Fuel cell system with reoxidation barrier
OwnerSascha Kuehn, Katrin Klein +1inventors
InventorsSascha Kuehn, Katrin Klein, Gerhard Buchinger
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Abstract
A fuel cell system comprising at least one fuel cell unit (1) to generate electrical power and at least one component, upstream and/or downstream of said fuel cell unit in the anode flow path, said component preventing, as a reoxidation barrier, reoxidation of parts of the anode sections or of the anode sections as a whole in the case that an oxidizing gas is entering.
Claims18
A fuel cell system comprising
- at least one fuel cell unit (1) to generate electrical power and at least one component, upstream and/or downstream of said fuel cell unit in the anode flow path, said component preventing, as a reoxidation barrier, reoxidation of parts of the anode sections or of the anode sections as a whole in the case that an oxidizing gas is entering.
A fuel cell system comprising
- at least one fuel cell unit (1) to generate electrical power,
- at least one reformer (4) upstream of said fuel cell unit(s) to generate reformed fuel,
- and/or at least one afterburner (5) downstream of said fuel cell unit(s),
- and/or at least one heat exchanger (6) for transferring heat between the fuel cell exhaust gas(es) and the air supplied to the cathode and/or the fuel or fuel/oxidizer-mixture supplied to the system
- characterized in that
- one component is installed upstream of the fuel cell unit(s), said component being adapted to prevent, as a reoxidation barrier, reoxidation of the anode(s) of said fuel cell unit(s) in the case that an oxidizing gas is entering, wherein said component is preferably installed between the reformer and the fuel cell unit(s),
- and/or
- that a reoxidation barrier is installed downstream of the fuel cell unit(s),
- and/or
- that components for the removal of contaminations from the fluids are integrated,
- and/or
- that a soot trap, preferably a substance serving as soot trap, is installed upstream of the fuel cell unit(s) and in the anode supply region, and wherein said soot trap is preferably installed between said fuel cell unit(s) and said reformer.
A fuel cell system according to the preceding claim,
- characterized in that
- the heat exchanger (6), which is adapted for a heat transfer between fuel cell exhaust gas(es) and air supplied to the cathode and/or fuel or a fuel/oxidizer-mixture supplied to the anode(s) and/or the reformer, is located in the immediate proximity of the fuel cell unit(s) (1) and/or is arranged to enclose and/or surround the said fuel cell unit(s) (1) at least in sections, but preferably in its entirety, and/or is arranged to enclose and/or surround a reformer (4) and/or an afterburner (5) of said fuel cell system.
A fuel cell system according to the preceding claim, characterised in that the said fuel cell unit(s) exhibit(s) a voltage output of a few Volts, preferably 1 to 10 Volts, and in that a charge controller and/or voltage transformer can be utilised at this voltage for recharging the accumulator(s) and/or capacitor(s),
- wherein preferably, the fuel cell unit(s) provide a voltage of less than one Volt, preferably based on a parallel connection of the fuel cells, and preferably said charge controller and/or voltage transformer is/are constructed so as to minimize the losses during the charging of the said accumulator(s) and/or capacitor(s) at a supplied voltage of less than one Volt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.