Fuel cell power plant
OwnerVincent M. Callaghan, Roger R. Lesieur +1inventors
InventorsVincent M. Callaghan, Roger R. Lesieur, Paul R. Margiott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel cell system having a water source wherein the water is fed in a controlled manner to a gas stream for cooling the gas stream to a desired temperature. In a preferred embodiment, the water is atomized prior to contacting the gas stream. In a further embodiment, a packing of high surface area material is fed with the cooling water as the gas stream passes through the packing material. By utilizing water already present in the fuel cell power plant, a highly efficient method and system for controlling the temperature of gas streams and O/C ratio in the fuel cell power plant is obtained.
Claims16
A fuel cell system comprising a fuel processor for converting a hydrocarbon fuel into a high temperature reformed gas containing hydrogen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, first conduit means for communicating the reformed gas to a shift converter located downstream of the fuel processor for further converting the reformed gas to primarily a hydrogen and carbon dioxide containing gas stream, second conduit means for communicating the gas stream to a fuel cell downstream of the shift converter for reacting the hydrogen in the gas stream, a water source, and water feed means for feeding water to at least one of the first and second conduit means in a controlled manner for cooling at least one of the reformed gas and gas stream, respectively, to a desired temperature.
A method for controlling temperature in a fuel cell system comprising a fuel processor for generating a reformed gas, a shift converter downstream of the fuel processor for receiving the reformed gas via a first conduit and further converting same to a primarily hydrogen and carbon dioxide containing gas stream, and a fuel cell downstream of the shift converter for receiving the gas stream via a second conduit, comprising the steps of providing a water source and injecting water from the water source into at least one of the reformed gas and the gas stream respectively, in a controlled manner for cooling the reformed gas and gas stream to a desired temperature prior to feeding the reformed gas to the shift converter and the gas stream to the fuel cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.