Drive unit, method for providing power, and use of a drive unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9541001-B2
Application number	US-201314058943-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2013
Priority date	Apr 21, 2011
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

A drive unit includes a combustion chamber for combusting a fuel/air mixture, and a fuel cell device, wherein the fuel cell device includes at least one fuel cell, which in each case includes an anode that is couplable to a fuel line, a cathode that is couplable to an air source, and a fluid outlet and is arranged upstream of the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber further includes a combustion chamber inlet for supplying the fuel/air mixture, and a combustion chamber outlet for discharging exhaust gas, and the combustion chamber inlet is connected to the fluid outlet of the fuel cell device. In this way a hybrid drive unit can be provided which apart from mechanical power also generates electrical power at high efficiency.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A drive unit, comprising:
a combustion chamber for combusting a fuel/air mixture;
a ring-shaped fuel cell device
comprising at least one fuel cell comprising:
an anode couplable to a fuel line;
a cathode couplable to an air source; and
a fluid outlet, wherein the fuel cell is arranged upstream of the combustion chamber; and

at least one ring-shaped fuel converter arranged between the fuel line and the fuel cell device, the fuel converter adapted to provide a gaseous fuel from a liquid fuel,
wherein the combustion chamber comprises;
a combustion chamber inlet for supplying the fuel/air mixture; and
a combustion chamber outlet for discharging exhaust gas, and the combustion chamber inlet is connected to the fluid outlet of the fuel cell device, and

wherein the ring-shaped fuel cell device and the ring-shaped fuel converter are concentric.

2. The drive unit according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a compressor unit arranged upstream of the fuel cell device, and
a turbine unit arranged downstream of the combustion chamber,
wherein the compressor unit comprises at least one compressor wheel, and the turbine unit comprises at least one turbine wheel, and the at least one compressor wheel and the at least one turbine wheel are interconnected by way of at least one shaft.

3. The drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one fuel cell of the fuel cell device is configured as a tubular fuel cell that is open on two sides.

4. The drive unit according to claim 3 , wherein the at least one tubular fuel cell comprises an anode formed by an inner surface, and a cathode formed by an outer surface.

5. The drive unit according to claim 2 , wherein the fuel cell device comprises a plurality of tubular fuel cells concentrically arranged rings and/or on rings arranged one behind the other are distributed relative to the at least one shaft.

6. The drive unit according to claim 2 , wherein the fuel cell device comprises a plurality of tubular fuel cells distributed in a ring-shaped manner around the at least one shaft.

7. The drive unit of claim 6 , wherein the ring-shaped fuel converter comprises a plurality of through-openings about a circumference of the fuel converter such that each of the plurality of tubular fuel cells communicate with one of the plurality of through-openings for receiving a gaseous fuel therethrough.

8. The drive unit according to claim 1 , wherein the fuel converter comprises a metallic material, and is in surface contact with the cathodes of the fuel cells for establishing an electrical connection.

9. The drive unit according to claim 1 , further comprising a motor/generator unit electrically connected to the fuel cell device.

10. The drive unit according to claim 2 , further comprising a motor/generator unit electrically connected to the fuel cell device; and
wherein the motor/generator unit is mechanically connected to at least one shaft to support operation of the compressor unit.

11. A method for operating a drive unit, comprising the steps of: providing air;
converting a liquid fuel into a gaseous fuel in a ring-shaped fuel converter;
carrying out a fuel cell process with the provided air and the gaseous fuel in a ring-shaped fuel cell device;
feeding exhaust gas from the fuel cell device to a combustion chamber inlet of a combustion chamber; and
combusting the fuel-containing exhaust gas within the combustion chamber, wherein the ring-shaped fuel cell device and the ring-shaped fuel converter are concentric.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising converting fuel from a liquid to a gaseous phase.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the converting is implemented as a catalytic conversion.

14. An aircraft comprising at least one drive unit comprising:
a combustion chamber for combusting a fuel/air mixture;
a fuel cell device
comprising at least one fuel cell comprising an anode couplable to a fuel line, a cathode couplable to an air source, and a fluid outlet, wherein the fuel cell is arranged upstream of the combustion chamber, and
at least one ring-shaped fuel converter arranged between the fuel line and the fuel cell device, which fuel converter is adapted to provide a gaseous fuel from a liquid fuel,
at least one compressor unit arranged upstream of the fuel cell device;
at least one turbine unit arranged downstream of the combustion chamber; and
at least one shaft interconnecting the at least one compressor unit and the at least one compressor unit,
wherein the combustion chamber comprises a combustion chamber inlet for supplying the fuel/air mixture, and a combustion chamber outlet for discharging exhaust gas, and the combustion chamber inlet is connected to the fluid outlet of the fuel cell device, and
wherein the at least one ring-shaped fuel converter is arranged coaxially about the at least one shaft.

Assignees

• Airbus Operations Gmbh

Inventors

• Steinwandel Jürgen
• Wolff Christian
• Hoffjann Claus

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/243 Primary

  Grouping of unit cells of tubular or cylindrical configuration · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01M8/04022

  Heating by combustion · CPC title

• Y02E60/525

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic