Ballard

AVEVA Insight has empowered Ballard to quickly and securely implement a cloud-
based approach to monitoring operational fuel cell products. The real-time
data and insights that Ballard obtains, in combination with the analytics
capabilities, help them make the right decisions.

Background

At Canada’s Ballard, a groundbreaking developer and manufacturer of fuel cell technology, it’s all about sustainability. Clean energy is the future and Ballard keeps pushing boundaries. Every new generation of fuel cells delivers yet more energy, and this is the result of consistently measuring everything, learning from the resulting metrics, and further developing the technology based on advancing science. AVEVA Insight is the tool that Ballard uses to measure the performance of fuel cells
in use across the globe.

Goals

  • Develop a replicable model that makes it possible to monitor and optimise Ballard fuel cells worldwide.

  • Enable remote diagnostics for fuel cell problems.

  • Implement a transparent solution to be able to meet contractual fuel cell efficiency obligations.

Challenges

  • Finding a user-friendly IIoT solution for secure data collection and storage.

  • Enabling monitoring and analysis of both online and offline sources.

  • The system needs to be scalable and flexible, so that it can grow in step with Ballard’s current and new fuel cell operations.

Results

  • A closed-loop system has been implemented that allows Ballard to monitor and analyse fuel cell performance of its entire
    operational fleet.

  • Data is now stored at a speed of 500MB/s.

  • Engineers can run problem diagnostics for units anywhere in the world and it is now possible to implement a global OEM model.

“A transparent cloud-based solution to be able to meet
contractual obligations with respect to the efficiency
of our fuel cells anywhere in the world”