Solid oxide fuel cell assembly
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsHonggang Wang, Michael Anthony Benjamin, Seung-Hyuck Hong, Richard L. Hart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for operating a fuel cell assembly, the fuel cell assembly including a fuel cell stack having a solid oxide fuel cell, the solid oxide fuel cell having an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte, the method including: determining a temperature setpoint for the fuel cell stack, for output products of the fuel cell stack, or both; and controlling a volume of oxidant provided to the anode in response to the determined temperature setpoint to control a temperature of the fuel cell stack, a temperature of the output products of the fuel cell stack, or both.
Claims20
A propulsion system for an aircraft, the aircraft comprising an aircraft fuel supply, the propulsion system comprising:
- a fuel cell assembly comprising a fuel cell stack having a fuel cell, the fuel cell defining an outlet positioned to remove output products from the fuel cell;
- a turbomachine comprising a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section arranged in serial flow order, the combustion section configured to receive a flow of aviation fuel from the aircraft fuel supply and further configured to receive the output products from the fuel cell;
- and
- a controller comprising memory and one or more processors, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the propulsion system to perform operations including:
- determining a temperature setpoint for the fuel cell stack, for the output products of the fuel cell stack, or both;
- and
- controlling a volume of oxidant provided to an anode of the fuel cell in response to the determined temperature setpoint to control a temperature of the fuel cell stack, a temperature of the output products of the fuel cell stack, or both.
A propulsion system for an aircraft, the aircraft comprising an aircraft fuel supply, the propulsion system comprising:
- a fuel cell assembly comprising:
- a fuel cell stack having a solid oxide fuel cell, the solid oxide fuel cell having an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte, the solid oxide fuel cell defining an outlet positioned to remove output products from the solid oxide fuel cell;
- and
- an air processing unit configured to heat or cool air directed to the fuel cell using a flow of fuel from the aircraft fuel supply;
- and
- a cathode recirculation path fluidly connecting the output products originating from the cathode to the air processing unit;
- a turbomachine comprising a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section arranged in serial flow order, the combustion section configured to receive a flow of the fuel from the aircraft fuel supply and further configured to receive the output products from the solid oxide fuel cell;
- and
- a controller comprising memory and one or more processors, the memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the propulsion system to perform operations including:
- determining a temperature setpoint for the fuel cell stack, for the output products of the fuel cell stack, or both;
- and
- controlling a temperature of the fuel cell stack, a temperature of the output products of the fuel cell stack, or both, by controlling an amount of the output products routed to the air processing unit via the cathode recirculation path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.