Moisture exchanger and fuel cell arrangement comprising same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016322655-A1
Application number	US-201415109085-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 18, 2014
Priority date	Jan 23, 2014
Publication date	Nov 3, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A moisture exchanger ( 10 ) for transferring moisture between two gases, including a plurality of hollow fiber membranes ( 12 ). The moisture exchanger ( 10 ) includes at least one partition ( 34 ) between the hollow fiber membranes ( 12 ) and in that the plurality of hollow fiber membranes ( 12 ) is subdivided, at least in a section ( 36 ) of the length thereof, into zones ( 38 ) that are connected in parallel.

First claim

1 - 10 . (canceled)

11 . A moisture exchanger for transferring moisture between two gases, the moisture exchanger comprising:
a plurality of hollow fiber membranes; at least one partition situated between the hollow fiber membranes and dividing the plurality of hollow fiber membranes, at least in a subarea of a longitudinal extension, into parallel-connected areas.

12 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 11 further comprising an inlet situated laterally on the plurality of hollow fiber membranes, or an outlet situated laterally on the plurality of hollow fiber membranes for supplying a gas to outer surfaces of the hollow fiber membranes.

13 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 12 wherein the parallel-connected areas are situated in a row next to each other, the lateral inlet or the lateral outlet being situated on one end of the row.

14 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 13 wherein the lateral inlet and the lateral outlet are situated on opposite ends of the row.

15 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 13 wherein a flow-through cross-sectional area, proceeding from the lateral inlet or the lateral outlet, increasingly decreases toward one of the parallel-connected aresa situated farthest away from the inlet or the outlet.

16 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 12 wherein the lateral inlet and the lateral outlet are situated on opposite ends of the longitudinal extension of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes.

17 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 16 wherein the at least partition is situated in the longitudinal extension direction of the hollow fiber membranes between the lateral inlet and the lateral outlet.

18 . The moisture exchanger as recited in claim 11 wherein the at least one partition separates the parallel-connected areas in the subarea from each other in a gas-tight manner.

19 . A fuel cell system comprising the moisture exchanger as recited in claim 11 .

20 . The fuel cell system as recited in claim 19 further comprising a fuel cell, outer surfaces of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes being fluidically connected to a cathode inlet and a cathode outlet of the fuel cell so that the moisture exchanger is operable as a counter-flow moisture exchanger.

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag

Inventors

• Staeck Rune

Classifications

• H01M8/04141

  by water containing exhaust gases · CPC title

• H01M8/04149 Primary

  by diffusion, e.g. making use of membranes · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• Y02T90/40

  Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells · CPC title