Planar Fuel Cell Stack

To apply tin plating, you can use a Plug N Play® kit, or use an electroless immersion plating solution such as Tinnit™. You could also have a plating shop do the plating.

Every part of the metal circuit should be plated except for the tips of the series edge connectors. These will be tinned to be soldered with a soldering iron. If you use Tinnit® for plating, you can plate the tips also. Other metals require different types of solders, so it is best to leave the tips unplated where you will solder the tabs to ensure good connections.

Tinning the series edge connectors

The next step is to tin the tips of the series edge connectors on the oxygen and hydrogen electrode/flow field plates. There are twelve contacts to be tinned on each plate, eleven for the series connections and one for the take off on one end of each plate.

Preparing the fuel cell stack's electrical connections on the electrode plates

To tin, take a 60 watt soldering iron and touch it to the solder. The solder will stick to the surface of the iron tip. Then, rub the solder off the tip onto the connector.

Preparing the tab connects

To connect the cells in a series, use tab wire. You can either purchase or make your

Tin the edge connectors
on each of
the electrode plates.

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