Fuel Cell Powered “Bottomless” Uninterruptible Power Supply

Toyota Engineering, 2022–23

Liaison(s): Daniel Folick, Justin Ward
Advisor(s): Okitsugu Furuya
Students(s): Manuel Mendoza (TL-S), JT Griffin (TL-F), Cora Payne, Clay Briggs, Allison Marten, Lawrence Nelson, Sarah Covey, Peyton TenEyck

During grid outages, data centers receive backup power from diesel generators, which are polluting and increasingly difficult to permit. This multiyear project aims to integrate a Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell into an existing uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and test the system under various operating conditions. Currently, the Clinic team is designing and installing an initial test setup to draw power from the fuel cell.