Hydrogen Generator and Method of Operating It
OwnerArthur Koschany, Zhijun Guinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hydrogen generator working by hydrolysis of the metal borohydride is described comprising a reaction chamber (7) which in its bottom part has a liquid collecting area (30) and leads by short and non-complex connecting components to a conduit end (38) through which the exhaust products (31) of the reaction are discharged into the environment, generally the atmosphere and thereby saving weight and volume. By using given high pressures and temperatures for the reaction, the danger of crystallization of exhaust products is prevented.
Claims22
1-14. (canceled)
A hydrogen generator (1) which produces hydrogen gas products and reaction exhaust products comprising
- a container (2) for containing an aqueous solution of at least one metal hydride;
- a pump (5) connected to said container, said pump being used to pump the aqueous solution out of said container;
- a reaction chamber (7) containing a catalyst (10), said chamber being connected to said pump and being designed to receive the aqueous solution from said pump;
- a first liquid collecting area (30) communicating with said reactor chamber for collecting reaction exhaust products (31);
- a gas outlet (13) connected to said reaction chamber for extracting gaseous products;
- an exhaust products outlet (32) connected to and exiting from said collecting area;
- and
- a controllable valve (37) connected to said exhaust products outlet, said controllable valve opening into the environment.
A hydrogen generator (1) which produces hydrogen gas products and reaction exhaust products comprising
- a container (2) containing a liquid reaction agent;
- a pump (5);
- a reaction chamber (7) containing at least one metal hydride in solid form (52);
- a conduit (3) connecting said container and said reaction chamber to said pump;
- a first liquid collecting area (30) communicating with said reactor chamber for collecting the reaction exhaust products (31);
- a gas outlet (13) connected to said reaction chamber for extracting gaseous products;
- an exhaust products outlet (32) connected to and exiting from said collecting area;
- and
- a controllable valve (37) connected to said exhaust products outlet, said controllable valve opening into the environment.
A method for operating a hydrogen generator comprised of a container (2) of an aqueous solution connected to the input of a pump (5), a reaction chamber (7) connected to the output of the pump, the reaction chamber containing a catalyst (10) temperature sensors (28) and a pressure sensor (27), a first liquid collecting area (30) communicating with the reactor chamber within which are located first liquid level sensors (39, 40), a heating means for heating the reaction chamber, a cooling means for cooling the reaction chamber, a gas outlet (13) connected to the reaction chamber, an exhaust products outlet (32) connected to and exiting from the collecting area and a controllable valve (37) open to the environment connected to said exhaust products outlet, a control unit (29) connected to the pressure and temperature sensors for controlling the operation of the pump, the heating means, the cooling means and the controllable valve comprising:
- pumping a quantity of the aqueous solution from the container into the reaction chamber;
- awaiting initiation of a catalytic reaction in the reaction chamber;
- measuring the pressure at the pressure sensor and the temperature at the temperature sensors;
- and
- adjusting the temperature of the reaction chamber by use of the heating means and the cooling means such that the relationship between the minimum temperature and the pressure is defined by a curve (60) as shown in FIG. 4 herein representing connection of the points in the following table:
- Temperature (° C.)
- 70
- 85
- 100
- 115
- Pressure
- 100
- 300
- 800
- 1200
- (kPa)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.