Engineering and Support

Vision & Mission

Our vision is to give research at the Laboratory for Electrochemistry (LEC) and the Laboratory for Battery Science (LBS) the engineering foundation that state-of-the-art science requires: reliable, safe and custom-built infrastructure that lets scientists focus on discovery.

Mission:

• Design, build and operate test infrastructure tailored to cutting-edge research in electrochemistry and battery science
• Ensure safe operation of hydrogen, battery and other electrochemical systems to the highest standards
• Turn scientific ideas into working experimental hardware, quickly and reliably
• Keep laboratory infrastructure available, maintained and future-proof

• Preserve technical know-how across projects, laboratories and generations of researchers

   

Our Role

Excellent science depends on excellent infrastructure. Many experiments cannot be run with commercial equipment alone. They need customized test stands and cells, precise control and data acquisition, and safety concepts for hydrogen, batteries and other hazardous media. As a shared engineering group for the LEC and the LBS, we work alongside the research groups of both laboratories from concept to operation. Our engineering keeps experiments reproducible, data reliable, and research at the international state of the art.

Groups We Support

Laboratory for Electrochemistry (LEC)

• Electrocatalysis and Interfaces
• Transport Phenomena in Electrochemistry
• Membranes and Electrochemical Cells

Laboratory for Battery Science (LBS)

• Battery Mechanisms & Materials Design
• Battery Materials and Diagnostics
• Battery Electrodes and Cells

Expertise

Test stands and automation We develop and operate test benches for fuel cells, electrolyzers and batteries. Our work covers mechanical and electrical design, PLC programming, gas, flow and humidity control, and automated operating sequences with integrated safety interlocks.

Mechanical design and fabrication We design cell hardware, battery test cells, fixtures and experimental setups in Autodesk Inventor, produce workshop drawings to ISO standards, and offer rapid prototyping with FDM and resin 3D printing.

Safety engineering We develop safety concepts for hydrogen, battery and other electrochemical systems, including risk assessments, HAZOP studies, gas detection and leak testing. This lets researchers work at the edge of what's possible, safely.

Data acquisition and monitoring We provide a monitoring infrastructure across both laboratories for real-time tracking of experiments and infrastructure, so measurement data is traceable and available.

Large-scale facility support We design and integrate sample environments, controllers and experimental setups for measurements at PSI's large research facilities. We prepare and test experiments well in advance, so that hardware, control and data acquisition work from the first minute of beamtime. This way every hour of valuable beamtime goes into science, not troubleshooting.