Gas supply system and hydrogen station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10801671-B2
Application number	US-201815993236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2018
Priority date	Feb 21, 2014
Publication date	Oct 13, 2020
Grant date	Oct 13, 2020

Abstract

A gas supply system ( 2 ) includes a compressor unit ( 21 ), an accumulator unit ( 23 ), a pre-cooling system ( 24 ) and a housing ( 4 ). In the gas supply system ( 2 ), the compressor unit ( 21 ) is vertically arranged and the pre-cooling system ( 24 ) is arranged above the accumulator unit ( 23 ) in the housing ( 4 ). The compressor unit ( 21 ) and the accumulator unit ( 23 ) are covered by one rectangular parallelepiped housing ( 4 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas supply system which is to be connected with filling equipment for filling gas into a tank-mounted apparatus, and which is to be connected with a pre-cooling heat exchanger for cooling the gas just before being filled into the tank-mounted apparatus, the pre-cooling heat exchanger connected with the filling equipment, the gas supply system comprising:
a compressor unit including a driver, and a compressor configured to compress the gas by being driven by the driver;
an accumulator unit connected with the compressor unit, and including a plurality of accumulators and configured to store the gas discharged from the compressor unit, the accumulator unit being connectable with the filling equipment;
a refrigerator to be connected with the pre-cooling heat exchanger, configured to provide the pre-cooling heat exchanger with a cooling medium;
a gas cooler fixedly connected to the compressor of the compressor unit, and configured to perform heat exchange of the gas flowing from the compressor of the compressor unit to the plurality of accumulators with cooling fluid to thereby cool the gas, the gas cooler including a laminated body having a plurality of gas flow paths in which the gas flows, and a plurality of cooling flow paths in which the cooling fluid flows, the plurality of gas flow paths and the plurality of cooling flow paths are alternately laminated on one another, the gas cooler having a size smaller than the compressor unit; and
a rectangular parallelepiped housing configured to house at least a part of the refrigerator, the compressor unit, and the accumulator unit.

2. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the accumulator unit is located laterally to the compressor unit, and the part of the refrigerator is located at least either below the accumulator unit or above the compressor unit.

3. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the accumulator unit is located above the compressor unit, and the accumulator unit and the compressor unit extend along one side portion of the housing,
a condenser configured to condense the refrigerant compressed by the refrigerant compressor by the flow of air, and
an expander configured to expand the refrigerant flowing out from the condenser; and

the evaporator, the refrigerant compressor and the expander are arranged in the housing and the condenser is arranged on a top portion of the housing.

4. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the accumulator unit is located above a bottom portion of the housing; and
each of the plurality of accumulators includes a projecting portion projecting from the housing.

5. A gas supply system according to claim 4 , further comprising a cover member for covering the projecting portions, wherein:
an upper surface of the cover member is flush with that of the housing.

6. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of accumulators are arranged in parallel in a horizontal plane.

7. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the accumulator unit further includes connecting portions provided for the respective plurality of accumulators; and
the plurality of accumulators are respectively connectable to other accumulators via the connecting portions.

8. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a heat exhauster arranged on a top portion of the housing and configured to cool the cooling fluid by the flow of air.

9. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the refrigerator includes:
an evaporator configured to cool the cooling medium by evaporating a refrigerant,
a refrigerant compressor configured to compress the refrigerant flowing out from the evaporator.

10. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of accumulators extend along a side portion of the housing having a surface substantially perpendicular to an arrangement direction in which the compressor unit and the accumulator unit are arranged.

11. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the housing includes a top portion formed with an opening; and
the compressor unit is below the opening.

12. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the number of the plurality of accumulators is three; and
one of the three accumulators is connectable with a low-pressure region of a tank in the tank-mounted apparatus, another one is connectable with a medium-pressure region, and the other one is connectable with a high-pressure region when the filling equipment fills the gas into the tank-mounted apparatus.

13. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the compressor unit and the accumulator unit are in a first portion of the housing, and the part of the refrigerator is in a second portion of the housing, the first portion is more resistive to explosion than the second portion;
further comprising a control unit configured to control the compressor unit, the accumulator unit, and the refrigerator.

14. A gas supply system according to claim 1 , comprising a receiving unit configured to receive the gas to be sucked into the compressor from outside, wherein:
the filling equipment is arranged at a side opposite to the receiving unit with respect to the compressor unit in a longitudinal direction of the accumulators.

15. A hydrogen station, comprising:
filling equipment; and
a gas supply system according to claim 1 configured to supply hydrogen gas to the filling equipment,
the filling equipment filling the hydrogen gas into a tank-mounted apparatus.

16. A hydrogen station according to claim 15 , wherein the filling equipment is arranged adjacent to a side portion of the housing.

Assignees

• Kobe Steel Ltd

Inventors

• Nagura Kenji
• Kakiuchi Tetsuya
• Okuno Takashi
• Noishiki Koji
• Fujisawa Akitoshi
• Miura Shinichi

Classifications

• F17C2250/043

  Pressure · CPC title

• F17C2227/0157

  Compressors · CPC title

• F17C2227/0344

  Air cooling · CPC title

• F17C2270/0139

  Fuel stations · CPC title

• F17C2225/0123

  gaseous, e.g. CNG, GNC · CPC title