Electrochemical hydrogen pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11952671-B2
Application number	US-201916418327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 21, 2019
Priority date	Jun 14, 2018
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

An electrochemical hydrogen pump includes at least one hydrogen pump unit including an electrolyte membrane, an anode on one main surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode on the other main surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator on the anode, and a cathode separator on the cathode, the at least one hydrogen pump unit transferring, to the cathode, hydrogen supplied to the anode and pressurizing the hydrogen, a first fixing member for preventing movement of the cathode separator in a direction in which the cathode separator is stacked, a first end plate on the anode separator at one end in the stacking direction, a second end plate on the cathode separator at the other end in the stacking direction, and a first gas flow channel through which hydrogen in the cathode is supplied to a first space between the second end plate and the cathode separator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrochemical hydrogen pump comprising:
at least one hydrogen pump unit including an electrolyte membrane, an anode in contact with one main surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode in contact with another main surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator stacked on the anode, and a cathode separator stacked on the cathode, the at least one hydrogen pump unit transferring, to the cathode, hydrogen contained in a hydrogen-containing gas supplied to the anode and pressurizing the hydrogen;
a first fixing member for preventing movement of the cathode separator in a direction in which the cathode separator is stacked;
a second fixing member for preventing movement of the anode separator in a direction in which the anode separator is stacked;
a first end plate disposed on the anode separator positioned at one end in the stacking direction;
a second end plate disposed on the cathode separator positioned at another end in the stacking direction;
a first gas flow channel through which hydrogen in the cathode is supplied to a first space formed between the second end plate and the cathode separator;
a second gas flow channel through which the hydrogen in the cathode is supplied to a second space formed between the anode end plate and the anode separator; and
a gas discharge channel communicating with the first space, wherein:
the first gas flow channel includes a cathode gas discharge manifold and a communication path connecting the first space and the cathode gas discharge manifold, and
a cathode gas supplied from a cathode gas channel, which is disposed in the cathode separator, flows into the cathode gas discharge manifold.

2. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein the first space and the second space are formed to face each other.

3. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein the second gas flow channel includes a communicating channel that connects the first space and the second space to each other.

4. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein the first space is formed parallel to a main surface of the cathode.

5. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein an area of an opening of the first space that is parallel to a main surface of the cathode separator is equal to or larger than an area of a main surface of the cathode.

6. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein an area of an opening of the first space that is parallel to a main surface of the cathode separator is equal to or smaller than an area of the main surface of the cathode separator.

7. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein the second space is formed parallel to a main surface of the anode.

8. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein an area of an opening of the second space that is parallel to a main surface of the anode separator is equal to or larger than an area of a main surface of the anode.

9. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein an area of an opening of the second space that is parallel to a main surface of the anode separator is equal to or smaller than an area of the main surface of the anode separator.

10. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 ,
wherein the anode includes an anode gas diffusion layer, the cathode includes a cathode gas diffusion layer, and
an elastic modulus of the anode gas diffusion layer is higher than an elastic modulus of the cathode gas diffusion layer.

11. The electrochemical hydrogen pump according to claim 1 , wherein the gas discharge channel passes through the second end plate.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ukai Kunihiro
• Kawabata Norihiko
• Sakai Osamu
• Wakita Hidenobu
• Zhang Jin
• Kani Yukimune

Classifications

• C25B1/02 Primary

  Hydrogen or oxygen · CPC title

• B01D53/326

  in electrochemical cells · CPC title

• C25B1/04 Primary

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• F04B37/18

  for specific elastic fluids · CPC title

• C25B9/73

  of the filter-press type · CPC title