Heat recovery for saturator water recovery of a direct fuel cell system
AssigneeFuelCell Energy, Inc.
InventorsFred C. Jahnke, Matthew Lambrech
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell having an anode and a cathode, a water recovery system configured to recycle water from exhaust from the anode, a heat exchanger configured to transfer heat between exhaust from the cathode and water from the water recovery system, and a saturator having an upper section and a lower section separated by a divider defining an opening configured to allow fuel and steam to pass from the lower section to the upper section. The lower section receives fuel from a fuel source and water from the water recovery unit and the upper section receives fuel from the lower section and water from the heat exchanger.
Claims18
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell having an anode and a cathode;
- a water recovery system configured to recycle water from exhaust from the anode;
- a heat exchanger configured to transfer heat between exhaust from the cathode and water from the water recovery system;
- and
- a saturator comprising:
- a lower section configured to receive fuel from a fuel source and water from the water recovery unit;
- an upper section configured to receive fuel from the lower section and water from the heat exchanger;
- and
- a divider separating the upper section and the lower section, the divider defining an opening configured to allow fuel and steam to pass from the lower section to the upper section;
- wherein the lower section is configured to at least partially humidity the fuel from the fuel source;
- wherein the lower section defines an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion configured to receive fuel from the fuel source and the upper portion configured to receive water from the water recovery unit;
- and
- wherein the upper section defines an upper portion and a lower portion, the upper portion configured to receive water from the heat exchanger and the lower portion configured to receive fuel from the lower section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.