Fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11211622-B2
Application number	US-201916426658-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2019
Priority date	Jun 12, 2018
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell that includes an anode and a cathode and generates electricity by reducing a mediator at the cathode; a regenerator that oxidizes the mediator reduced by the cathode; a first path that leads from the cathode to the regenerator and through which the mediator reduced by and discharged from the cathode is guided to the regenerator; a second path that leads from the regenerator to the cathode and through which the mediator oxidized at the regenerator is returned to the cathode; and a first heat exchanger that exchanges heat between a first fluid and a second fluid, the first fluid being a fluid flowing in the first path and containing the mediator reduced by cathode, and the second fluid being a fluid flowing in the second path and containing the mediator oxidized at the regenerator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell that includes an anode and a cathode and generates electricity by reducing a mediator at the cathode;
a regenerator that oxidizes the mediator reduced by the cathode;
a first path that leads from the cathode to the regenerator and through which the mediator reduced by and discharged from the cathode is guided to the regenerator;
a second path that leads from the regenerator to the cathode and through which the mediator oxidized at the regenerator is returned to the cathode; and
a first heat exchanger that exchanges heat between a first fluid and a second fluid, the first fluid being a fluid flowing in the first path and containing the mediator reduced by cathode, and the second fluid being a fluid flowing in the second path and containing the mediator oxidized at the regenerator.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the second path releases more heat per second than the first path does.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein at least part of the second path is made of a material that has a higher thermal conductivity than a material forming the first path.

4. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising a thermal insulator that covers at least part of the first path.

5. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an oxidant feed path through which an oxidant is supplied to the regenerator; and
a second heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the oxidant in the oxidant feed path and the second fluid.

6. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising a tank that is disposed in the second path and retains the mediator oxidized at the regenerator.

7. The fuel cell system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a liquid delivery path that is connected to the tank and through which a liquid for diluting the mediator is supplied to the tank; and
a controller that regulates a flow rate of the liquid in the liquid delivery path.

8. The fuel cell system according to claim 7 , wherein:
the second path includes an upstream path that connects the regenerator and the tank;
the upstream path has a first portion that extends from the regenerator to the tank and a second portion that allows the mediator to cool down while bypassing at least part of the first portion; and
the controller regulates a flow rate of the mediator in the first portion and a flow rate of the mediator in the second portion.

9. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising a thermal insulator that covers at least part of the regenerator.

10. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater that heats an inside of the regenerator.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Fayolle Marine
• Tamura Satoru
• Kitazawa Yosuke
• Hayashi Takao

Classifications

• H01M8/04716

  of fuel cell exhausts · CPC title

• H01M8/04201

  Reactant storage and supply, e.g. means for feeding, pipes · CPC title

• H01M8/04186

  of liquid-charged or electrolyte-charged reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04007

  related to heat exchange · CPC title

• H01M8/04731 Primary

  of other components of a fuel cell or fuel cell stacks · CPC title