Tubular solid oxide fuel cell developments

An overview of the tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) development at Westinghouse is presented in this paper. The basic operating principles of SOFCs, evolution in tubular cell design and performance improvement, selection criteria for cell component materials, and cell processing techniques are discussed. The commercial goal is to develop a cell that can operate for 5 to 10 years. Results of cell test operated for more than 50,000 hours are presented. Since 1986, significant progress has been made in the evolution of cells with higher power, lower cost and improved thermal cyclic capability. Also in this period, successively larger multi-kilowatt electrical generators systems have been built and successfully operated for more than 7000 hours

The influence of location on the use by SMEs of external advice and collaboration

This paper provides an analysis of the influence of location on the extent of use and impact of external advice and collaboration on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain. The analysis indicates that for private-sector advisers (accountants, consultants, etc.) and collaboration with suppliers and customers, the intensity of use does not vary significantly with location in most cases. Only the input of business friends and relatives is strongly locationally constrained, indicating the importance of personal trust processes operating in a different way from other influences. EU Structural Fund status of an area also has few major effects on use of private-sector advice. However, the impact of external advice and the extent of local collaboration between similar firms are influenced by location, with impact generally increasing with the size of business concentration, density and closeness to a business centre; i.e. there are positive effects of urban location and agglomeration economies. For public-sector support agencies (such as the Small Business Service Business Link, TECs/LECs, enterprise agencies and also chambers of commerce) the reverse is generally true. Levels of use are locationally influenced, but impact is not. Use tends to increase in EU-assisted areas, and in areas with lower levels of business concentration. This applies to most local agents, but for regional development agencies there is an additionally strong effect of highest focus of use and impact in the most rural and peripheral areas. Thus public agents appear generally to be most used and have greatest relevance to SMEs in more peripheral areas where they fill gaps in the market created by agglomeration effects