Metal-air fuel cell battery system having means for controlling discharging and recharging parameters for improved operating efficiency

• US 6,287,715 B1
• Filed: 08/06/1998
• Issued: 09/11/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Reveo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Reveo, Inc.
• Inventors: Faris, Sadeg M., Tsai, Tsepin
• Primary Examiner(s): KALAFUT, STEPHEN J
• Application Number:
  US09/130,341
• Time in Patent Office: 1,132 Days
• Field of Search: 429/27, 429/61, 429/68, 429/127, 429/22, 429/23
• US Class Current: 429/404
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4214 Arrangements for moving electrodes or electrolyte
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/44 Methods for charging or discharging circuits for charging H02J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 12/06 with one metallic and one gaseous electrode
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 12/08 composed of a half-cell of a fuel-cell type and a half-cell of the secondary-cell type
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2004/024 Insertable electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2300/0085 Immobilising or gelification of electrolyte
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/42 Alloys based on zinc
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 4/8605 Porous electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/46 Separators, membranes or diaphragms characterised by their combination with electrodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 6/5011 for several cells simultaneously or successively
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/184 Regeneration by electrochemical means
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/186 by electrolytic decomposition of the electrolytic solution or the formed water product
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 8/22 Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising carbon or oxygen or hydrogen and other elements; Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising only elements other than carbon, oxygen or hydrogen
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/50 Fuel cells

Abstract

Disclosed are various types of metal-air FCB-based systems comprising a Metal-Fuel Transport Subsystem, a Metal-Fuel Discharging Subsystem, and a Metal-Fuel Recharging Subsystem. The function of the Metal-Fuel Transport Subsystem is to transport metal-fuel material, in the form of tape, cards, sheets, cylinders and the like, to the Metal-Fuel Discharge Subsystem, or the Metal-Fuel Recharge Subsystem, depending on the mode of the system selected. When transported to or through the Metal-Fuel Discharge Subsystem, the metal-fuel is discharged by (i.e. electro-chemically reaction with) one or more discharging heads in order produce electrical power across an electrical load connected to the subsystem while H₂O and O₂ are consumed at the cathode-electrolyte interface during the electrochemical reaction. When transported to or through the Metal-Fuel Recharging Subsystem, discharged metal-fuel is recharged by one or more recharging heads in order to convert the oxidized metal-fuel material into its source metal material suitable for reuse in power discharging operations, while O₂ is released at the cathode-electrolyte interface during the electro-chemical reaction. In the illustrative embodiments, discharge and recharge parameters are detected and processed in order to generate control data signals that are used to control discharging and recharging parameters so that discharging and recharging operations and metal-fuel/metal-oxide management operations are carried out in an efficient manner.

Claims

1. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation, comprising:

a metal-fuel supply mechanism for supplying metal-fuel material to a discharging head assembly for generating electrical power during said discharging mode of operation, wherein said metal-fuel material has a plurality of zones demarcated along said metal-fuel material and each said zone is indexed with a code uniquely identifying said zone;

a code reading mechanism for reading said code along each said zone of said metal-fuel material during the discharging of said zone during said discharging mode of operation;

a parameter detecting mechanism for detecting a set of discharge parameters during the discharging of each said zone of metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation; and

a parameter processing device for (i) correlating each detected set of discharge parameters with the code associated with the zone from which said set of discharge parameters have been detected, (ii) processing said set of discharge parameters detected at each said zone, and (iii) generating control data signals for controlling one or more discharge parameters while said zone is being discharged.

2. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said set of detected discharge parameters are recorded in memory and read out from said memory for processing during said discharging mode of operation.

3. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said code is a digital code.

4. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 3, wherein said digital code is detected optically.

5. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 4, wherein said digital code is a bar code symbol.

6. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 3, wherein said digital code is detected magnetically.

7. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein each said zone of metal-fuel material has a plurality of metal-fuel tracks;

wherein said parameter detecting mechanism detects a set of discharge parameters for each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation; and

wherein said code reading mechanism reads said code along each said zone during the discharging of said zone of metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation.

8. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel tape.

9. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 1, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel cards.

10. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a recharging mode of operation, comprising:

a metal-fuel supply mechanism for supplying metal-fuel material to a recharging head assembly for recharging during said recharging mode of operation, wherein said metal-fuel material has a plurality of zones demarcated along said metal-fuel material and each said zone is indexed with a code uniquely identifying said zone;

a code reading mechanism for reading said code along each said zone of said metal-fuel material during the recharging of said zone during said recharging mode of operation;

a parameter detecting mechanism for detecting a set of recharge parameters during the recharging of each said zone of metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation; and

a parameter processing device for (i) correlating each detected set of recharge parameters with the code indexing said zone from which said set of recharge parameters have been detected, (ii) processing said set of recharge parameters detected at each said zone of metal-fuel material, and (iii) generating control data signals for controlling one or more recharge parameters while said zone is being recharged.

11. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein said set of detected recharge parameters are recorded in memory and read out from said memory for processing during said recharging mode of operation.

12. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein said code is a digital code.

13. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 12, wherein said digital code is detected optically.

14. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 12, wherein said digital code is a bar code symbol.

15. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein said digital code is detected magnetically.

16. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein each said zone of metal-fuel material has a plurality of metal-fuel tracks;

wherein said parameter detecting mechanism detects a set of recharge parameters for each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation; and

wherein said code reading mechanism reads said code along each said zone during the recharging of said zone of metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation.

17. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel tape.

18. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 10, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel cards.

19. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation and a recharging mode of operation, comprising:

a metal-fuel supply mechanism for supplying metal-fuel material to a discharging head assembly for use in generating electrical power during said discharging mode of operation, and for supplying metal-fuel material to a recharging head assembly for recharging during said recharging mode of operation, wherein said metal-fuel material has a plurality of zones demarcated along said metal-fuel material and each said zone is indexed with a code uniquely identifying said zone;

a discharge parameter detecting mechanism for detecting a set of discharge parameters during the discharging of each said zone of metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation;

a code reading device for reading said code along each said zone of said metal-fuel material during the discharging of said zone during said discharging mode of operation, as well as during the recharging of said zone of metal-fuel during said recharging mode of operation;

a discharge parameter recording device for recording said set of discharge parameters detected at each said zone of metal-fuel material, wherein said recorded set of discharge parameters are associated with said code indexed to said zone;

a discharge parameter reading mechanism for reading said recorded discharge parameters;

a discharge parameter processing device for processing said recorded set of discharge parameters read from said discharge parameter recording device in order to generate a first set of control data signals for use in controlling said recharging parameters during said recharging mode of operation;

a recharge parameter detecting mechanism for detecting a set of recharge parameters during the recharging of each said zone of metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation;

a recharge parameter recording device for recording said set of recharge parameters detected at each said zone of metal-fuel material, wherein each said recorded set of recharge parameters is associated with said code indexed to said zone;

a recharge parameter reading mechanism for reading said recorded set of recharge parameters; and

a recharge parameter processing device for processing said recorded set of recharge parameters read from said recharge parameter recording device in order to generate a second set of control data signals for use in controlling said discharging parameters during said discharging mode of operation.

20. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said discharge parameter recording device and said recharge parameter recording device each comprise a memory device.

21. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said code is a digital code.

22. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 21, wherein said digital code is detected optically.

23. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 21, wherein said digital code is a bar code symbol.

24. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 21, wherein said digital code is detected magnetically.

25. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 21, wherein said discharge parameter processing device processes said recorded set of discharge parameters related to each zone of metal-fuel material so as to determine an amount of electrical power to be delivered to said zone when recharging said zone.

26. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein each said zone of metal-fuel material has a plurality of metal-fuel tracks;

wherein said discharge parameter detecting mechanism detects a set of discharge parameters for each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation;

wherein said code reading device reads said code along each said zone during the discharging of said zone of said metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation, as well as during the recharging of said zone of said metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation;

wherein said discharge parameter recording device records said set of discharge parameters detected at each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material, and wherein said recorded set of discharge parameters are associated with said code indexed to said metal-fuel track along said zone; and

wherein said discharge parameter reading mechanism reads discharge parameters recorded within said discharge parameter recording device.

27. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said recharge parameter processing device processes said recorded set of recharge parameters related to each zone of metal-fuel material so as to determine the amount of metal-fuel present at each said zone during discharging of each said zone of metal-fuel material.

28. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein each said zone of metal-fuel material has a plurality of metal-fuel tracks;

wherein said recharge parameter detecting mechanism detects a set of recharge parameters for each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation;

wherein said code reading device reads said code along each said zone during the recharging of said zone of said metal-fuel material during said recharging mode of operation, as well as during the discharging of said zone of said metal-fuel material during said discharging mode of operation;

wherein said recharge parameter recording device records said set of recharge parameters detected at each metal-fuel track along each said zone of metal-fuel material; and

wherein said recharge parameter reading mechanism reads recharge parameters recorded within said recharge parameter recording device.

29. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel tape.

30. The metal-air fuel cell battery system of claim 19, wherein said metal-fuel material is realized in the form of metal-fuel cards.

31. A metal-air fuel cell battery system having a discharging mode of operation and a recharging mode of operation, comprising:

a first subsystem for detecting, storing and processing discharge parameters obtained from metal-fuel material being discharged during said discharging mode of operation, and using said discharge parameters to generate control data signals for controlling recharge parameters used during said recharging mode of operation; and

a second subsystem for detecting, storing and processing recharge parameters obtained from said metal-fuel material being recharged during said recharging mode of operation, and using said recharge parameters to generate control data signals for controlling discharge parameters used during said discharging mode of operation.