How to become Fuel Cell Engineer in 2024

Fuel Cell Engineer Design, evaluate, modify, or construct fuel cell components or systems for transportation, stationary, or portable applications.

Fuel Cell Engineer is Also Know as

In different settings, Fuel Cell Engineer is titled as

  • Engineer
  • Fuel Cell Engineer
  • Research Engineer
  • Stack Engineer

Education and Training of Fuel Cell Engineer

Fuel Cell Engineer is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Fuel Cell Engineer

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Fuel Cell Engineer

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Fuel Cell Engineer

Training Required for Fuel Cell Engineer

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Fuel Cell Engineer in different industries are

What Do Fuel Cell Engineer do?

  • Write technical reports or proposals related to engineering projects.
  • Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, or talk with colleagues to stay abreast of new technology or competitive products.
  • Validate design of fuel cells, fuel cell components, or fuel cell systems.
  • Simulate or model fuel cell, motor, or other system information, using simulation software programs.
  • Recommend or implement changes to fuel cell system designs.
  • Provide technical consultation or direction related to the development or production of fuel cell systems.
  • Plan or conduct experiments to validate new materials, optimize startup protocols, reduce conditioning time, or examine contaminant tolerance.
  • Integrate electric drive subsystems with other vehicle systems to optimize performance or mitigate faults.
  • Identify or define vehicle and system integration challenges for fuel cell vehicles.
  • Fabricate prototypes of fuel cell components, assemblies, stacks, or systems.
  • Develop fuel cell materials or fuel cell test equipment.
  • Conduct post-service or failure analyses, using electromechanical diagnostic principles or procedures.
  • Design or implement fuel cell testing or development programs.
  • Characterize component or fuel cell performances by generating operating maps, defining operating conditions, identifying design refinements, or executing durability assessments.
  • Calculate the efficiency or power output of a fuel cell system or process.
  • Analyze fuel cell or related test data, using statistical software.
  • Design fuel cell systems, subsystems, stacks, assemblies, or components, such as electric traction motors or power electronics.
  • Prepare test stations, instrumentation, or data acquisition systems for use in specific tests of fuel cell components or systems.
  • Plan or implement fuel cell cost reduction or product improvement projects in collaboration with other engineers, suppliers, support personnel, or customers.
  • Coordinate fuel cell engineering or test schedules with departments outside engineering, such as manufacturing.
  • Authorize release of fuel cell parts, components, or subsystems for production.
  • Manage fuel cell battery hybrid system architecture, including sizing of components, such as fuel cells, energy storage units, or electric drives.
  • Conduct fuel cell testing projects, using fuel cell test stations, analytical instruments, or electrochemical diagnostics, such as cyclic voltammetry or impedance spectroscopy.
  • Define specifications for fuel cell materials.
  • Develop or evaluate systems or methods of hydrogen storage for fuel cell applications.
  • Evaluate the power output, system cost, or environmental impact of new hydrogen or non-hydrogen fuel cell system designs.

Qualities of Good Fuel Cell Engineer

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.

Tools Used by Fuel Cell Engineer

  • Desktop computers
  • Differential scanning calorimeters
  • Digital sonifiers
  • Dilatometers
  • Flame ionization detectors FID
  • Flow reactors
  • Fluorescence detectors
  • Fourier transfer infrared FTIR spectrometers
  • Frequency response analyzers
  • Fuel cell test stands
  • Gas chromatography equipment
  • Gravity convection ovens
  • High pressure liquid chromatographs HPLC
  • High temperature tube furnaces
  • Induction furnaces
  • Infrared IR spectrophotometers
  • Laboratory ball mills
  • Laboratory glove boxes
  • Laboratory vacuum ovens
  • Laptop computers
  • Load boxes
  • Mass spectrometers
  • Microbalances
  • Molding presses
  • Personal computers
  • Portable emissions analyzers
  • Power analyzers
  • Programmable logic controllers PLC
  • Scanning electron microscopes SEM
  • Scanning spectrophotometers
  • Surface area analyzers
  • Thermal gravimetric analyzers
  • Thermovolumetric analyzers TVA
  • Transmission electron microscopes TEM
  • Ultrasonic blenders
  • X ray crystallography equipment
  • X ray fluorescence XRF spectrometers
  • X ray photoelectric spectroscopes

Technology Skills required for Fuel Cell Engineer

  • Ansoft Simplorer
  • Ansys Fluent
  • ASPEN PLUS
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • C
  • C++
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • FactSage
  • Failure mode and effects analysis FMEA software
  • Gaussian GaussView
  • Gaussian software
  • GE Energy GateCycle
  • IBM Cloud
  • Maplesoft Maple
  • MathWorks Simulink
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • Minitab
  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • Oracle Database
  • Statistical software
  • Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
  • Wind River Systems C/C++ Compiler Suite
  • Wolfram Research Mathematica