Autonomous vehicle with fuel cell and autonomous flushing system
AssigneeArgopower, LLC
InventorAllan Riggs
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An autonomous aquatic vehicle with one or more fuel cells, a controller, a plurality of sensors, a battery, and at least one electric motor and propeller. The one or more fuel cells provide power to the battery, and the battery provides power for the vehicle. Seawater is provided to anodes of the fuel cell and air or oxygen is provided to the cathode to produce power for supply to the battery. The seawater-anode reaction creates waste or byproduct that tends to decrease output of the fuel cell. The waste or byproduct is automatically flushed from the fuel cell using seawater.
Claims28
A buoyant autonomous aquatic vehicle comprising:
- a base portion;
- a controller to control autonomous operations of the aquatic vehicle, said controller being arranged on said base portion;
- one or more sensors;
- a power source to supply power for the aquatic vehicle;
- a plurality of fuel cell devices to supply power to said power source for recharging, each said fuel cell device including a plurality of anode/cathode pairs;
- a first partially submersible hull portion, said power source being housed by said first hull portion;
- a second partially submersible hull portion, one of said fuel cell devices being housed by said second hull portion, and said second hull portion having a first plurality of apertures arranged on a bottom side thereof to allow entry of seawater to react with anodes of said one fuel cell device;
- a third partially submersible hull portion, another of said fuel cell devices being housed by said third hull portion, and said third hull portion having a second plurality of apertures arranged on a bottom side thereof to allow entry of seawater to react with anodes of said another fuel cell device;
- and
- first, second, and third electric motors respectively coupled to said first, second, and third hull portions to propel the aquatic vehicle,
- wherein said second hull portion is configured to allow air from outside the second hull portion to access and interact with the cathodes of said one fuel cell device, and said second hull portion is configured substantially to prevent seawater passed through said first plurality of apertures from contacting the cathodes of said one fuel cell,
- wherein said third hull portion is configured to allow air from outside the third hull portion to access and interact with the cathodes of said another fuel cell device, and said third hull portion is configured substantially to prevent seawater passed through said second plurality of apertures from contacting the cathodes of said another fuel cell, and
- wherein said first and second plurality of apertures are configured to allow byproduct produced by reactions between the seawater and corresponding anodes to exit therethrough to outside the second hull portion and the third hull portion, respectively.
A method for operating a buoyant aquatic vehicle having a base, a controller to control operations of the vehicle, at least one sensor, a battery, first and second fuel cell apparatuses coupled to the battery, a first motor, and a second motor, a first hull that houses the first fuel cell apparatus, and a second hull that houses the second fuel cell apparatus, the method comprising:
- providing seawater to anodes of the first fuel cell apparatus through a first plurality of openings in the first hull;
- providing air to cathodes of the first fuel cell apparatus through a first air-permeable and water-proof opening of the first hull;
- allowing discharge of a byproduct of the anodes of the first fuel cell through at least one of the openings of the first plurality of openings;
- providing seawater to anodes of the second fuel cell apparatus through a second plurality of openings in the second hull;
- providing air to cathodes of the second fuel cell apparatus through a second air-permeable and water-proof opening of the second hull;
- allowing discharge of a byproduct of the anodes of the second fuel cell through at least one of the openings of the second plurality of openings;
- and
- supplying to the battery, an output of at least one of the first fuel cell apparatus and the second fuel cell apparatus.
A floating aquatic vessel comprising:
- means for floating the vessel;
- means for moving the vessel;
- means for controlling the vessel;
- means for sensing a characteristic of the environment in which the vessel is situated;
- means for supplying power to the vessel;
- means for supplying fuel to said power supplying means;
- means for providing salt water to said fueling means;
- means for providing oxygen to said fueling means;
- and
- means for removing a waste product created by said fueling means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.