Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
SEMI-ACTIVE FUEL CELL APPARATUS
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
(0001] The present invention is related to a fuel cell, especially to a fuel
cell having fuel
cycling mechanism.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] FIG. 1 shows a structural figure of layer lamination integrated fuel
cell apparatus.
In FIG l, layer lamination integrated fuel cell apparatus 10 includes fuel
flow layer 25, first
electricity/signal transport layer 19, anode current collection layer 13,
conduction electrolyte
layer 11, cathode current collection layer 15, second electricity/signal
transport layer 23 and
electromechanical control layer 21, wherein anode current collection layer 13,
conduction
electrolyte layer 11 and cathode current collection layer 15 constitute the
core components 20 of
fuel cell.
[0003] The used fuel cell is roughly divided into two types of the active fuel
cell and passive
fuel cell. The means of fuel supply for the active fuel cell is to use the
active device like the
pump to transport the external anode fuel to the internal fuel cell by pumping
the anode fuel like
the methanol fuel. Meanwhile, the cathode fuel like air or oxygen is
transported by the
compressor. The disadvantage of the active fuel cell is that the active device
has to consume
the power of the fuel cell itself and therefore reduces the real output
electricity. Otherwise, the
active device is only in charge of transporting the fuel, the reaction of the
fuel cell itself and the
active device will produce the heat which needs another device to dissipate
and therefore
increases additional device cost and consumes the electricity of the fuel cell
itself so as to be the
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
major disadvantage.
[0004] The internal fuel supply of the passive fuel cell is using passive
means, for instance,
the methanol anode fuel of direct methanol fuel cell is supplied by the
gravity or capillary
principle. Meanwhile, the cathode fuel of the air or oxygen is obtained by
directly contacting
the external environment. The disadvantage of the passive fuel cell is that
the fuel supply of the
fuel cell fails to be directly controlled so as to make the fuel cell
inefficient and the reaction
efficiency easily influenced by the environment.
[0005) The inventor investigates the disadvantages and limitation of the above
fuel cell and
desires to improve and invent a semi-active fuel cell apparatus to overcome
the disadvantages
and limitation of the used fuel cell.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The f rst object of the present invention is to provide a semi-active
fuel cell apparatus
to supply the anode fuel to the fuel cell by cycling means.
[0007] The second object of the present invention is to provide a semi-active
fuel cell to
supply the gas cathode fuel to the fuel cell by gas cycling apparatus and also
have heat
dissipation function by gas cycling apparatus.
[0008] To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a semi-
active fuel cell,
comprising plural fuel cell boards which include plural membrane electrode
assemblies (MEAs),
a cycling inlet, a cycling outlet, gas cycling supply unit which is used to
supply cathode fuel to
the fuel cell boards and also exhausts the heat produced by the electro-
chemical reaction in the
fuel cell boards to the outside, a fuel replenishing unit which includes a
first inlet and a first
outlet, fuel cycling unit which includes a third inlet and a fourth inlet, a
first fuel control unit
2
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
which includes a second outlet and a third outlet and plural fuel outlets
wherein the fuel outlets
are respectively connected to the cycling outlets of the fuel cell boards and
wherein the second
inlet is connected to the first outlet of the replenishing unit and also
wherein the third inlet is
connected to the third outlet of the fuel cycling unit, a second fuel control
unit which includes a
second outlet and plural fuel inlets wherein the fuel inlets are respectively
connected to the
cycling outlets of the fuel cell board and wherein the second inlet is
connected to the fourth
outlet of the fuel cycling unit, and the operation in conjunction between the
fuel replenishing unit,
fuel cycling unit, the first fuel control unit and the second fuel control
unit makes an anode fuel
possibly cycling in the fuel cell boards.
[0009] The present invention design is innovative and useful in the industry
for the
improvement so as to apply and disclose the invention. In order to make the
people familiar
with the art understand the objects, characteristics and improvements, the
present invention is
detailed below by way of the following embodiments and attached figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010) These and other modifications and advantages will become even more
apparent from
the following detained description of a preferred embodiment of the invention
and from the
drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows the structural figure of a layer lamination integrated fuel
cell
apparatus;
Figure 2 shows the decomposed figure of the present invention semi-active fuel
cell;
Figure 3 shows the structural figure of the present invention using a housing
case to
accommodate the semi-active fuel cell;
3
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
Figure 4 shows the structural figure of the present invention first fuel
control unit; and
Figure 5 shows the structural figure of the present invention second fuel
control unit.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0011] Figure 2 shows the decomposed figure of the present invention semi-
active fuel cell.
The present invention semi-active fuel cell apparatus 30 mainly comprises
plural fuel cell boards
310, electrically plugging board 320, fuel replenishing unit 330, first fuel
control unit 340,
second fuel control unit 350, fuel cycling unit 360, fuel storage unit 370 and
gas cycling supply
unit 380.
