is lower than in a conventional press process. Additionally, no lubrication is needed, so no cleaning is required. The low power consumption and absence of lubrication results in an environmentally friendly industrial manufacturing process.
Taking metal forming to the next level
Cell Impact Forming increases the malleability of the material, allowing for more advanced and precise flow plate designs – a vital design criterion when aiming for high energy densities in a fuel cell.
Cell Impact Forming™ sets a new standard
Producing a million flow plates where the last one is identical to the first one is no easy task – but Cell Impact Forming™ is up to the job. And with innovations comes new possibilities in complex pattern design and flow plate optimization.
Lower tool cost
Tool dies are easier to produce, require almost no maintenance, and have a lifetime well over a million cycles.
Dry process
No lubrication oil is used which eliminates the water and chemicals that usually are required for oil removal.
Green production
No chemicals, low power consumption, and less material waste is the foundation of a clean work environment and environmentally-friendly manufacturing.
Compact
A small footprint and easy setup makes for simple installation - even on a standard factory floor.
Fast
Very short cycle times – down to 1 second per flow plate.
High quality
Produce complex flow plates with high tolerances and with uniform material thickness.
The new way to form thin metal
Cell Impact Forming™ is an innovative way to create complex patterns in thin metall. It's a dry process which uses high-kinetic energy to form a very accurate design into an extremely thin sheet of metal. By precisely controlling the velocity of the forming process, it's possible to produce flow plates with unsurpassed thickness uniformity and channel accuracy.
01. Impact cylinder
An impact cylinder is accelerated to a specified velocity.
02. Energy transfer
As the cylinder impacts with the upper tool assembly, the tool is pushed down.
03. Metal forming
As the upper tool meets the lower tool, the material between them is formed.
The impact cylinder then retreats, new material is fed into the tool assembly and the process repeats.
We're here to help
We'll assist you in preparing your flow plate for Cell Impact Manufacturing™. In addition to designing the tools required, we can often offer suggestions that can help improve your design based on our experience and expertise. We also have the capability to perform extensive simulations of particular areas and geometries to measure such parameters as material strain and pinching.
Our new top-of-the-line measuring equipment gives us better opportunities to measure complex geometries quickly and accurately on an ongoing basis. That makes it possible for uss to assist in your product development by connecting our reliable measurement results of the geometric properties of the flow plate with the actual efficiency of the fuel cell.We can also help evaluate channel geometries, cooling channel layouts, gas exhausts and other important aspects of a bipolar flow plate with a high energy density.
Cell Impact Forming™ around the world
There are several Cell Impact Forming™ lines located around the world and more are coming. These sites provide an excellent opportunity for interested customers to experience the benefits of this exciting technology. If you would like to get in contact with us regarding other opportunities for Cell Impact Forming™, please don't hesitate to contact us. You'll find the relevant international contacts on our Contact page.
Plug Power facility in Rochester, New York, USA
Cell Impact Forming™ machines for production of flow plates in partnership with Plug Power Inc.
FCC demonstration facility, Hamamatsu, Japan
A Cell Impact Forming™ demonstration line in partnership with auto parts supplier F.C.C. Co., Ltd.