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US 11,196,068 B2Granted
Fuel cell system containing water injector and method of operating the same
AssigneeBloom Energy Corporation
InventorsDavid Weingaertner, Ivan Hartana, David Edmonston, Michael Petrucha, Martin Perry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of operating a fuel cell system includes providing an anode exhaust from a fuel cell stack to a water injector, supplying water to the water injector, and injecting the water from the water injector into the anode exhaust to vaporize the water and generate a humidified anode exhaust.
Claims17
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a fuel cell stack;
- an anode exhaust conduit configured to receive an anode exhaust from the stack;
- a water injector configured to inject water into the anode exhaust in the anode exhaust conduit;
- an anode recuperator located below the water injector and configured to receive the anode exhaust from the stack, to heat fuel provided to the stack using heat from the anode exhaust and to provide the anode exhaust to the anode exhaust conduit and the water injector;
- and
- an anode exhaust cooler disposed above the water injector and the anode recuperator and configured to heat air provided to the stack using the anode exhaust provided from the water injector and the anode recuperator.
3 more elements
A method of operating a fuel cell system comprising:
- providing at least a portion of an anode exhaust from a fuel cell stack to a water injector;
- supplying water to the water injector;
- injecting the water from the water injector into the at least the portion of the anode exhaust to at least one of vaporize or aerosolize the water and generate a humidified anode exhaust;
- providing the anode exhaust from the stack to an anode recuperator to heat a fuel inlet stream flowing to the stack;
- splitting the anode exhaust provided from the anode recuperator into a first portion of the anode exhaust and a second portion of the anode exhaust;
- providing the first portion of the anode exhaust into the water injector, wherein the water is vaporized in the first portion of the anode exhaust stream to form the humidified anode exhaust;
- and
- providing the second portion of the anode exhaust into an anode tail gas oxidizer.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.