JP2000348743A - Fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fuel cell capable of effectively removing moisture contained in an exhaust gas and allowing the miniaturization of the fuel cell itself. SOLUTION: This fuel cell is provided with a fuel cell body 3 for generating power by reacting a reacting air with a fuel gas. For the fuel cell, a non- reaction gas-containing exhaust gas exhausted from the body 3 is mixed with a diluting air and exhausted to the outside. An exhaust chamber 35 for mixing the exhaust gas with the diluting air is formed, a partition plate 63 for partitioning an exhaust gas passage 59 and a diluting air passage 61 is formed in the exhaust chamber 35, and the diluting air is guided so as to abut nearly on the entire area of the partition plate 63.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fuel cell having a fuel cell main body for generating electric power by reacting reaction air and fuel gas.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a fuel cell body is provided which generates electric power by reacting reaction air and fuel gas, and exhaust gas containing unreacted gas discharged from the body is mixed with dilution air to form an external gas. 2. Description of the Related Art A fuel cell that discharges fuel to a cell is known. In this type, exhaust gas is exhausted through an exhaust duct. The exhaust gas is high temperature and high humidity and contains a large amount of moisture generated in the course of the reaction. Therefore, in order to lower the temperature of the exhaust gas and remove moisture in the exhaust gas, dilution air has conventionally been taken in by a blower. In the conventional configuration, the exhaust gas and the dilution air are mixed and diluted to form a mixed air, which is sent to an exhaust duct having a baffle plate therein, where the mixed air comes into contact with the baffle plate. Then, the water in the mixed air is collected as water droplets at the bottom of the exhaust duct and discharged from the outlet.

[0003]

However, in the conventional configuration, the baffle plate provided in the exhaust duct is gradually heated by the mixed air, the temperature of the surface of the baffle plate increases, and the mixed air flows through the duct. When passing through, the water contained in the mixed air does not liquefy on the baffle plate, that is, does not become water droplets, so it is not possible to sufficiently remove the water contained in the mixed air, that is, the water contained in the exhaust gas. There's a problem. In order to increase the capability of removing moisture from the exhaust gas, it is necessary to increase the surface area of the baffle plate in the duct, but in this case, there is a problem that the duct itself becomes large.

In the conventional configuration, a large-sized blower is required to supply exhaust gas,
In order to supply the dilution air, a large-sized blower is required, and an installation space for these two blowers is required, which causes a problem that the fuel cell itself becomes large.

[0005] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and which can efficiently remove water contained in exhaust gas and can reduce the size of the fuel cell itself. It is in.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A fuel cell includes a fuel cell main body that generates electric power by reacting reaction air and a fuel gas, and mixes exhaust gas containing unreacted gas discharged from the main body with dilution air and discharges it to the outside. An exhaust chamber for mixing the exhaust gas and the dilution air is provided, a partition plate for separating the exhaust gas passage and the dilution air passage is provided in the exhaust chamber, and the dilution air is brought into contact with substantially the entire area of the partition plate. It is characterized by leading.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the partition plate provided in the exhaust chamber is cooled by the dilution air, moisture contained in the exhaust gas comes into contact with the partition plate and is cooled and liquefied. Removed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, an introduction port for the dilution air is provided at one end of the exhaust chamber, and exhaust gas and dilution air are provided at the other end of the exhaust chamber. A mixing chamber for mixing is provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the introduction port for dilution air is provided at one end of the exhaust chamber, and the mixing chamber is provided at the other end, so that the dilution air flowing into the exhaust chamber from this introduction port is partitioned. It contacts almost the whole area of the plate and cools the partition plate sufficiently. Therefore, moisture contained in the exhaust gas that comes into contact with the partition plate is reliably removed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel cell main body for generating electric power by reacting the reaction air with the fuel gas, and the exhaust gas containing the unreacted gas discharged from the main body is mixed with the dilution air. In the fuel cell which is mixed and discharged to the outside, the reaction air and / or the dilution air are supplied to the fuel cell main body by an air pump.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the air for reaction and / or the air for dilution are supplied using an air pump.
Compared to a case where air is supplied by a conventional blower, space can be saved and the fuel cell itself can be downsized.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an intake chamber for supplying reaction air to the fuel cell body, and a porous partition is provided in the intake chamber. A plate is provided, and the reaction air is supplied through the porous partition plate.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the reaction air is supplied through the porous partition plate, the supply air is made uniform, and the reaction air is sent evenly to almost the entire area of the fuel cell body. be able to.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a fuel cell according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a fuel cell. The fuel cell 1 includes a fuel cell main body 3 illustrated substantially at the center of the drawing, and the fuel cell main body 3 includes an anode 5, a humidified water supply unit 7, and a cathode 9.

