Device for high-temperature water electrolysis having improved operation

• US 9,200,374 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2011
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission)
• Original Assignee: Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission)
• Inventors: Perret, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): THOMAS, CIEL P
• Application Number:
  US13/583,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20120325652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C25B 9/19 with diaphragms
• CPC Class Codes: C25B 9/65 Means for supplying current; Electrode connections; Electric inter-cell connections
• CPC Class Codes: C25B 9/70 Assemblies comprising two or more cells
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/36 Hydrogen production from non-carbon containing sources, e.g. by water electrolysis

Abstract

A device for high temperature electrolysis of water, including: at least one elementary electrolysis cell formed from a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte intermediate between the cathode and the anode; a first device forming an electric and fluid interconnector including a metallic part delimited by at least one plane, the metallic part including two internal chambers, superposed one on the other, and a plurality of holes distributed around the surface, approximately perpendicular to the plane and divided into two groups, one of the groups of holes opens up onto the plane and directly into the adjacent chamber and the other group of holes opens up onto the plane and also in a furthest chamber through channels, the plane of the first interconnector being in mechanical contact with the plane of the cathode.

Claims

1. A device for electrolysis of water, comprising:

at least one elementary electrolysis cell including a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte intermediate between the cathode and the anode; and

a first device configured to form an electric and fluidic interconnection, and comprising a metallic part delimited by at least a first plane, the metallic part comprising two superimposed internal chambers and a plurality of holes distributed around a surface that is approximately perpendicular to the first plane, the plurality of holes being divided into two groups, a first group of holes opening onto the first plane and directly into a first chamber of the two superimposed internal chambers that is adjacent to the first plane, a second group of holes opening onto the first plane and, via channels which pass through the first chamber, into a second chamber of the two superimposed internal chambers that is separate from the first plane, the first plane of the first device being in mechanical contact with a plane of the cathode,

wherein the device for electrolysis of water is configured to function at a temperature of at least 450 degrees Celsius.

2. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein the chamber adjacent to the first plane is configured to deliver steam and the chamber separate from the first plane is configured to collect hydrogen produced by electrolysis.

3. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein the chamber adjacent to the first plane is configured to collect hydrogen produced by electrolysis and the chamber separate from the first plane is configured to deliver steam.

4. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of holes have a circular cross-section with a diameter of between 0.5 and 5 mm.

5. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein a distance between a center of two adjacent holes of the plurality of holes is between 7 mm and 28 mm.

6. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of holes are aligned along parallel lines at equal intervals.

7. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 6, wherein lines including holes from the first group of holes alternates with lines including holes from the second group of holes.

8. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 7, wherein holes from the first group of holes are arranged in a line so as to be staggered with respect to holes from the second group of holes in an adjacent line, each hole from the first group of holes being located at a midpoint among four holes from the second group of holes, and each hole from the second group of holes being located at a midpoint among four holes from the first group of holes.

9. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 8, wherein the four holes of the first group of holes form a square, a hole from the second group of holes being in a middle of the square, and

the four holes of the second group of holes form a square, a hole from the first group of holes being in a middle of the square.

10. A device for electrolysis of water according claim 9, comprising:

a second device configured to form an electrical and fluidic interconnection, and comprising a metal part delimited by at least one second plane, the metallic part comprising an internal chamber and another plurality of holes distributed over an entire surface, approximately perpendicular to the second plane and opening onto the second plane and into the internal chamber, the second plane of the second device being in mechanical contact with a plane of the anode.

11. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 10, wherein the second plane is in direct mechanical contact with the plane of the anode.

12. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 10, wherein the second plane is in direct mechanical contact with a gate made of an electrically conducting material, the gate being in direct mechanical contact with the plane of the anode.

13. A device for electrolysis of water according to claim 10, comprising:

a stack of elementary electrolysis cells each including a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte placed between the cathode and the anode;

an interconnecting plate comprising the first and the second devices disposed between two adjacent elementary cells such that the first plane of the first device is in mechanical contact with a cathode of one of the two elementary cells and the second plane of the second device is in mechanical contact with an anode of the other of the two elementary cells.

14. A hydrogen production assembly comprising a plurality of electrolysis devices according to claim 13.

15. The device for electrolysis of water according to claim 1, wherein the channels are tubular spacers extending through said first chamber that is adjacent to the first plane, said tubular spacers being further entirely surrounded by said first chamber, so that said first chamber is encircling the tubular spacers over their entire length.