Integration of an organic rankine cycle with a fuel cell
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsBruce P. Biederman, Lili Zhang, John Ferro, Paul R. Margiott
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Abstract
An Organic Rankine Cycle system is combined with a fuel cell system, with the working fluid of the Organic Rankine Cycle system being integrated directly into the cooling system for the fuel cell. The waste heat from the fuel cell is therefore applied directly to preheat and evaporate the working fluid in the Organic Rankine Cycle system to thereby provide improved efficiencies in the system.
Claims26
A fuel cell system having a fuel cell stack with a plurality of anodes, cathodes and coolers, a fuel processing loop and a waste heat processing loop wherein said waste heat processing loop comprises:
- a first coolant loop which circulates a first fluid through said coolers to extract heat therefrom;
- a second coolant loop which circulates a second fluid through said anodes to extract heat therefrom, the first coolant loop separate from the second coolant loop;
- a third circuit with a third fluid passing through the cathodes;
- and
- an Organic Rankine Cycle system having in serial flow relationship a pump, a boiler, a turbine and a condenser, with said first fluid being circulated therethrough as a working fluid.
A method of using waste heat from a fuel cell system having a fuel cell stack with a plurality of anodes, cathodes and coolers, a fuel processing loop and a waste heat processing loop, comprising the steps of:
- circulating a first fluid in a first coolant loop through said coolers to extract heat therefrom;
- circulating a second fluid in a second coolant loop through said anodes to extract heat thereform;
- providing an Organic Rankine Cycle system having in serial flow relationship a pump, a boiler, a turbine and a condenser, with said first fluid being circulated therethrough as a working fluid, the first coolant loop separate from the second loop.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.