Hydrogen supply system for adjusting dew point of a hydrogen-containing gas supplied thereto

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10811712-B2
Application number	US-201816198271-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2018
Priority date	Dec 1, 2017
Publication date	Oct 20, 2020
Grant date	Oct 20, 2020

Abstract

A hydrogen supply system includes an electrochemical hydrogen pump which includes: an electrolyte membrane; an anode provided on a first surface of the electrolyte membrane; a cathode provided on a second surface of the electrolyte membrane opposite to the first surface; and a current adjuster adjusting a current amount flowing between the anode and the cathode, and which performs a hydrogen supply operation by allowing a current to flow between the anode and the cathode using the current adjuster so as to boost the pressure of hydrogen which is supplied to an anode side at a cathode side and to supply the pressure-boosted hydrogen to a hydrogen demander; and a dew point adjuster adjusting a dew point of a mixed gas in which a hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the anode side and a hydrogen-containing gas which is supplied from an outside are mixed together.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hydrogen supply system comprising:
an electrochemical hydrogen pump which includes:
an electrolyte membrane;
an anode provided on a first surface of the electrolyte membrane;
a cathode provided on a second surface of the electrolyte membrane opposite to the first surface; and
a current adjuster adjusting a current amount flowing between the anode and the cathode, and which performs a hydrogen supply operation by allowing a current to flow between the anode and the cathode using the current adjuster so as to boost the pressure of hydrogen which is supplied to an anode side at a cathode side and to supply the pressure-boosted hydrogen to a hydrogen demander; and

a dew point adjuster adjusting a dew point of a mixed gas in which a hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the anode side and a hydrogen-containing gas which is supplied from an outside are mixed together.

2. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , wherein the dew point adjuster includes a humidifier which humidifies the mixed gas.

3. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , wherein the dew point adjuster includes a first condenser which condenses moisture contained in the mixed gas.

4. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second condenser condensing moisture contained in the hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the anode side but not yet mixed with the hydrogen-containing gas which is supplied from the outside.

5. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a first gas-liquid separator performing a gas-liquid separation of the hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the anode side but not yet mixed with the hydrogen-containing gas which is supplied from the outside.

6. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second gas-liquid separator performing a gas-liquid separation of a hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the cathode side; and a water path for supplying water separated from the hydrogen-containing gas by the second gas-liquid separator to the dew point adjuster.

7. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a first controller adjusting the dew point of the mixed gas by controlling the operation of the dew point adjuster.

8. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a second controller changing the dew point of the hydrogen-containing gas which is discharged from the anode side but not yet mixed with the hydrogen-containing gas which is supplied from the outside by adjusting the current amount flowing between the anode and the cathode by the control of the current adjuster.

9. The hydrogen supply system according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater heating the mixed gas discharged from the dew point adjuster; and a third controller which increases the temperature of the mixed gas heated by the heater to the dew point or more of the mixed gas discharged from the dew point adjuster by the control of the heater.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakai Osamu
• Ukai Kunihiro
• Wakita Hidenobu

Classifications

• C25B15/02 Primary

  Process control or regulation · CPC title

• C25B9/23

  comprising ion-exchange membranes in or on which electrode material is embedded · CPC title

• C25B15/08

  Supplying or removing reactants or electrolytes; Regeneration of electrolytes · CPC title

• B01D2256/16

  Hydrogen · CPC title

• H01M8/0681 Primary

  Reactant purification by the use of electrochemical cells · CPC title