{"id":1682,"date":"2015-08-13T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2015-08-13T13:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plugpower.local\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2015-08-13T09:00:25","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T13:00:25","slug":"satori-summer-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.plugpower.com\/blog\/satori-summer-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Satori Summer Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"
Eager students at Satori Summer Camp watched in anticipation as special guest professor Dave opened the valve from the small hydrogen cylinder to the fuel cell and a fan began spinning \u2013 clean electricity without combustion \u2013 almost like magic. Professor Dave is David Lott, Plug Power\u2019s senior scientist, whose day job involves working with Plug Power\u2019s core technology, including fuel cell stacks for both our material handling and stationary power products.<\/p>\n
The science of fuel cells is an everyday occurrence for Dave \u2013 his amazement came from the realization that the fuel cell demonstration he shared with the campers is older than any of the students in his class \u2013 a testament to the long-term reliability of our products!<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n A camper looks on during a fuel cell demonstration<\/em><\/p>\n Satori Summer Camp<\/a> is a week-long enrichment program for gifted youth grades 6 to 12 hosted at the campus of Eastern Washington University, about 15 miles outside Spokane, Washington. The camp\u2019s course offerings feature a wide variety of classes, some of which have included multimedia design, journalism, brain science, sculpture, archeology, acting, literary criticism and, of course, fuel cells.<\/p>\n We were able to check in with Dave one afternoon to get his take on Satori Summer Camp, fuel cells and the process of enlightenment.<\/p>\n I learned about Satori Summer Camp when I started dating my wife. She first attended Satori as a camper when she was 11 and has been a counselor and instructor there for the past 10 years. After getting to know the program and seeing the positive impact it has (and some arm twisting by my wife and her camp friends), I decided to start teaching at the camp.<\/em><\/p>\n I have taught classes there for two years \u2013 2014 and 2015 \u2013 and look forward to continuing into the future. Not surprisingly, I talked to the students about fuel cells and related technology. This year, I focused more on PEM fuel cells and the questions that we as engineers and scientists ask during the design process. I tried to use those questions to tie in some of the basics (like chemistry and power) to the real-world applications and challenges that we work on every day.<\/em><\/p>\n The students get most excited about the \u201cshow and tell\u201d portions of the class. Each day, I bring in something different for them to take a look at \u2013 a working fuel cell powering a small fan, various fuel cell components, etc. The kids also love to debate!<\/em><\/p>\n This year, one of the things that really grabbed the students\u2019 attention was when I brought in one of our ReliOn <\/em>E-200 systems<\/em><\/a> (fuel cell systems that provide small-scale back-up power for critical equipment supporting functions like railroad signaling and microwave communications) to the class and took the cover off so they could see all the components. While I didn\u2019t bring enough hydrogen to actually run the system, we went through all the big parts and their functions. There were lots of good questions about the materials and processes used to make the various parts.<\/em><\/p>\n On the day we talked about the importance of water management in the fuel cells, and how that is driven by temperature, I took the opportunity to spend a little time with them discussing various methods of measuring temperature. I showed them mercury thermometers, thermocouples, and temperature guns. I ended with a class photo being taken with a thermal camera plugged into my cellphone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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