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US 8,709,674 B2Granted
Fuel cell support structure
AssigneeAlberta Research Council
InventorsPartho Sarkar, Mark Richardson, Luis Yamarte
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A plurality of tubular solid oxide fuel cells are embedded in a solid phase porous foam matrix that serves as a support structure for the fuel cells. The foam matrix has multiple regions with at least one property differing between at least two regions. The properties include porosity, electrical conductivity, and catalyst loading.
Claims24
A solid oxide fuel cell stack comprising
- (a) at least one tubular solid oxide fuel cell comprising a tubular inner electrode layer, a tubular outer electrode layer, and a tubular electrolyte layer sandwiched between the inner and other electrode layers, and
- (b) a matrix in which the at least one fuel cell is embedded, the matrix having multiple solid phase porous regions comprising first and second solid phase porous foam matrix regions, wherein the first matrix region is electrically conductive and the second matrix region is electrically insulating;
- and
- wherein the solid oxide fuel cell stack comprises multiple fuel cells and some of the fuel cells are embedded in the first matrix region and the remaining fuel cells are embedded in the second matrix region.
1 more element
A fuel cell stack as claimed in 1 wherein the outer electrode layer is an anode and the first matrix region has a composition selected from the group of electrically conductive materials consisting of:
- Ni-Yttria stabilized zirconia cermet;
- Ni and doped zirconia cermet;
- Ni and doped —CeO2 cermet;
- and Cu and doped-ceria cermet.
1 more element
A solid oxide fuel cell stack comprising:
- (a) at least one tubular solid oxide fuel cell comprising a tubular inner electrode layer, a tubular outer electrode layer, and a tubular electrolyte layer sandwiched between the inner and outer electrode layers;
- and
- (b) a matrix in which the at least one fuel cell is embedded, the matrix having multiple solid phase porous regions comprising first and second matrix regions, wherein the first matrix region is a tubular solid state porous foam layer surrounding at least one fuel cell, and the second matrix region is a solid state porous foam support structure in which the first matrix region is embedded, wherein electrical conductivity is different between the first and second matrix regions, and wherein the porosity of the second matrix region is greater than the porosity of the first matrix region.
A solid oxide fuel cell comprising:
- (a) at least one tubular solid oxide fuel cell comprising a tubular inner electrode layer, a tubular outer electrode layer, and a tubular electrolyte layer sandwiched between the inner and outer electrode layers;
- and
- (b) a matrix in which the at least one fuel cell is embedded the matrix having multiple solid phase porous regions comprising first and second matrix regions, wherein the first matrix region is a tubular solid state porous foam layer surrounding at least one fuel cell, and the second matrix region is a solid state porous foam support structure in which the first matrix region is embedded, and wherein electrical conductivity is different between the first and second matrix regions;
- wherein the stack comprises multiple fuel cells of which some fuel cells are surrounded by the first matrix region, and at least some of the remaining fuel cells are surrounded by the second matrix region.
1 more element
A solid oxide fuel cell stack comprising:
- (a) at least one tubular solid oxide fuel cell comprising a tubular inner electrode layer, a tubular outer electrode layer, and a tubular electrolyte layer sandwiched between the inner and outer electrode layers;
- (b) a matrix in which the at least one fuel cell is embedded, the matrix having multiple solid phase porous regions comprising first and second matrix regions, wherein the first matrix region is a tubular solid state porous foam layer surrounding at least one fuel cell, and the second matrix region is a solid state porous foam support structure in which the first matrix region is embedded, and wherein electrical conductivity is different between the first and second matrix regions;
- and
- (c) a buffering matrix region surrounding the second matrix region and comprising a material selected from the group consisting of a solid state porous foam and a porous metal mesh.
1 more element
A solid oxide fuel cell stack comprising:
- (a) at least one tubular solid oxide fuel cell comprising a tubular inner electrode layer, a tubular outer electrode layer, and a tubular electrolyte layer sandwiched between the inner and outer electrode layers;
- and
- (b) a matrix in which the at least one fuel cell is embedded, the matrix having multiple solid phase porous regions comprising first and second matrix regions, wherein electrical conductivity is different between the first and second matrix regions and wherein porosity is different between the first and second matrix regions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.