Systems and method of operating a fuel cell assembly, a gas turbine engine, or both

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12170390-B2
Application number	US-202217676478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2022
Priority date	Feb 21, 2022
Publication date	Dec 17, 2024
Grant date	Dec 17, 2024

Abstract

A method is provided for operating a propulsion system having a gas turbine engine and a fuel cell assembly. The fuel cell assembly includes a fuel cell. The method includes: receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell; and controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both in response to the received gas composition data of the output products from the fuel cell.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of operating a propulsion system having a gas turbine engine and a fuel cell assembly, the fuel cell assembly comprising a fuel cell, the method comprising:
receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell; and
controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both in response to the received gas composition data of the output products from the fuel cell;
wherein receiving the gas composition data comprises receiving the gas composition data from a gas sensor, and wherein controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both in response to the received gas composition data comprises:
using a model-based control to control operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both, and wherein using the model-based control comprises:
determining estimated gas composition data using a model; and
determining actual gas composition data based on the determined estimated gas composition data and the received gas composition data using a fusion filter.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
operating the propulsion system during a flight operation,
wherein receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell comprises receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell while operating the propulsion system during the flight operation.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell further comprises sensing composition data of output products from the fuel cell at a time resolution of ten minutes or less.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell further comprises sensing composition data of output products from the fuel cell at a time resolution of one minute or less.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell further comprises sensing composition data of output products from the fuel cell at a time resolution of one second or less.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell further comprises sensing composition data of output products from the fuel cell with a multi-gas sensor that is operated with variable control parameters.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both comprises controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly comprises modifying an operating parameter of the fuel cell assembly in response to the received gas composition data of the output products from the fuel cell.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the operating parameter comprises: a fuel flowrate to the fuel cell assembly, a fuel pressure, an equivalence ratio for a fuel processing unit of the fuel cell assembly, a steam carbon ratio for the fuel processing unit of the fuel cell assembly, an air pressure, an air flowrate, an anode to cathode pressure differential, an anode inlet temperature, a cathode inlet temperature, a fuel cell stack temperature, a fuel cell current, a fuel cell utilization, a fuel cell air utilization, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both comprises controlling the gas turbine engine.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein controlling operation of the gas turbine engine comprises modifying an operating parameter of the gas turbine engine in response to the received gas composition data of the output products from the fuel cell.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the operating parameter of the gas turbine engine comprises: a combustor fuel flowrate, a combustor fuel air ratio, a fuel flowrate ratio between combustor fuel flow and fuel cell fuel flow, a variable bleed valve, a variable guide vane, a low pressure shaft speed, a high pressure shaft speed, a variable fan nozzle, an engine-driven generator output, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calibrating the model in response to the received gas composition data.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
detecting a fault with the gas sensor based on the determined estimated gas composition data.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas composition data of output products comprises a percentage of hydrogen within the output products.

16. A propulsion system comprising:
a gas turbine engine comprising a combustion section having a combustor;
a fuel cell assembly comprising a fuel cell stack having a fuel cell defining an outlet configured to provide output products from the fuel cell to the combustor; and
a control system comprising a gas sensor positioned to determine gas composition data of the output products at a location downstream of the fuel cell and upstream of the combustor, the control system configured to control operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both in response to the determined gas composition data of the output products from the fuel cell, wherein controlling operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both in response to the determined gas composition data comprises:
using a model-based control to control operation of the fuel cell assembly, the gas turbine engine, or both, and wherein using the model-based control comprises:
determining estimated gas composition data using a model; and
determining actual gas composition data based on the determined estimated gas composition data and the received gas composition data using a fusion filter.

17. The propulsion system of claim 16 , wherein the control system is further configured to determine the gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell while operating the propulsion system during a flight operation.

18. The propulsion system of claim 17 , wherein the control system is configured to determine the gas composition data of output products from the fuel cell at a time resolution of one minute or less.

19. The propulsion system of claim 16 , wherein the control system is configured to control operation of the fuel cell assembly by modifying an operating parameter of the fuel cell assembly, and wherein the operating parameter comprises: a fuel flowrate to the fuel cell assembly, a fuel pressure, an equivalence ratio for a fuel processing unit of the fuel cell assembly, a steam carbon ratio for the fuel processing unit of the fuel cell assembly, an air pressure, an air flowrate, an anode to cathode pressure differential, an anode inlet temperature, a cathode inlet temperature, a fuel cell stack temperature, a fuel cell current, a fuel cell utilization, a fuel cell air utilization, or a combination thereof.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Wang Honggang
• Potyrailo Radislav A
• Benjamin Michael Anthony

Classifications

• B64D27/33

  Hybrid electric aircraft · CPC title

• H01M8/04111 Primary

  using a compressor turbine assembly · CPC title

• B64D27/10 Primary

  of gas-turbine type  (jet aircraft B64D27/16) · CPC title

• B64D31/18

  for hybrid-electric power plants · CPC title

• B64D27/355

  using fuel cells · CPC title