Fuel cell system

• US 20070287054A1
• Filed: 06/07/2007
• Published: 12/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ueda, Hideyuki, Takada, Masahiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,824,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 429/410
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/04156 with product water removal
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/04186 of liquid-charged or electrolyte-charged reactants
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/0662 Treatment of gaseous reactants or gaseous residues, e.g. cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/0687 Reactant purification by the use of membranes or filters
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells

Abstract

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell including at least one unit cell having an anode, an anode-side flow channel for supplying a fuel to the anode, a cathode, and a cathode-side flow channel for supplying an oxidant to the cathode. The fuel cell system further includes a gas-liquid separator for catalytically purifying the effluent from the anode and the effluent from the cathode to collect liquid. The gas-liquid separator is connected to an anode-side discharge path for the effluent and a cathode-side discharge path for the effluent, which are in fluid communication with a fuel outlet of the anode-side flow channel and an oxidant outlet of the cathode-side flow channel, respectively.

Claims

1. A fuel cell system comprising:

a fuel cell including at least one unit cell comprising an anode, an anode-side flow channel for supplying a fuel to said anode, a cathode, and a cathode-side flow channel for supplying an oxidant to said cathode;

a fuel supply path and an oxidant supply path for supplying said fuel and said oxidant to said anode-side flow channel and said cathode-side flow channel, respectively;

an anode-side discharge path and a cathode-side discharge path for discharging an effluent from said anode and an effluent from said cathode, respectively, said anode-side discharge path and said cathode-side discharge path being in fluid communication with a fuel outlet of said anode-side flow channel and an oxidant outlet of said cathode-side flow channel, respectively; and

a gas-liquid separator for catalytically purifying said effluent from said anode and said effluent from said cathode in order to collect liquid, said gas-liquid separator being connected to said anode-side discharge path and said cathode-side discharge path.

2. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said gas-liquid separator has a condenser for condensing said effluents, and said condenser controls the concentration of said fuel contained in said liquid collected by said gas-liquid separator.

3. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 2, wherein the concentration of said fuel contained in said liquid collected by said gas-liquid separator is controlled at 0.1 mol/L or less.

4. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 1, wherein said fuel and said liquid collected by said gas-liquid separator are supplied to said anode-side flow channel.

5. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 4, further comprising a flow rate controller which controls the concentration of said fuel supplied to said anode by controlling the ratio of the flow rate of said fuel supplied to said anode-side flow channel per unit time to the flow rate of said liquid collected by said gas-liquid separator supplied to said anode-side flow channel per unit time.

6. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 2,

wherein said condenser includes an upper laminate and a lower laminate,

said upper laminate includes a first catalyst layer,

a first porous layer, and a gas-liquid separating membrane, said lower laminate includes a second porous layer and a second catalyst layer, and

said effluents from said anode and said cathode are passed through said upper laminate and said lower laminate in order to catalytically purify said effluents to collect liquid.

7. The fuel cell system in accordance with claim 6, wherein said condenser has a water absorber.