Elringklinger

EK (www.elringklinger.de) has worldwide activities in the development and the supply of cylinder head gaskets as well as several other flat gaskets, housing modules and thermal shielding modules for engines, gear boxes and exhaust systems. EK is the only independent gasket manufacturer with global activities and supplies almost every European and American vehicle manufacturer as well as numerous Asian car and truck companies. With more than 6990 employees at 41 locations in Europe, America, Africa and Asia the EK group generated a turnover of 1175 million € in the year 2013. 

EK has been developing processes and producing components for planar SOFC fuel cell stacks since the year 2000. EK started to produce SOFC stacks in the year 2004. Today a pilot line for stack assembly is established in the headquarters in Dettingen an der Erms. 

Sheet metal forming, temperature treatments, a variety of coating methods, part handling and the assembly of thin sheet metal pieces as well as laser welding are common processes in the mass production of sheet metal gaskets. This production know-how in combination with stacking experience of EK is an outstanding base for mass-production of fuel cell components and stacks for different applications. EK has built up a series production for metallic bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells, which has been running since 2007 for various automotive fuel cell developers. Today around 35 employees are hired in the fuel cell section. Apart from the automotive bipolar plate business ElringKlinger supplies PEMFC‐ and SOFC stacks mainly for markets related to vehicles, for instance for material handling applications and truck power supply applications. An Elcogen stack concept with ElringKlinger interconnects, that will be one outcome of this project, enables ElringKlinger to access further markets with medium volume price level.