A fuel gas is supplied to an inlet 5a of the anode 5 through a fuel gas supply pipe 11. A pressure reducing valve 13 and a fuel gas cylinder 15 are connected to the fuel gas supply pipe 11.

Humidified water for humidifying an electrolyte membrane (not shown) in the fuel cell main body 3 is supplied to an inlet 7a of the humidified water supply unit 7 through a humidified water supply line 17. A water pump 18 is connected to the humidification water supply pipe 17, and a main tank 19 for storing humidification water is connected to the water pump 18. The main tank 19 is connected to a bypass solenoid valve 21 with a throttle 22 for discharging excess unreacted fuel gas.

The reaction air is supplied to the inlet 9a of the cathode 9 through a reaction air supply line 23. An air pump 27 is connected to the reaction air supply line 23 via an intake chamber 25. The air pump 27 is a means for compressing and sending air, and is reduced in size as compared with, for example, a blower or the like.

On the other hand, a fuel gas discharge pipe 29 for discharging surplus fuel gas at the time of reaction is connected to the outlet 5b of the anode 5, and this fuel gas discharge pipe 29 is connected to the above-mentioned main tank 19 for storing humidified water. It is connected.

The outlet 7b of the water supply unit 7 is connected to a humidification water discharge pipe 31 for discharging surplus humidification water during the reaction, and the humidification water discharge pipe 31 is connected to the main tank 19 for storing the humidification water as described above. It is connected.

The outlet 9b of the cathode 9 is connected to an exhaust gas exhaust pipe 33 for exhausting high-temperature, high-humidity air, and the exhaust gas exhaust pipe 33 is connected to an exhaust chamber 35. Dilution air is supplied to the exhaust chamber 35 via a dilution air supply line 37. An air pump 39 having the same configuration as the above-described air pump 27 is connected to the dilution air supply pipe 37. The dilution air supplied by the air pump 39 dilutes the high-temperature and high-humidity air in the exhaust chamber 35. Exhausted to the outside.

In the fuel cell 1, the fuel gas supplied through the fuel gas supply pipe 11 into the fuel cell main body 3 and the air supplied through the reaction supply pipe 23 undergo an electrochemical reaction. This generates electric power.

The generated power is output through an output cable 41 and is used as described later. The output cable 41 includes an output cable 41a for supplying electric power to an external device (not shown) and an output cable 4 for outputting electric power used for controlling the fuel cell 1 and operating auxiliary equipment.
1b.

One output cable 41a has a DC / A
A C inverter 43 is connected, and an AC 100 V output terminal 45 is connected to the DC / AC inverter 43 via a cable 41c, and power is supplied from this output terminal 45 to external devices.

The other output cable 41b has a DC / D
The C converter 47 is connected. To the DC / DC converter 47, an accessory / control device 49 is connected via a cable 41d, a charging circuit 51 is connected via a cable 41e, and a charger 53 is connected via a cable 41f. Further, a secondary battery 55 is connected to the charging circuit 51 via an output cable 41g.
3 has a commercial AC100V via an input cable 41h.
Terminal 57 is connected.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a supply / discharge path of reaction air to / from the fuel cell main body 3. In addition, this supply
The configuration relating to the discharge path is the same as the configuration shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, an intake chamber 25, a fuel cell main body 3, and an exhaust chamber 35 are arranged in this order from the right side in the figure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the exhaust chamber 35 located downstream of the fuel cell main body 3 is a hollow box body formed by processing a thin metal plate into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. As shown in FIG. 2, a partition plate 63 for partitioning the exhaust gas passage 59 and the dilution air passage 61 is provided in the middle of the inside. A partition plate 63 is provided so that the volumes of the exhaust gas passage 59 and the dilution air passage 61 are substantially equal.

The exhaust chamber 35 is provided with an exhaust gas exhaust opening 65. This exhaust gas discharge opening 65
Is an opening for guiding the exhaust gas exhausted from the outlet 9b of the cathode 9 of the fuel cell body 3 to the exhaust gas passage 59.
The exhaust gas discharge opening 65 is formed on the mounting surface 35b of the exhaust chamber 35 facing the partition plate 63, and the exhaust gas discharged from the opening 65 is supplied to the surface 63a of the partition plate 63.
It collides with and flows. Also, both sides 3 of the exhaust chamber 35
5 a is provided with five (several) holes 75 for bolt insertion to be joined to the fuel cell body 3. Lower surface 35c of exhaust chamber 35 corresponding to the lower portion of exhaust gas passage 59
Is provided with a discharge port 67 for discharging water drops collected in the lower part of the passage.

A dilution air supply port 71 is provided on a lower surface 35e of the exhaust chamber 35 corresponding to a lower portion of the dilution air passage 61. The dilution air supply port 71 is provided on the lower surface 3.
5e is formed in a substantially rectangular shape extending in the longitudinal direction, and the dilution air supplied through the supply port 71 is supplied to the partition plate 63.
, And flows over the exhaust chamber 35 so as to cool the partition plate 63.

The dilution air flowing above the exhaust chamber 35 passes through the exhaust gas exhaust opening 65 and the partition plate 6.
The exhaust gas that collides with the third surface 63a and is mixed in the mixing chamber 73 formed in the upper part of the exhaust chamber 35, and is discharged from the mixed air discharge port 69 formed in the side surface 35d of the exhaust chamber 35.

The partitioning plate 63 in the exhaust chamber 35 is formed such that a front end 63 c facing the mixing chamber 73 is bent so as to guide the exhaust gas to the mixed air outlet 69.

In this embodiment, a dilution air supply port 71 is provided in the lower surface (one end) 35e of the exhaust chamber 35, and dilution air (external air,
This air temperature is well below the temperature of the exhaust gas. )
Is in contact with substantially the entire surface 63 b of the partition plate 63, and after sufficiently cooling the portion, is discharged from the mixed air discharge port (the other end) 69 formed in the side surface 35 d of the exhaust chamber 35.

As a result, the temperature of the partition plate 63 is always kept low, and the moisture contained in the high-temperature and high-humidity exhaust gas that flows upon collision with the partition plate 63 becomes water droplets on the partition plate 63. The accumulated water drops accumulate in the lower part of the passage, and are discharged from the outlet 67. The exhaust gas from which the moisture has been removed is mixed with the dilution air in the mixing chamber 73 as described above, and discharged from the mixed air outlet 69 to the outside.

In this embodiment, since the partition plate 63 provided in the exhaust chamber 35 is always cooled by the dilution air, the moisture contained in the high-temperature and high-humidity exhaust gas is removed from the partition plate 63. 63, and becomes water droplets. The water droplets accumulate in the lower part of the passage, and the accumulated water droplets are discharged from the outlet 6
It is discharged from 7.

As shown in FIG. 4, the intake chamber 25
The inside of a thin metal plate processed into a rectangular parallelepiped is a hollow box. In the middle of the inside, a porous partition plate 77
The porous partition plate 77 allows the inside of the suction chamber 25 to be moved into the reaction air inflow chamber 25a,
The reaction air outlet chamber 25b is divided into two so as to have substantially the same volume.

A reaction air supply port 79 through which reaction air is supplied is provided substantially at the center of the lower surface 25c of the intake chamber 25 located below the reaction air inflow chamber 25a. The air pump 27 is connected to the reaction air supply port 79 via the reaction air supply pipe 23 (FIG. 1).

The reaction air outflow chamber 25b has a suction opening 8 in it.
1 is provided. The suction opening 81 is an opening for guiding the reaction air to the reaction air supply pipe 23 (FIG. 1). The suction opening 81 is provided with the porous partition plate 7.
The reaction air is formed on the side face 25d of the intake chamber 25 facing the cathode 9 and reacts with the cathode 9 of the fuel cell body 3 described above.
Is an opening that leads to the entrance 9a.

Also, bolt insertion holes 83 to be joined to the fuel cell main body 3 are formed in both side portions 25e of the intake chamber 25.
Are provided (five) each.

In this embodiment, since the reaction air is supplied to the fuel cell main body 3 through the porous partition plate 77, the flow of the supplied air is evenly dispersed, and so-called uniformity is achieved. The reaction air is sent evenly over almost the entire area.

Accordingly, there is no portion where the supply of reaction air is insufficient, and uniform power generation by electrochemical reaction is performed in substantially the entire area of the fuel cell body 3.

An air pump 27 for supplying the reaction air
And the pressure of the air supplied from the air pump 39 for supplying the dilution air is about 1.0 kg / cm ² , which is higher than the air supply by the conventional blower. Therefore,
Even with a small air pump, the same amount of air as a conventional large blower can be secured.

According to this, by using the air pumps 27 and 39, the size can be reduced as compared with the conventional blower, so that the space can be saved and the fuel cell 1 itself can be reduced in size. Further, the thickness can be reduced as compared with the conventional exhaust duct.

Although the present invention has been described based on one embodiment, it is apparent that the present invention is not limited to this.

[0046]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the partition plate provided in the exhaust chamber is cooled by the dilution air, the moisture contained in the exhaust gas comes into contact with the partition plate and is cooled. Liquefied and removed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the inlet for the dilution air is provided at one end of the exhaust chamber, and the mixing chamber is provided at the other end. Therefore, the dilution air flowing into the exhaust chamber from the inlet is provided. Then, it comes into contact with almost the entire area of the partition plate, and the partition plate is sufficiently cooled. Therefore, moisture contained in the exhaust gas that comes into contact with the partition plate is reliably removed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the reaction air and the dilution air are supplied using the air pump, the space can be saved as compared with the case where the air is supplied by a conventional blower, and the fuel can be saved. The battery itself can be downsized.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the reaction air is supplied through the porous partition plate, the supply air is made uniform, and the reaction air is uniformly supplied to substantially the entire area of the fuel cell body. You can send without.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a fuel cell showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing supply and discharge of reaction air of a fuel cell.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the exhaust chamber shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the intake chamber shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fuel cell 3 Fuel cell main body 25 Intake chamber 27, 39 Air pump 35 Exhaust chamber 59 Exhaust gas passage 61 Dilution air passage 63 Partition plate 73 Mixing chamber 77 Partition plate

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Noguchi 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takashi Arai 2-5-2-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Hideo Maeda 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka F-term (reference) 5H027 DD03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A fuel cell main body for generating electric power by reacting reaction air and a fuel gas, and exhaust gas containing unreacted gas discharged from the main body is mixed with dilution air and discharged to the outside. In the fuel cell, an exhaust chamber for mixing the exhaust gas and the dilution air is provided, and a partition plate for separating an exhaust gas passage and a dilution air passage is provided in the exhaust chamber. A fuel cell, wherein the fuel cell is guided so as to contact substantially the entire area of a partition plate. 2. The exhaust chamber is provided with an inlet for the dilution air at one end, and a mixing chamber for mixing exhaust gas and dilution air is provided at the other end of the exhaust chamber. 2. The fuel cell according to 1. 3. A fuel cell main body for generating electric power by reacting reaction air with a fuel gas, and exhaust gas containing unreacted gas discharged from the main body is mixed with dilution air and discharged to the outside. A fuel cell, wherein the reaction air and / or the dilution air are supplied to the fuel cell body by an air pump. 4. An intake chamber for supplying reaction air to the fuel cell main body, a porous partition plate is provided in the intake chamber, and reaction air is supplied through the porous partition plate. The fuel cell according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: