ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION ON A VEHICLE

• US 20200130859A1
• Filed: 03/13/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BAE Systems Plc
• Original Assignee: BAE Systems Plc
• Inventors: Woodhouse, Gordon Charles, Holland, Graham Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 11,434,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 2041/005 Fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 41/00 Power installations for auxiliary purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2250/20 Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/04156 with product water removal
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/04201 Reactant storage and supply, e.g. means for feeding, pipes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/0612 from carbon-containing material
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/0618 Reforming processes, e.g. autothermal, partial oxidation or steam reforming
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/0668 Removal of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/40 Weight reduction
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/40 Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells

Abstract

A vehicle comprising: a fuel store (104) configured to store a fuel, the fuel comprising a hydrocarbon; a fuel reformer (108) coupled to the fuel store (104) and configured to: receive an input comprising the hydrocarbon; and process the received input to produce an output comprising hydrogen; and a fuel cell (112) coupled to the fuel reformer (108) and configured to: receive the hydrogen from the fuel reformer (108); and produce, using the received hydrogen, electricity for use on the vehicle.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a fuel store configured to store a fuel, the fuel comprising a hydrocarbon;

a fuel reformer coupled to the fuel store and configured to;

receive an input comprising the hydrocarbon; and

process the received input to produce an output comprising hydrogen; and

a fuel cell coupled to the fuel reformer and configured to;

receive the hydrogen from the fuel reformer; and

produce, using the received hydrogen, electricity for use on the vehicle.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the fuel reformer is an electrically driven fuel reformer powered by the electricity produced by the fuel cell.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising an engine coupled to the fuel store, wherein the engine is configured to combust the fuel to generate thrust for the vehicle.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle is an aircraft and the fuel is an aviation fuel.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a mixer configured to;

receive the fuel from the fuel store;

receive steam;

mix the received fuel and the received steam, thereby to produce a mixture; and

provide the mixture to the fuel reformer as the fuel reformer input.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a shift reactor configured to;

receive the output of the fuel reformer;

receive steam;

process the received output of the fuel reformer and the received steam, thereby to produce an output of the shift reactor, wherein a hydrogen content of the output of the shift reactor is greater than a hydrogen content of the output of the fuel reformer; and

provide the output of the shift reactor to the fuel cell.

7. The vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the shift reactor is a water-gas shift reactor.

8. The vehicle according to claim 5, further comprising a cooling system configured to provide water as a coolant to one or more entities on the vehicle, thereby to provide cooling to the one or more entities, wherein the steam is produced by evaporation of the water during the cooling.

9. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

a carbon monoxide reduction module configured to;

receive the output of the fuel reformer;

reduce a carbon monoxide content of the received output of the fuel reformer, thereby to produce an output of the carbon monoxide reduction module; and

provide the output of the carbon monoxide reduction module to the fuel cell.

10. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the fuel cell is further configured to:

produce, as a result of producing the electricity, a fuel cell output comprising water; and

output the water to one or more entities on the vehicle, the one or more entities being remote from the fuel cell.

11. The vehicle according to claim 10, further comprising a water extraction system configured to:

receive the fuel cell output;

extract the water from the fuel cell output; and

provide the extracted water to the one or more entities remote from the fuel cell.

12. The vehicle according to claim 10, further comprising a cooling system configured to:

receive the water produced by the fuel cell; and

provide, to one or more vehicle subsystems on the vehicle, the water as a coolant, thereby to cool the one or more vehicle subsystems.

13. The vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the cooling system is configured to provide the water as a coolant to the fuel cell, thereby cooling the fuel cell.

14. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the fuel reformer is a plasma fuel reformer or a plasmatron fuel reformer.

16. The vehicle according to claim 6, further comprising a cooling system configured to provide water as a coolant to one or more entities on the vehicle, thereby to provide cooling to the one or more entities, wherein the steam is produced by evaporation of the water during the cooling.

15. A method of generating electricity on a vehicle, the method comprising:

storing, by a fuel store on the vehicle, a fuel comprising a hydrocarbon;

receiving, by a fuel reformer on the vehicle, an input comprising the hydrocarbon;

processing, by the fuel reformer, the received input to produce an output comprising hydrogen;

receiving, by a fuel cell on the vehicle, the hydrogen output by the fuel reformer; and

producing, by the fuel cell, using the received hydrogen, electricity for use on the vehicle.