Liquid fuel cell system
AssigneeFujitsu Component Limited
InventorsAkio Nakamura, Junichi Akama, Yuriko Segawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A liquid fuel cell system is disclosed. The liquid fuel cell system includes a liquid fuel cell unit and a liquid fuel cartridge that can be connected to the liquid fuel cell unit. The liquid fuel cell unit and the liquid fuel cartridge each include a valve unit. The liquid fuel cartridge is connected to the liquid fuel cell unit so as to pour and supply liquid fuel that is a methanol solution from the liquid fuel cartridge to the liquid fuel cell unit. Using the supplied liquid fuel, the liquid fuel cell unit generates power to charge a battery. After the charging, both of the valve units are opened to return the liquid fuel remaining in the liquid fuel cell unit back to the liquid fuel cartridge, and thus, the liquid fuel cell unit is emptied.
Claims11
A liquid fuel cell system, comprising:
- a liquid fuel cell unit having an insertion receiving portion;
- a liquid fuel cartridge that is filled with liquid fuel and has an insertion portion connectable to the insertion receiving portion of the liquid fuel cell unit, the insertion portion and the insertion receiving portion being connected together to form a fuel conduit to supply the liquid fuel from the liquid fuel cartridge to the liquid fuel cell unit;
- and
- valve units, manually operable, one of the valve units being located in the insertion portion of the liquid fuel cartridge and another of the valve units being located in the insertion receiving portion of the liquid fuel cell unit,
- the liquid fuel remaining unused in the liquid fuel cell unit being returned to the liquid fuel cartridge through said fuel conduit,
- wherein the valve units are opened through a manual operation when the liquid fuel is supplied through the fuel conduit from the liquid fuel cartridge to the liquid fuel cell unit and when the liquid fuel remaining unused in the liquid fuel cell unit is returned through the fuel conduit to the liquid fuel cartridge, and, the valve units are placed in a closed state, through a manual operation, when the liquid fuel cell unit generates power and the liquid fuel cell unit has a plurality of cells and gas permeable films, wherein cells and gas permeable films are alternately arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the liquid fuel cell unit that is a flat, hollow rectangular parallelepiped, the cells being supplied with the liquid fuel to generate power, and the gas permeable films discharging generated gas.
A liquid fuel cell system, comprising:
- a liquid fuel cell unit having an insertion receiving portion;
- a liquid fuel cartridge that is filled with liquid fuel and has an insertion portion connectable to the insertion receiving portion of the liquid fuel cell unit, the insertion portion and the insertion receiving portion being connected together to form a fuel conduit to supply the liquid fuel from the liquid fuel cartridge to the liquid fuel cell unit;
- and
- valve units, manually operable and normally in a closed state, one of the valve units being located in the insertion portion of the liquid fuel cartridge and another of the valve units being located in the insertion receiving portion of the liquid fuel cell unit,
- the liquid fuel remaining unused in the liquid fuel cell unit being returned to the liquid fuel cartridge through said fuel conduit,
- wherein the valve units are opened through a manual operation when the liquid fuel is supplied through the fuel conduit from the liquid fuel cartridge to the liquid fuel cell unit and when the liquid fuel remaining unused in the liquid fuel cell unit is returned through the fuel conduit to the liquid fuel cartridge, and the liquid fuel cell unit has a plurality of cells and gas permeable films, which cells and gas permeable films are alternately arranged on the upper surface and the lower surface of the liquid fuel cell unit that is a flat, hollow rectangular parallelepiped, the cells being supplied with the liquid fuel to generate power, and the gas permeable films discharging generated gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.