Electrochemical reactor and internal combustion engine provided with electrochemical reactor
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTetsuya Sakuma, Keishi Takada, Hiromasa Nishioka
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Abstract
An electrochemical reactor 70 is provided with a proton conductive solid electrolyte layer 75; an anode layer 76 arranged on the surface of the solid electrolyte layer and able to hold water molecules; a cathode layer 77 arranged on the surface of the solid electrolyte layer; and a current control device 73 controlling a current flowing through the anode layer and the cathode layer. The current control device reduces the current flowing through the anode layer and the cathode layer, when the water molecules held in the anode layer become smaller in amount.
Claims7
An electrochemical reactor comprising:
- a proton conductive solid electrolyte layer;
- an anode layer arranged on a surface of the solid electrolyte layer, the anode layer configured to hold water molecules;
- a cathode layer arranged on a surface of the solid electrolyte layer;
- and
- a controller controlling a current flowing through the anode layer and the cathode layer,
- wherein the controller is configured to determine an amount of the water molecules held within the anode, and based on the amount of the water molecules held by the anode layer, the controller is configured to reduce the current flowing through the anode layer and the cathode layer, when the water molecules held in the anode layer become smaller in amount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.