Established in January 2006, Hexis Ltd. is a private and an independent company employing 12 people. The company is focusing on the expansion of the lifetime of the fuel cell module of its latest 'Galileo 1000 N' fuel cell system.

Hexis Ltd. (standing for Heat Exchanger Integrated Stack)started in 1990 as an internal research programme of the Sulzer Ltd. conglomerate in Switzerland. Seven years later, Sulzer decided to push further the development of the high temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology by creating the subdivision Sulzer Hexis Ltd. This type of fuel cells was chosen as it has the advantages of high electrical efficiency and relatively uncomplicated fuel pretreatment. Since then, Hexis has developed its production line and studied, designed and produced a fully integrated Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system based on this technology.

Since the end of 2001 Hexis has been delivering the pre-commercial version of the fuel cell system ‘HXS 1000 PREMIERE’ for operation on natural gas. It was the first and leading company worldwide delivering small CHP units based on SOFC technology with a nominal electrical output of 1kW and an integrated heat delivery of 3 to 23kW. ‘HXS 1000 PREMIERE’ systems have been successfully tested in cooperation with distribution partners primarily in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Of a total of 111 systems delivered, around 50 are being used for supplying heat and electricity in single-family houses. The remaining systems are installed in apartments and commercial buildings. These systems are operated in real conditions totalizing 1 million operation hours.

‘Galileo’, the next generation fuel cell system was introduced in 2004. This system is significantly smaller and lighter than its predecessor and is the fruit of a continuous research and development work. ‘Galileo’s manufacturing costs have been significantly reduced and the system is much easier to operate and is fully integrated.

To reach its actual expertise, Hexis Ltd. has gone past important milestones in the certification of its products:

• In December 2001, Hexis received the first CE-Certification for its ‘HXS 1000 PREMIERE’ fieldtest systems;
• In August 2004, it received the CE-Certification for its ‘Galileo’ fieldtest systems;
• This new system was further optimized and in August 2005, Hexis obtained the CE-Certification for its ‘Galileo 1000 N’ customer product.

http://www.hexis.com