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US 12,676,325 B2Granted
Afterburners including methods of making and operating
AssigneeWATT Fuel Cell Corp.
InventorsCaine Finnerty, Paul DeWald
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present teachings provide designs and materials of construction for afterburners as well as methods of making the afterburners. More specifically, the afterburners of the present teachings can include a compressible, resilient refractory material such that thermal expansion of other adjacent components, for example, a fuel cell stack of a fuel cell unit, can be accommodated by the afterburner. The present teachings also provide methods of reducing contaminants in exhaust streams and/or generating heat.
Claims16
A fuel cell unit comprising:
- an afterburner, the afterburner comprising:
- a stack of layers, wherein each layer is a compressible, resilient refractory material comprising fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures and defines one or more apertures fully through the layer in a direction of a flow of exhaust from an inlet face to an outlet of the stack of layers, wherein the one or more apertures of the stack of layers define non-linear channels through the stack of layers from the inlet face to the outlet of the stack of layers, wherein the non-linear channels comprise channels perpendicular to a flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the stack of layers, each channel perpendicular to the flow of exhaust is defined by an aperture through a corresponding layer, which aperture extends greater than 50% of a length across the stack of layers in a direction perpendicular to the direction of flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the stack of layers and which aperture extends fully through the corresponding layer in the direction of flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the stack of layers;
- and the stack of layers remains compressible and resilient;
- and
- a combustion catalyst associated with exposed surfaces of the one or more apertures of at least one layer of the stack of layers such that the combustion catalyst is associated with an exposed surface of a non-linear channel;
- and
- a fuel cell stack in operable fluid communication with the inlet face of the stack of layers.
4 more elements
A fuel cell unit comprising:
- an afterburner, the afterburner comprising:
- a contiguous stack of layers, wherein each layer is a compressible, resilient refractory material comprising fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures, and defines one or more apertures fully through the layer in a direction of a flow of exhaust from an inlet face to an outlet of the contiguous stack of layers, wherein the fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures are in the form of a continuous strand mat, a chopped mat, or woven or knit cloth, and the one or more apertures of the contiguous stack of layers define non-linear channels through the contiguous stack of layers from an inlet face to an outlet of the contiguous stack of layers, wherein the non-linear channels comprise channels perpendicular to a flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the contiguous stack of layers and channels perpendicular to the flow of exhaust are defined by one or more apertures fully through a corresponding layer in a direction of the flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the contiguous stack of layers, which one or more apertures extends greater than 50% of the length across the contiguous stack of layers in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the flow of exhaust from the inlet face to the outlet of the contiguous stack of layers, and the contiguous stack of layers remains compressible and resilient;
- and
- a combustion catalyst associated with exposed surfaces of the one or more apertures of at least one layer of the contiguous stack of layers such that the combustion catalyst is associated with an exposed surface of a non-linear channel;
- and
- a fuel cell stack in operable fluid communication with the inlet face of the contiguous stack of layers.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.