Fuel cell system containing catalyst based fuel contamination sensor and method of operating thereof
AssigneeBloom Energy Corporation
InventorsLaxmikant Girwalkar, Aniket Pratap, David Weingaertner, Srikanth Ranganathan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for operating a fuel cell system is provided. The method includes controlling a provision of fuel to the fuel cell system operating in a steady-state mode. The catalyst sensor is operated by providing a portion of the fuel and anode exhaust generated by the system to the catalyst sensor. Further, a change in an outlet temperature of the catalyst sensor is detected. Thereafter, it is determined whether a reformation catalyst of the catalyst sensor is poisoned by contaminants in the fuel based on the detected change in the outlet temperature.
Claims20
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a fuel cell stack;
- a fuel line configured to provide fuel to the fuel cell stack;
- a recycle blower;
- a second recycling conduit configured to receive anode exhaust from the recycle blower;
- a second bypass conduit configured to provide the anode exhaust from the second recycling conduit to a catalyst sensor;
- the catalyst sensor configured to receive the fuel from the fuel line and the anode exhaust generated by the fuel cell stack, the catalyst sensor comprising:
- a housing comprising an inlet and an outlet;
- a fuel reformation catalyst disposed in the housing between the inlet and the outlet;
- an inlet temperature sensor configured to detect an inlet temperature of fluid in the inlet;
- and
- an outlet temperature sensor configured to detect an outlet temperature of fluid in the outlet;
- and
- a controller configured to detect poisoning of the fuel reformation catalyst based on temperature data provided by at least the outlet temperature sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.