Electrolyzers with bypassable bipolar plates
AssigneeAnalog Devices, Inc.
InventorsAntonio MONTALVO, Michael Alfred KULTGEN, Brian HARRINGTON
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for operating an electrolyzer. The systems and methods include operations comprising: forming an electrical series connection through the plurality of electrolytic cells; bypassing a first electrolytic cell using bypass circuitry included in a first bipolar plate to electrically remove the first electrolytic cell from the electrical series connection while maintaining flow of current through a second of electrolytic cell; monitoring one or more parameters of the plurality of electrolytic cells; and generating, based on the one or more parameters, a model representing operating conditions of the electrolytic cells on an individual electrolytic cell basis.
Claims20
A system that includes an electrolyzer comprising a plurality of electrolytic cells, each of the electrolytic cells comprising a plurality of bipolar plates, the system comprising:
- a voltage converter coupled to form an electrical series connection through the plurality of electrolytic cells and configured to distribute power to the plurality of electrolytic cells, a first bipolar plate of the plurality of bipolar plates of a first electrolytic cell comprising bypass circuitry configured to electrically remove the first electrolytic cell from the electrical series connection while maintaining flow of current through a second electrolytic cell;
- and
- control circuitry coupled to the plurality of electrolytic cells, the control circuitry configured to:
- control the bypass circuitry to selectively electrically remove the first electrolytic cell from the electrical series connection;
- monitor one or more parameters of the plurality of electrolytic cells;
- and
- generate, based on the one or more parameters, a model representing operating conditions of the electrolytic cells on an individual electrolytic cell basis.
A system that operates with a renewable energy source, the system comprising:
- an electrolyzer couplable to the renewable energy source to distribute power from the renewable energy source to a plurality of electrolytic cells of the electrolyzer, each of the electrolytic cells comprising a plurality of bipolar plates coupled to form an electrical series connection through the plurality of electrolytic cells, the electrolyzer comprising bypass circuitry to electrically remove individual ones of the plurality of electrolytic cells from the electrical series connection while maintaining flow of current through remaining electrolytic cells;
- and
- control circuitry, coupled to the plurality of electrolytic cells and the renewable energy source, to dynamically adjust a stack size of the electrolyzer as a function of a hydrogen production rate of the electrolyzer and a maximum power point of the renewable energy source.
An apparatus for operating a system that includes an electrolyzer comprising a plurality of electrolytic cells coupled through an electrically series connection, the apparatus comprising:
- a first bipolar plate implemented on a first of the plurality of electrolytic cells;
- bypass circuitry implemented on the first bipolar plate for electrically removing the first electrolytic cell from the electrically series connection while maintaining flow of current through a second cell of the plurality of electrolytic cells;
- and
- a second bipolar plate selectively coupled to the first bipolar plate through the bypass circuitry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.