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US 2026/0098353 A1Published application
Systems and methods to monitor membranes of an electrolysis system
AssigneeNew Hydrogen IP, LLC
InventorsUdit N. SHRIVASTAVA, Dhaval R. Sheth, Kieran Fahy, Jean St-Pierre, Manas Mandal, Ignacio Polanco, Mounica Yatam
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Abstract
An electrolysis system includes an electrolyzer cell stack and a pinhole monitoring system. The electrolyzer cell stack uses water and electricity to produce a hydrogen product gas and an oxygen product gas. The pinhole monitoring system is configured to monitor membranes included in the electrolyzer cell stack to detect a pinhole formed therein.
Claims20
An electrolysis system comprising:
- an electrolyzer cell stack configured to use water and electricity to produce a hydrogen product gas and an oxygen product gas, the electrolyzer cell stack comprising:
- a first cell having a first anode, a first cathode spaced apart from the first anode, and a first membrane arranged between the first anode and the first cathode;
- and
- a second cell having a second anode, a second cathode spaced apart from the second anode, and a second membrane arranged between the second anode and the second cathode;
- and
- a pinhole monitoring system configured to monitor the first membrane and the second membrane to detect a pinhole formed therein, the pinhole monitoring system including a controller configured to:
- hold a current density of the electrolyzer cell stack at a first current density for a predetermined time period;
- decrease the current density of the electrolyzer cell stack to a second current density in response to holding the current density at the first current density for the predetermined time period;
- and
- determine that:
- the first membrane has the pinhole formed therein in response to a first voltage of the first cell being less than a voltage threshold while in the second current density, and/or
- the second membrane has the pinhole formed therein in response to a second voltage of the second cell being less than the voltage threshold while in the second current density.
9 more elements
A method of operating an electrolysis system, the method comprising:
- holding a current density of an electrolyzer cell stack at a first current density for a predetermined time period, the electrolyzer cell stack including a first cell and a second cell and is configured to produce a hydrogen product gas and an oxygen product gas during the predetermined time period;
- decreasing the current density of the electrolyzer cell stack to a second current density in response to the predetermined time period ending;
- and
- monitoring a first voltage of the first cell and a second voltage of the second cell using a controller while in the second current density, wherein while monitoring, the controller is configured to determine that:
- a first membrane of the first cell has a first pinhole in response to the first voltage of the first cell being less than a voltage threshold while in the second current density, and/or
- a second membrane of the second cell has a second pinhole in response to the second voltage of the second cell being less than the voltage threshold while in the second current density.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.