Integrated photo-electrochemical device for concentrated irradiation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11248301-B2
Application number	US-201716325743-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2017
Priority date	Aug 19, 2016
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

The present invention relates to a photo-electrochemical device for production of a gas, liquid or solid using concentrated electromagnetic irradiation. The device comprises a photovoltaic component configured to generate charge carriers from the concentrated electromagnetic irradiation; and an electrochemical component configured to carry out electrolysis of a reactant. The photovoltaic component contacts the electrochemical component at a solid interface to form an integrated photo-electrochemical device; and further includes at least one reactant channel or a plurality of reactant channels extending between the photovoltaic component and the electrochemical component to transfer heat and the reactant from the photovoltaic component to the electrochemical component. The integrated photo-electrochemical device and auxiliary devices (such as concentrator, flow controllers) build a system which can flexibly react to changes in operating condition and guarantee best performance.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system including a photo-electrochemical device for production of a gas, liquid or solid using concentrated electromagnetic irradiation, said device comprising:
a photovoltaic device (PV) comprising single or multiple junctions and configured to generate charge carriers from the concentrated electromagnetic irradiation;
an electrochemical device (EC) configured to carry out electrolysis of a reactant, wherein the reactant and electrolyte are two separate entities and the photovoltaic device (PV) contacts the electrochemical device (EC) at a solid interface to form an integrated photo-electrochemical device; and further includes at least one reactant channel or a plurality of reactant channels fluidically extending between a thermally conducting surface of photovoltaic device (PV) and a thermally conducting surface of electrochemical device (EC) to transfer heat energy and the reactant from the photovoltaic device (PV) to the electrochemical device (EC);
an electromagnetic irradiation concentrator system configured to focus or concentrate electromagnetic irradiation on the photo-electrochemical device; and
a controlling unit configured to determine, modify and set an optimized mass flow velocity or rate for the reactant into the at least one reactant channel of the photo-electrochemical device based on measured values of operating parameters of the photo-electrochemical device;
wherein the controlling unit is further configured to: (i) determine whether a mass flow velocity or rate value of the reactant in the device is to be adjusted based on a measured value of the incident electromagnetic irradiation concentration, a measured operating voltage (V op ) of the photo-electrochemical device, a measured operating current (I op ) of the photo-electrochemical device and a determined maximum power point (MPP) operation value of the photo-electrochemical device; and (ii) to generate a signal indicating that a mass flow velocity or rate change is to be carried out, where the operating voltage (V op ) is defined as the voltage difference between anode and cathode of the electrochemical device (EC) during operation, operating current (I op ) is defined as the current flowing through the electrochemical device during operation, maximum power point (MPP) is defined as the point on the current-voltage characteristic curve of the photovoltaic device which has the highest value of product of its corresponding current and voltage.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one reactant channel or a plurality of reactant channels are located on top or beneath or around the photovoltaic device and act as an anti-reflection coating, when located on top, for the incident concentrated electromagnetic irradiation.

3. The system according to claim 2 , further including one reactant inlet or at least two reactant inlets and a plurality of reactant channels in fluid connection with one reactant inlet or at least two reactant inlets to permit a range of reactant flow rates in the device, and further including one reactant outlet or at least two reactant outlets to permit a range of gas flow rates.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein a ratio of (i) a electrochemically active planar area defined by the electrochemical device to (ii) a photoactive planar area defined by the photovoltaic device (Aec/Apv) has a value in the range 0.01 to 13 to optimize device operation for a working electromagnetic irradiation concentration (C) having a value in the range of C=1 to 1200, the working electromagnetic irradiation concentration (C) being defined as the ratio of electromagnetic irradiation power input on a concentrator surface to the electromagnetic irradiation power received on a surface of the photovoltaic device (PV).

5. The system according to claim 1 , including a cooling channel assembly plate, an anodic flow plate and a cathodic flow plate, wherein the the cooling channel assembly plate of the photovoltaic device (PV) includes X number of channels and the electrochemical device (EC) includes NX number of channels, where N is a positive real number and X is a non-zero whole number.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the electrochemical device (EC) includes a solid electrolyte or membrane or a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), comprising of a membrane coated with catalysts anode and cathode, sandwiched between gas diffusion layers and flow plates anodic flow plate and cathodic flow plate.

7. The system according to claim 1 , further including a mechanical or electronic switch to prevent charge carrier flow from the photovoltaic device (PV) to the electrochemical device (EC) cathode catalyst.

8. The system according to claim 7 , wherein the switch is configured to prevent charge carrier flow from the photovoltaic device (PV) to the cathode catalyst.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the device comprises an n-p-anodic-cathodic configuration or a p-n-cathodic-anodic configuration and at least one channel is fluidically in contact with an n-side or p-side, respectively, of the photovoltaic device (PV) and fluidically extends to an anodic chamber located between a p-side or an n-side, respectively, of the photovoltaic device (PV) and an anode of the electrochemical device (EC).

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic irradiation concentrator system includes at least one parabolic dish collector, or at least one fresnel reflector, or at least one fresnel lens, or at least one parabolic trough collector, or a solar tower collector or any combination of these.

11. The system according to claim 1 , where the electromagnetic irradiation concentrator system includes a flux homogenizer made up of or comprising of a combination of optical lenses or optical mirrors to homogenize the flux incident on the device.

12. The system according to claim 11 , further including at least one reactant channel or plurality of reactant channels located around the homogenizer to collect waste heat and transfer the collected heat to the photo-electrochemical device.

13. The system according to claim 1 , further including a self-tracking system configured to determine changes in the concentrated incident irradiation intensity on the photo-electrochemical device and to displace at least one element of the concentrator system to optimise or increase the concentrated incident irradiation intensity on the photo-electrochemical device.

14. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the controlling unit includes a voltmeter, an ammeter or product mass flow meter, a pyranometer or pyrheliometer, a calculator configured to determine a maximum power point (MPP) value or an operating voltage value at a maximum current point (I MAX ), a proportional-integral-derivative controller and a flow rate controller and meter or any combination of these.

15. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the controlling unit is configured to operate the photo-electrochemical device at the maximum power point (MPP) value of the photo-electrochemical device and configured to increase the reactant flow rate or velocity over time to maintain an output production of the device at a predetermined constant value over a predetermined time duration.

16. A system including
a photo-electrochemical device for production of a gas, liquid or solid using concentrated electromagnetic irradiation, said device comprising:
a photovoltaic device (PV) comprising single or multiple junctions and configured to generate charge carriers from the concentrated electromagnetic irradiation; and
an electrochemical device (EC) config

Assignees

• Ecole Polytechnique Fed Lausanne Epfl

Inventors

• Tembhurne Saurabh
• Lin Meng
• Haussener Sophia

Classifications

• H10F10/14

  Photovoltaic cells having only PN homojunction potential barriers · CPC title

• C25B15/08

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

• C25B15/023

  Measuring, analysing or testing during electrolytic production · CPC title

• C25B13/08

  based on organic materials · CPC title

• C25B11/081

  the element being a noble metal · CPC title