Back to results
US 11,688,863 B2Granted
Fuel cell system
AssigneeMico Power Ltd.
InventorsSong Ho Choi, Byoung Chang Yang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel-cell system is disclosed. The fuel cell system includes: a system module having one or more fuel-cell stacks, a first reformer for converting at least some of hydrocarbon fuel into hydrogen, and supplying the hydrogen to the fuel-cell stacks, and a housing for receiving the fuel-cell stacks, and the first reformer therein; and a start-up module disposed outside the housing, and removably coupled to the system module, wherein the start-up module supplies hydrogen-containing fuel to the fuel-cell stacks until a temperature of the fuel-cell stack reaches a predetermined temperature.
Claims17
A fuel-cell system comprising:
- a system module including:
- one or more fuel-cell stacks;
- a first reformer for converting at least some of a first hydrocarbon fuel into a first hydrogen, and supplying the first hydrogen to the one or more fuel-cell stacks;
- and
- a housing for receiving the one or more fuel-cell stacks, and the first reformer therein;
- and
- a start-up module disposed outside the housing, removably coupled to the system module, and configured to supply a second hydrogen-containing fuel to the one or more fuel-cell stacks until a temperature of the one or more fuel-cell stacks reaches a predetermined temperature,
- wherein the start-up module includes a second reformer for producing a second hydrogen from a second hydrocarbon fuel, such that the second reformer discharges the second hydrogen-containing fuel,
- wherein the first reformer is connected to an external fuel supply unit and is configured to receive the first hydrocarbon fuel along a first pathway from the external fuel supply unit, to the one or more fuel-cell stacks, and supply the first hydrogen to the one or more fuel-cell stacks along the first pathway, the first pathway including the first reformer and the one or more fuel-cell stacks and does not include the second reformer,
- wherein the second reformer is connected to the one or more fuel-cell stacks and is configured to supply the second hydrogen-containing fuel to the one or more fuel-cell stacks along a second pathway from the second reformer, to the one or more fuel-cell stacks, the second pathway including the first reformer, the second reformer, and the one or more fuel-cell stacks,
- wherein the fuel-cell system further comprises a fuel supply device disposed along the first pathway, and configured to supply the first hydrocarbon fuel from the external fuel supply unit to the first reformer, and
- wherein the start-up module further comprises another external fuel supply unit that is separate from the external fuel supply unit and configured to supply the second hydrocarbon fuel to the second reformer.
9 more elements
A fuel-cell system comprising:
- a system module including:
- at least one fuel-cell stack;
- and
- a first reformer configured to convert a first hydrocarbon fuel into a first hydrogen, and supply the first hydrogen to the at least one fuel-cell stack;
- and
- a start-up module including a second reformer configured to convert a second hydrogen-containing fuel into a second hydrogen, and supply the second hydrogen to the at least one fuel-cell stack until a temperature of the at least one fuel-cell stack reaches a predetermined temperature,
- wherein the first reformer is connected to an external fuel supply unit and is configured to receive the first hydrocarbon fuel along a first pathway from the external fuel supply unit, to the at least one fuel-cell stack, and supply the first hydrogen to the at least fuel-cell stack along the first pathway, the first pathway including the first reformer and the at least fuel-cell stack and does not include the second reformer,
- wherein the second reformer is connected to the at least one fuel-cell stack and is configured to supply the second hydrogen-containing fuel to the at least one fuel-cell stack along a second pathway from the second reformer, to the at least one fuel-cell stack, the second pathway including the first reformer, the second reformer, and the at least one fuel-cell stack, and
- wherein the fuel-cell system further comprises:
- a fuel supply device disposed along the first pathway, and configured to supply the first hydrocarbon fuel from the external fuel supply unit to the first reformer;
- another external fuel supply unit that is separate from the external fuel supply unit and configured to supply the second hydrocarbon fuel to the second reformer;
- and
- at least one controller configured to, at a first temperature below the predetermined temperature, control the fuel supply device such that the first reformer does not receive the first hydrocarbon fuel while the at least one fuel-cell stack receives the second hydrogen-containing fuel from the second reformer, via the first reformer.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.