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US 11,527,766 B2Granted
Fuel cell system and tail gas burner assembly and method
AssigneeCeres Intellectual Property Company Limited
InventorsMartin Schmidt, Paul Barnard, Tony Toher, Isaac Cottereau, Michael McLorn, Oliver Postlethwaite, Simone Dozio
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is concerned with improved swirl burners, particularly, but not limited to, swirl burners used in fuel cell systems.
Claims18
A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack and a burner assembly:
- the burner assembly comprising:
- (i) a hollow longitudinally elongate body extending along a central axis and having a first end and a second end,
- (ii) a burner wall located between said first end and said second end, and defining a first volume from said first end to said burner wall, and a second volume from said burner wall to said second end,
- (iii) an oxidant inlet into said first volume, said oxidant inlet for providing an oxidant flow therethrough,
- (iv) at least one hollow elongate burner abutting said burner wall or extending through an opening in said burner wall from said first volume to said second volume, and comprising:
- (a) a burner plate or mixer having a first side opening into said first volume, and a second side opening into said second volume,
- (b) a first fuel inlet into said first volume for feeding a first fuel from a first fuel passageway to said first volume;
- and
- (c) a second fuel inlet into said second volume for feeding a second fuel from a second fuel passageway to said second volume;
- wherein said fuel cell system further comprises:
- a first fuel source for supplying the first fuel to the first fuel passageway, the first fuel being a high calorific value fuel and neither a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system nor an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack;
- a second fuel source for supplying the second fuel to the second fuel passageway, the second fuel being a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system or an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack;
- and
- at least one connection upstream of the first fuel passageway and the second fuel passageway to selectively connect fuel from the first fuel supply also into said second fuel passageway such that said second fuel is mixed with high calorific value fuel that is neither a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system nor an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack, prior to delivery to said second fuel inlet.
11 more elements
A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack and a burner assembly, the burner assembly comprising:
- (i) a hollow longitudinally elongate body extending along a central axis and having a first end and a second end,
- (ii) a burner wall located between said first end and said second end, and defining a first volume from said first end to said burner wall, and a second volume from said burner wall to said second end,
- (iii) an oxidant inlet into said first volume, said oxidant inlet for providing an oxidant flow therethrough,
- (iv) at least one hollow elongate burner abutting said burner wall or extending through an opening in said burner wall from said first volume to said second volume, and comprising:
- (a) a burner plate or mixer having a first side opening into said first volume, and a second side opening into said second volume,
- (b) a first fuel inlet into said first volume;
- and
- (c) a second fuel inlet into said second volume;
- wherein said fuel cell system further comprises:
- a first fuel passageway containing a first fuel, the first fuel being a high calorific value fuel and neither a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system nor an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack, and the first fuel passageway being connected to the first fuel inlet;
- a second fuel passageway containing a second fuel, the second fuel being a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system or an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack, and the second fuel passageway being connected to the second fuel inlet, and
- at least one connection for selectively connecting the first fuel passageway and the second fuel passageway to mix fuel of said first fuel passageway with said second fuel in the second fuel passageway, such that said second fuel is mixed with high calorific value fuel that is neither a reformate gas from a reformer of the fuel cell system nor an anode off gas from an anode of the fuel cell stack, prior to delivery to said second fuel inlet.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.