Back to results
US 8,075,958 B2Granted
Methods for providing thin hydrogen separation membranes and associated uses
AssigneeIntelligent Energy Limited
InventorsAnand Chellappa, Thomas R. Vencill, W. Doyle Miller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure is generally related to providing thin hydrogen separation membranes coated on porous substrates that are useful in membrane steam reformers and methods for making same. These reformers can be integrated with protein exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells to form power systems.
Claims39
A method for providing a hydrogen separation membrane upon a porous metallic substrate, comprising;
- providing the substrate having a surface;
- subjecting said surface to at least one surface treatment comprising a polishing step whereby the surface is smoothed and whereby bulk properties of the substrate remain unchanged;
- and
- forming said hydrogen separation membrane upon said surface of the substrate by performing a plurality of deposition cycles, each deposition cycle comprising
- disposing upon said surface a composition,
- forming a coating on said surface of the substrate by a laser direct-write process utilizing said composition,
- subjecting the coating to soft baking, and
- subjecting the coating to sintering;
- wherein said hydrogen separation membrane provides permeance of hydrogen therethrough;
- wherein said composition is a metallic ink having a metallic component and a carrier component, said metallic component comprising at least at least one of palladium, a palladium alloy, and a palladium and silver alloy;
- wherein the soft baking substantially removes the carrier component from the coating;
- and
- wherein the sintering substantially densifies and mends the metallic component of the coating to provide substantially complete coverage of the surface without substantial openings or defects in the coating.
10 more elements
A hydrogen separation membrane comprising:
- a coating disposed upon a surface of a substrate;
- wherein said coating transports hydrogen;
- wherein the substrate is of a porous metal, said surface of the substrate being polished by a surface treatment whereby the surface is smoothed and whereby bulk properties of the substrate remain unchanged;
- wherein said coating is provided to said substrate by a laser direct-write process utilizing a metallic ink having a metallic component and a carrier component, said metallic component comprising at least at least one of palladium, a palladium alloy, and a palladium and silver alloy;
- and wherein said coating is subject to thermal processing
- wherein the thermal processing comprises
- soft baking, the soft baking rendering the coating substantially free of the carrier component, and
- sintering, the sintering rendering the metallic component densitied and mended to provide substantially complete coverage of the surface without substantial openings or defects in the coating.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.