Arizona Board of Regents, a Body Corporate

Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies, Inc.

Bradley Rogers

Mark Christian Johnson

Jason L Addink

Govindasamy Tamizhmani

Eric R Miller

James Gonzales

Liang-Jun Ji

Jorge L Rosales

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) are generally discussed herein with particular discussions extended to fuel-cell-based UPSs used in conjunction with DC power supplies for improved operating efficiencies. With a wide voltage DC power supply, a DC-AC inverter may be omitted from the UPS and power from a back up power source, such as a battery or a fuel cell, may be applied directly to the DC power supply without performing two power conversions. The end result is a more efficient system capable of longer operating time.

Uninterruptible power supplies

The present invention provides a unitary sliding-vane type compressor-expander comprising a housing with a compressor inlet and outlet, and an expander inlet and outlet. A single rotor is disposed therein defining in cooperation with the housing a compression chamber on one side and an expansion chamber on the opposite side. The rotor includes a plurality of regularly spaced vanes slidingly disposed in slots about the periphery of the rotor. The bottoms of the vane slots may be vented through a passage in the housing to the inlet air, or alternatively through a groove between the vane and vane slot to the compression or exhaust chambers. Permanent magnets are used in the vanes and housing to increase or decrease the contact force between the vane tip and housing. An integral condenser-humidifier is provided in the path of the expanded gas exhausting from the turbine outlet for condensing water out of the expanded gas and returning the condensed water to the compressor-expander. The integral condenser may comprise a substantially vertically oriented spout or an internal chamber. In another embodiment of the invention an electrical generation system is provided comprising a unitary sliding vane type compressor-expander in combination with a fuel cell. The compressor portion of the compressor-expander provides compressed air to an oxidant inlet of the fuel cell, and the spent oxidant exhaust from the fuel cell is expanded through the expander portion of the compressor-expander.

Unitary sliding vane compressor-expander and electrical generation system

Growing community of inventors

Chandler, AZ, United States of America

Bradley Rogers