Low-temperature rankine cycle system for recovering waste heat from a fuel cell system
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsGary CAI, Brian PODCZERVINSKI, Amer FARHAT
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system includes F fuel cell stacks, where F is an integer greater than or equal to one. A coolant system includes liquid coolant in fluid communication with the F fuel cell stacks. A waste heat recovery system includes a turbine, a generator rotated by the turbine, a condenser in fluid communication with an outlet of the turbine, a pump fluidly coupled to an outlet of the condenser, and a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the coolant system, an inlet of the turbine and an outlet of the pump and configured to exchange heat between the liquid coolant and a working fluid to expand the working fluid supplied to the inlet of the turbine.
Claims19
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- F fuel cell stacks, where F is an integer greater than or equal to one;
- a coolant system including liquid coolant in fluid communication with the F fuel cell stacks;
- a waste heat recovery system comprising:
- a turbine;
- a generator rotated by the turbine;
- a condenser in fluid communication with an outlet of the turbine;
- and
- a pump fluidly coupled to an outlet of the condenser;
- and
- a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the coolant system, an inlet of the turbine and an outlet of the pump and configured to exchange heat between the liquid coolant and a working fluid to expand the working fluid supplied to the inlet of the turbine.
A fuel cell system comprising:
- F fuel cell stacks, where F is an integer greater than zero;
- a coolant system including liquid coolant in fluid communication with the F fuel cell stacks;
- a waste heat recovery system comprising:
- a turbine receiving a working fluid after expansion;
- a generator rotated by the turbine;
- a pump;
- and
- a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the coolant system, an inlet of the turbine and an outlet of the pump and configured to exchange heat between the liquid coolant and a working fluid to expand the working fluid supplied to the inlet of the turbine;
- and
- a condenser/radiator including:
- a radiator portion configured to receive liquid coolant from the coolant system and to exchange heat between the liquid coolant and a first fluid;
- a condenser portion configured to exchange heat between the working fluid from the waste heat recovery system and a second fluid;
- and
- a separating wall arranged between the radiator portion and the condenser portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.