The O2 provision onboard Royal Navy (RN) Submarines is accomplished via the Wellman Defence Low Pressure Electrolyser (LPE).The LPE utilises a Polymer Electrode Membrane (PEM) electrolysis cell stack, which produces O2 at near ambient pressure (0.7 bar) and the by-product H2 at 7-bar pressure.The LPE has seen continuous service within the RN fleet of nuclear powered submarines since the early 1980's and all submarines in the fleet are now fitted with this equipment. Particular cell stacks have accumulated in excess of 30,000 hours operational service.The cell stack has enjoyed a 100% reliability record until the year 2001 when two separate incidents of cell stack failure occurred within the fleet. The mechanism leading to the failure of the two cell stacks was eventually surmised to be identical in both incidents.This paper describes the:
Investigation and Analysis of Polymer Electrode Membrane Cell Stack Failures in Royal Navy Submarines
Sae Technical Papers
International Conference On Environmental Systems ; 2002
2002-07-15
Conference paper
English
Nuclear energy , Pressure , Fleets , Polymers
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