Product water pump for fuel cell system
First Claim
1. An electric power generation system, comprising a fuel cell stack comprising at least one solid polymer fuel cell;
- an oxidant flow path to and from the stack;
a fuel flow path to and from the stack; and
, a product water pumping system comprising a reactant exhaust chamber, a product water pumping chamber, a drain for fluidly coupling the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber, and a valve positioned for controlling the flow of water through the drain from the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber, the reactant exhaust chamber having an inlet connected to the oxidant flow path from the stack for flowing oxidant exhaust into the reactant exhaust chamber, and an outlet for discharging oxidant exhaust from the reactant exhaust chamber, and, the product water pumping chamber having an inlet coupled to the fuel flow path from the stack, and an outlet, wherein product water collected in the product water pumping chamber is pumped through the outlet by a purge discharge flowing into the product water pumping chamber via the inlet.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An electric power generation system includes a fuel cell stack and a product water pumping system from the stack to pump product water away from the power generation system. A reactant exhaust chamber is coupled to a product water pumping chamber by a drain, and a valve controls the flow of water through the drain. An oxidant exhaust inlet provides an oxidant exhaust flow to the reactant exhaust chamber from the stack, while an oxidant exhaust outlet discharges oxidant exhaust from the reactant exhaust chamber. A pump fluid inlet provides a pump fluid flow to product water pumping chamber from the stack to pump collected product water out of the product water pumping chamber via a product water outlet. The pump fluid flow can take the form of a fuel stream or by a purge discharge containing fuel.
44 Citations
57 Claims
-
1. An electric power generation system, comprising
a fuel cell stack comprising at least one solid polymer fuel cell; -
an oxidant flow path to and from the stack;
a fuel flow path to and from the stack; and
,a product water pumping system comprising a reactant exhaust chamber, a product water pumping chamber, a drain for fluidly coupling the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber, and a valve positioned for controlling the flow of water through the drain from the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber, the reactant exhaust chamber having an inlet connected to the oxidant flow path from the stack for flowing oxidant exhaust into the reactant exhaust chamber, and an outlet for discharging oxidant exhaust from the reactant exhaust chamber, and, the product water pumping chamber having an inlet coupled to the fuel flow path from the stack, and an outlet, wherein product water collected in the product water pumping chamber is pumped through the outlet by a purge discharge flowing into the product water pumping chamber via the inlet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A product water pumping system for an electric power generation system comprising a fuel cell stack comprising at least one solid polymer fuel cell;
- an oxidant flow path to and from the stack; and
a fuel flow path to and from the stack, the product water pumping system, the product water pumping system comprising;
a reactant exhaust chamber;
a product water pumping chamber;
a drain for fluidly coupling the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber; and
,a valve positioned for controlling the flow of water through the drain from the reactant exhaust chamber to the product water pumping chamber, the reactant exhaust chamber having an inlet connected to the oxidant flow path from the stack and for flowing oxidant exhaust into the reactant exhaust chamber, and an outlet for discharging oxidant exhaust from the reactant exhaust chamber, and, the product water pumping chamber having an inlet connected to the fuel flow path from the stack, and an outlet, wherein product water collected in the product water pumping chamber is pumped through the outlet by purge discharge flowing into the product water pumping chamber via the inlet. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- an oxidant flow path to and from the stack; and
-
16. An electric power generation system, comprising:
-
a fuel cell stack comprising at least one solid polymer fuel cell;
reactant flow paths to and from the stack; and
,a product water pumping system comprising a product water collector for collecting product water separated from a reactant exhaust stream from the stack, a pump fluid inlet on the collector and fluidly coupled to a reactant flow path, and a product water outlet on the collector, wherein collected product water is pumped out of the collector by a flow of reactant into the collector via the pump fluid inlet. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A product water pumping system, comprising
a product water collector for collecting product water separated from a reactant exhaust stream from a fuel cell stack in an electric power generation system, a pump fluid inlet on the collector, fluidly coupled to a reactant flow path associated with the stack, and a product water outlet on the collector, wherein product water in the collector is pumped out of the product water outlet by a flow of reactant into the collector via the pump fluid inlet.
-
43. A method of pumping product water out of a fuel cell system, comprising,
separating product water from an oxidant exhaust stream from a fuel cell stack of the fuel cell system; -
collecting the separated product water;
discharging the oxidant exhaust stream from the fuel cell system; and
,using a reactant stream to pump the collected product water out of the fuel cell system. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
-
-
46. A pump for a fuel cell system, comprising:
-
a reactant exhaust chamber having a reactant exhaust inlet couplable to receive a reactant flow from a fuel cell stack of the fuel cell system, a water collecting area, and a reactant exhaust outlet for discharging the reactant from the reactant exhaust chamber;
a product water pumping chamber coupled to the reactant chamber by at least one drain and having a pump fluid inlet couplable to receive a pump fluid from the fuel cell stack and a product water outlet for discharging product water from the product water pumping chamber under pressure of the pump fluid received in the product water pumping chamber; and
a valve positioned to control a flow through the drain between the reactant exhaust chamber and the product water pumping chamber. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
-
-
52. A pump for a fuel cell system, comprising:
-
means for collecting water out of a reactant flow from a fuel cell stack; and
fluid driven means for pumping the collected water, the fluid driven pumping means fluidly coupled the fuel cell stack to receive a fluid flow under pressure. - View Dependent Claims (53)
-
-
54. A method of pumping product water out of a fuel cell system, comprising,
collecting the product water from a reactant stream in a chamber; -
supplying a fluid flow from the fuel cell stack to increase a pressure in the chamber; and
discharging collected product water from the chamber through an product water outlet under the increased pressure. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57)
-
Specification