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US 2026/0302276 A1Published application
Afterburners including methods of making and operating
AssigneeWATT Fuel Cell Corp.
InventorsCaine Finnerty, Paul DeWald
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Abstract
The present teachings provide designs and materials of construction for afterburners as well as methods of making the afterburners. More specifically, the afterburners of the present teachings can include a compressible, resilient refractory material such that thermal expansion of other adjacent components, for example, a fuel cell stack of a fuel cell unit, can be accommodated by the afterburner. The present teachings also provide methods of reducing contaminants in exhaust streams and/or generating heat.
Claims20
A fuel cell unit comprising:
- an afterburner, the afterburner comprising:
- a stack of layers, wherein each layer is a compressible, resilient refractory material comprising fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures and defines one or more apertures fully through the layer in a direction of a flow of exhaust from an inlet face to an outlet of the stack of layers, wherein the one or more apertures of the stack of layers define non-linear channels through the stack of layers from the inlet face of the stack of layers to the outlet of the stack of layers;
- and the stack of layers remains compressible and resilient;
- and
- a combustion catalyst associated with exposed surfaces of the one or more apertures of at least one layer of the stack of layers such that the combustion catalyst is associated with an exposed surface of a non-linear channel;
- and
- a fuel cell stack in operable fluid communication with the inlet face of the stack of layers.
4 more elements
A fuel cell unit comprising:
- an afterburner, the afterburner comprising:
- a contiguous stack of layers, wherein each layer is a compressible, resilient refractory material comprising fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures, and defines one or more apertures fully through the layer in a direction of a flow of exhaust from an inlet face to an outlet of the contiguous stack of layers, wherein the fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures are in the form of a continuous strand mat, a chopped mat, a woven or a knit cloth, a paper, or a felt;
- and the one or more apertures of the contiguous stack of layers define non-linear channels through the contiguous stack of layers from an inlet face to an outlet of the contiguous stack of layers;
- and the contiguous stack of layers remains compressible and resilient;
- and
- a combustion catalyst associated with exposed surfaces of the one or more apertures of at least one layer of the contiguous stack of layers such that the combustion catalyst is associated with an exposed surface of a non-linear channel;
- and
- a fuel cell stack in operable fluid communication with the inlet face of the contiguous stack of layers.
5 more elements
A fuel cell unit comprising:
- an afterburner, the afterburner comprising:
- a stack of layers, wherein each layer is a compressible, resilient refractory material comprising fibers of silica, alumina or silica-alumina mixtures in the form of a continuous strand mat, a chopped mat, a woven cloth, a knit cloth, a paper, or a felt;
- and defines one or more apertures fully through the layer in a direction of a flow of exhaust from an inlet face to an outlet of the stack of layers, wherein the one or more apertures of the stack of layers define non-linear channels through the stack of layers from the inlet face of the stack of layers to the outlet of the stack of layers;
- and the stack of layers remains compressible and resilient;
- and
- a combustion catalyst associated with exposed surfaces of the one or more apertures of at least one layer of the stack of layers such that the combustion catalyst is associated with an exposed surface of a non-linear channel and is associated with more than one layer in a gradient in a direction in the flow of exhaust;
- and
- a fuel cell stack in operable fluid communication with the inlet face of the stack of layers.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.