Aerosol feed direct methanol fuel cell
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsAndrew Kindler, Sekharipuram R. Narayanan, Thomas I. Valdez
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Improvements to fuel cells include introduction of the fuel as an aerosol of liquid fuel droplets suspended in a gas. The particle size of the liquid fuel droplets may be controlled for optimal fuel cell performance by selection of different aerosol generators or by separating droplets based upon size using a particle size conditioner.
Claims30
An aerosol feed direct oxidation fuel cell assembly comprising:
- a cathode;
- an anode;
- an electrolyte;
- and,
- an aerosol generator providing an organic fuel in the form of an aerosol to said anode, said aerosol comprising liquid fuel droplets dispersed in a suspending gas.
An aerosol feed direct oxidation fuel cell, comprising:
- a housing defining a volume;
- a polymer electrolyte membrane mounted within said housing and separating said volume into an anode chamber and a cathode chamber;
- a cathode formed on a side surface of the membrane facing the cathode chamber;
- an anode formed on the opposing side surface of the membrane facing the anode chamber;
- and
- an aerosol generator situated within said housing and facing said anode.
A method for generating energy by direct oxidation of an organic fuel in a fuel cell having an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte, comprising the steps of:
- atomizing said liquid fuel to form an aerosol comprising liquid organic fuel droplets suspended in a suspending gas;
- exposing said anode to said aerosol while said anode is in electrical contact with said electrolyte;
- exposing said cathode to said electrolyte while said electrolyte remains in electrical contact with said anode;
- and,
- exposing said cathode to an oxidizing gas while said cathode remains in electrical contact with said electrolyte.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.