Control of a high temperature electrolyzer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10246787-B2
Application number	US-201415031778-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 22, 2014
Priority date	Oct 25, 2013
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

A process for controlling a high temperature electrolyzer in which the one or more stacks of cells are arranged in an enclosure pre-heated to a high temperature and thermally insulated, where the electrolyzer is connected to an electric energy source for its power supply in order to implement an electrolytic reaction and where the process includes: monitoring of the power supplied by the energy source; redirecting upstream of the electrolyzer a portion of the power supplied by the energy source in order to heat the one or more stacks of cells when the value of the power supplied becomes lower than a previously set limit value; otherwise, no redirecting. A process for production of hydrogen or syngas incorporating the above driving process, where a driving system implements the above driving process and a hydrogen production system implements the corresponding hydrogen production process.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for driving a high temperature electrolyzer comprising one or more stacks of cells, where the one or more stacks of cells are arranged in an enclosure pre-heated to a high temperature and thermally insulated, where the electrolyzer is connected to an electric energy source for its power supply in order to implement an electrolytic reaction and where the method comprises:
monitoring of the power supplied by the energy source;
redirecting upstream of the electrolyzer a portion of the power supplied by the energy source in order to heat the one or more stacks of cells when the value of the power supplied becomes lower than a previously set limit value;
otherwise, no redirecting,
wherein the previously set limit value is chosen as the value of the power at which thermal gradients greater in absolute value than 50° C./cm appear inside the enclosure.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyzer cells have a surface area S and the distance between the inlet of the gases and the outlet of the gases in a cell is L, the limit value P min per cell is chosen equal to:

P
min

=

E
⁡

(

T
min

)

·

j
⁡

(

T
min

)

·
S

;

with
⁢

:

T
min

=

T
water

-

L
·
Δ

⁢

⁢
T

2

;

E
⁡

(
T
)

=

E
N

⁡

(
T
)

+

j
⁡

(
T
)

·
ASR

;

E
N

⁡

(
T
)

=

Δ
r

⁢

G
0

⁡

(
T
)

2
·
F

+

R
·
T

2
·
F

·

ln
⁡

(

SC
/
2

1
-

SC
/
2

)

;

j
⁡

(
T
)

=

A
⁡

(
T
)

2
·
F
·
ASR

-

E
N

⁡

(
T
)

ASR

;

A
⁡

(
T
)

=

L
·
Δ

⁢

Assignees

• Electricite De France

Inventors

• Petipas Floriane
• Brisse Annabelle
• Bouallou Chakib

Classifications

• C25B9/00

  Cells or assemblies of cells; Constructional parts of cells; Assemblies of constructional parts, e.g. electrode-diaphragm assemblies; Process-related cell features · CPC title

• C25B1/04

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• Y02P20/133

  Renewable energy sources, e.g. sunlight · CPC title

• C25B15/02 Primary

  Process control or regulation · CPC title

• C25B9/20

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic