Fuel cell power generation system
AssigneeBritish Columbia Hydro and Power Authority
InventorAlex Lam
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electric power generator is particularly suitable for providing back-up power to sites with multiple power requirements. This generator comprises a rack having multiple module bays; at least one power conversion module is mounted in one of the bays and is electrically coupled to a fuel cell stack also mounted in the rack or located remote from the rack. The power conversion module converts the voltage level and/or current type of some of the electricity produced by the stack such that the generator can simultaneously output electricity at multiple voltage levels and/or current types. The rack can be a standardized nineteen relay rack, making the generator relatively compact and compatible with sites configured accept such racks.
Claims27
An electric power generator comprising:
- a rack having multiple module bays wherein some of the bays are power conversion module bays and fuel cell bays;
- at least one fuel cell stack mounted in one of the fuel cell bays;
- a metering and power conversion module mounted in one of the power conversion module bays and comprising at least one internal power conversion device electrically coupled to the stack and configured to convert the voltage level and/or current type of some of the electricity produced by the stack such that the generator can simultaneously output electricity at multiple voltage levels and/or current types;
- and
- an output bus assembly comprising multiple output buses each electrically communicative with at least one of the power conversion module bays and each output bus having a specified power conversion rating and at least one outlet for coupling to at least one electrically powered device;
- wherein each output bus occupies a different position in the power conversion module bays, and the metering and power conversion module has an output terminal positioned to electrically couple only to the output bus having the same power conversion rating when the metering and power conversion module is mounted in the power conversion module bay.
The electric power generator of claim 3, wherein the at least one internal power conversion device includes a DC-DC converter, and the power conversion module is a DC-AC inverter.
An electric power generator comprising:
- a rack having multiple module bays wherein some of the bays are power conversion module bays;
- a power bus electrically communicative with each bay and configured to couple to at least one fuel cell stack;
- at least one power conversion module mounted in one of the power conversion module bays and electrically coupled to the power bus, wherein the at least one power conversion module converts the voltage level and/or current type of some of the electricity produced by the stack such that the generator can simultaneously output electricity at multiple voltage levels and/or current types;
- and
- an output bus assembly comprising multiple output buses each electrically communicative with at least one of the power conversion module bays and each output bus having specified power conversion rating and at least one outlet for coupling to at least one electrically powered device;
- wherein each output bus occupies a different position in the power conversion module bays, and each power conversion module has an output terminal positioned to electrically couple only to the output bus having the same power conversion rating when the power conversion module is mounted in the power conversion module bay.
An electric power generator comprising:
- a rack having power conversion module bays and fuel cell bays;
- a fuel cell stack mounted in one of the fuel cell bays;
- a power conversion module having a power output terminal, a power conversion rating, and removably mounted in one of the power conversion module bays;
- and
- an output bus communicative with the power conversion module bay having the removably mounted power conversion module, the output bus having a power conversion rating and having at least one outlet for coupling to at least one electrically powered device;
- wherein the power conversion module and the output bus become electrically communicative only when the power conversion rating of the power conversion module is the same as the power conversion rating of the output bus, and only when the position of the power output terminal mates with the output bus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.