[0012] Each piece of the present invention fuel cell board 310 has plural
membrane
electrode assemblies(MEAs) 311, every fuel cell board 310 is placed cycling
inlet 313, cycling
outlet 315 and golden finger 317 wherein the anode fuel is possible to flow
from cycling inlet
313 into the MEAs 311, and flow outward from cycling outlet 315.
[0013] The present invention fuel cell board 310 is possible to be produced by
modifying
layer lamination integrated fuel cell apparatus 10, referring to FIG 1. The
present invention
cycling inlet 313 and cycling outlet 315 are possibly placed on one side of
fuel flow layer 25,
and the present invention golden finger 317 is possibly placed on one side of
electro-mechanical
control layer 21. The embodiment means to produce fuel cell board 310 is
possible to use the
print circuit board (PCB) process and the material suitable for the PCB
process.
[0014] The implement means of electrically plugging board 320 is capable of
being a
Printed Circuit Board(PCB) and soldering plural electrically connecting
apparatus 321 on
electrically plugging board 320, each electrically connecting apparatus 321 is
electrically
coupling to each corresponding golden finger 317 of fuel cell board 310. The
function of
4
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
electrically plugging board 320 is to produce a desired output voltage by
processing the
electricity produced from fuel cell boards 310 in serial/parallel combination.
Furthermore,
electrically plugging 320 is also electrically connecting to fuel replenishing
unit 330 and fuel
cycling unit 360 to offer the electricity required for the operation of supply
unit 330 and 360.
[0015] Fuel replenishing unit 330 is placed first inlet 331 and first outlet
333 to possibly
input the anode fuel from first inlet 331. Fuel replenishing unit 330 is
capable of being a pump
or motor to pressure the anode fuel and output from first outlet 333. First
fuel control unit 340
is placed second inlet 341, third inlet 343 and plural fuel outlets 345.
Second inlet 341 is
connected to first inlet 331 to input compressed anode fuel. Each fuel outlets
345 is
respectively connected to cycling inlet 313 of each fuel cell board 310 to
input the compressed
anode fuel to the inside of fuel cell board 310.
[0016] Second fuel control unit 350 is placed a second outlet 351 and plural
fuel inlets 353
wherein each fuel inlet 353 is respectively connected to cycling outlet 315 of
each fuel cell board
310 to transport and output the anode fuel flowing from fuel cell board 310
into the inside of
second fuel control unit 350.
[0017] Fuel cycling unit 360 comprises fourth inlet 361 and third outlet 363
wherein fourth
inlet 361 is connected to second outlet 351, and third outlet 363 is connected
to third inlet 343 to
input again the anode fuel located inside second fuel control unit 350 into
first fuel control unit
340. Fuel cycling unit 360 is capable of being a pump or motor, and fuel
replenishing unit 330
and fuel cycling unit 360 are able to offer the required electricity by way of
electrically plugging
board 320.
[0018] Fuel storage unit 370 is used to store the anode fuel and connect to
first inlet 331 of
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
fuel replenishing unit 330, and also pushes and inputs the anode fuel located
inside fuel storage
unit 370 into fuel cell boards 310 by the pushing force produced by fuel
replenishing unit 330.
[0019] The new anode fuel is continuously replenished by fuel storage unit
370, meanwhile,
the anode fuel flowing from fuel cell boards 310 is able to be re-collected
and utilized again
through second fuel control unit 350 and therefore the anode fuel flowing
through fuel cell
boards 310 is recycling. Again, the power produced by fuel replenishing unit
330 and fuel
cycling unit 360 makes the cycling effect of the anode fuel more efficient.
[0020] Referring to FIG 3, the present invention in advance comprises housing
case 40 to
accommodate semi-active fuel cell apparatus 30. Furthermore, gas cycling
supply unit 380 is
possibly placed on housing case 40 to inhale the fresh air into housing case
40. Meanwhile, the
heat produced by the electro-chemical reaction in fuel cell boards 310 and
distributed over the
inside of housing case 40 is exhausted outward by gas cycling supply unit 380.
The
embodiment means of gas cycling supply unit 380 is able to use the fan of
which the quantity of
placed fan 380 is disposed according to the design of gas flow field to meet
the quantity required
for fuel cell boards 310 and also achieve excellent heat dissipation.
[0021] Figure 4 shows the structural figure of the present invention first
fuel control unit.
The branch channels 347 placed inside the first fuel control unit 340 are able
to uniformly mix
the different concentration of solutions injected from the second inlet 341
and third inlet 343 and
output into fuel cell board 310 respectively from plural fuel outlets 345.
[0022] Figure 5 shows the structural figure of the present invention second
fuel control unit.
Second fuel control unit 350 is placed the gas ventilation but liquid
isolation mechanism 355 to
exhaust the carbon-dioxide produced by the anode reaction of fuel cell.
6
CA 02517510 2005-08-29
[0023] Fuel cell board 310 of the present invention semi-active fuel cell
apparatus 30 is able
to use methanol fuel cell and hydro-oxygen fuel cell as the embodiment means.
[0024] The above described embodiments are examples for convenient
interpretations; the
rights scope claimed by the present invention is based on the following claims
and not limited by
the above embodiments.
