Fuel cell system with variable frequency drive for support equipment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9972852-B2
Application number	US-201313937312-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2013
Priority date	Jul 9, 2012
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

Various embodiments enable the operation of fuel cell system support equipment using variable frequency drives and power from fuel cells and/or grid power sources.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system, comprising:
a fuel cell bus comprising single polarity bus;
a fuel cell segment electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and configured to provide power to the fuel cell bus;
a first variable frequency drive electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and configured to receive power from the fuel cell bus and generate a first variable frequency power output;
a first support equipment electrically connected to the first variable frequency drive, the first support equipment configured to receive the first variable frequency power output from the first variable frequency drive and configured to support operation of the fuel cell segment in providing power to the fuel cell bus;
a second variable frequency drive electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and configured to receive direct current (DC) power from the fuel cell bus and generate a second variable frequency power output;
a second support equipment electrically connected to the second variable frequency drive and configured to receive the second variable frequency power output from the second variable frequency drive, wherein the first support equipment and the second support equipment are both blower, pump, or fan motors of a fuel support equipment, air support equipment, or ventilation support equipment;
a grid power source connector configured to connect an alternating current (AC) grid power source to the fuel cell bus to provide power to at least one of the fuel cell bus, the first support equipment, or the second support equipment;
a rectifier is electrically connected between the grid power source and the fuel cell bus, the rectifier configured to convert AC power from the grid power source to DC power provided to the fuel cell bus; and
a controller in communication with the first variable frequency drive and the second variable frequency drive, wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the first variable frequency drive and the second variable frequency drive such that when one of the first support equipment or the second support equipment fails the first variable frequency drive or the second variable frequency drive connected to the first support equipment or the second support equipment that did not fail controls the first support equipment or the second support equipment that did not fail.

2. The fuel cell system of claim 1 , wherein the first support equipment is a fuel exhaust recycle blower and the second support equipment is an air inlet blower.

3. The fuel cell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an information technology (IT) load electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and configured to receive DC power from the fuel cell bus.

4. The fuel cell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a controller in communication with the rectifier, wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the rectifier to isolate the grid power source from the fuel cell bus while the first variable frequency drive and the second variable frequency drive receive DC power from the fuel cell segment via the fuel cell bus, thereby operating the first support equipment and the second support equipment in a fuel cell segment stand alone mode.

5. The fuel cell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an alternating current (AC) bus,
wherein:
the grid power source is electrically connected to the first support equipment via the AC bus;
the grid power source is configured to provide AC power to the AC bus; and
the first variable frequency drive electrically connected to the AC bus and is further configured to receive direct current (DC) power from the fuel cell bus and AC power from the AC bus and generate the first variable frequency power output.

6. The fuel cell system of claim 5 ,
wherein the second variable frequency drive is electrically connected the AC bus and configured to receive DC power from the fuel cell bus and AC power from the AC bus.

7. The fuel cell system of claim 6 , further comprising:
the rectifier electrically connected to the AC bus and configured to convert AC power from the AC bus to DC power; and
an information technology (IT) load electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and rectifier, wherein the IT load is configured to receive DC power from the fuel cell bus and the rectifier.

8. The fuel cell system of claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of the first variable frequency drive and the second variable frequency drive to not draw DC power from the fuel cell bus while AC power is available from the AC bus, thereby operating the first support equipment and the second support equipment in an AC stand alone mode.

9. The fuel cell system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an alternating current (AC) bus,
wherein:
the second variable frequency drive is electrically connected to the AC bus and configured to receive AC power from the AC bus,

the grid power source is electrically connected to the AC bus and configured to provide AC power to the AC bus;
the second support equipment is electrically connected to the second variable frequency drive and configured to receive the second variable frequency power output from the second variable frequency drive.

10. The fuel cell system of claim 9 , further comprising:
the rectifier electrically connected to the AC bus and configured to convert AC power from the AC bus to DC power; and
an information technology (IT) load electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and rectifier, wherein the IT load is configured to receive DC power from the fuel cell bus and the rectifier.

11. The fuel cell system of claim 9 , further comprising:
a third variable frequency drive electrically connected to the fuel cell bus and configured to receive DC power from the fuel cell bus and generate a third variable frequency power output; and
a third support equipment electrically connected to the third variable frequency drive and configured to receive the third variable frequency power output from the third variable frequency drive.

12. The fuel cell system of claim 11 , wherein the second support equipment is configured to only meet start-up requirements for the fuel cell system, the fuel cell system
wherein the controller is configured to control the operation of second variable frequency drive to stop providing the second variable frequency power output to the second support equipment when the fuel cell system exits a start-up state.

13. The fuel cell system of claim 12 , wherein the first support equipment is a fuel exhaust recycle blower, the second support equipment is a catalytic partial pressure oxidation (CPOx) reactor air blower, and the third support equipment is an air inlet blower.

14. A method for operating a fuel cell system, comprising:
operating a fuel cell segment to provide power to first variable frequency drive via a fuel cell bus comprising a single polarity bus;
generating a first variable frequency power output at the first variable frequency drive;
providing the first variable frequency power output from the first variable frequency drive to a first support equipment;
operating the first support equipment using the first variable frequency power output to support operation of the fuel cell segment in providing power to the first variable frequency drive;
receiving direct current (DC) power from the fuel cell bus at a second variable frequency drive; and
generating a second variable frequency power output at the second variable frequency drive;
providing the second variable frequency power output to a second support equipment from the second variable frequen

Assignees

• Bloom Energy Corp

Inventors

• Ballantine Arne
• Gurunathan Ranganathan
• Pearson Chad
• Gopinath Rajesh
• Cottuli Carl
• Smith James Daniel

Classifications

• Y02B90/14

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/04223

  during start-up or shut-down; Depolarisation or activation, e.g. purging; Means for short-circuiting defective fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04089

  of gaseous reactants · CPC title

• H02J7/35

  with light sensitive cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04097

  with recycling of the reactants (H01M8/04119, H01M8/04104 take precedence) · CPC title