Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Toto Ltd.

Morimura Sofc Technology Co., Ltd.

Hiromi Kita

Takashi Kakuwa

Osamu Sakai

Shigeo Obata

Tomoya Kamata

Takayuki Nakaue

Kunihiro Ukai

Hideki Kuwajima

Kenichi Miyamori

Masatoshi Nakamura

Hiromitsu Noda

Hidetoshi Kotera

Kazuyuki Sakiyama

Akinori Yukimasa

Kaoru Matsuoka

Yukimune Kani

Tomohiro Kuroha

Shigenori Onuma

Akira Ahagon

Yoichiro Tsuji

Tatsuaki Ishida

Hidenobu Wakita

Hideyuki Hashi

Akira Maenishi

Toshiharu Ooe

Toshiharu Otsuka

Yoshihiro Ueno

Keizo Miyata

Taizou Hamada

Makoto Miyamoto

Yasuaki Ban

Yoshiaki Mizoh

Tatsuhiko Inagaki

Masaki Nobuoka

Koichi Shinohara

Kenichi Sakamoto

Hiroshi Yohda

Masashi Morita

Jin Zhang

Yasushi Kaneko

Hiroshi Shirahama

Toru Sukawa

Taiichiro Sakamoto

Yutaka Yoshida

Takashi Oto

Yuki Mita

A compression apparatus includes an electrolyte membrane, an anode provided on a first principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode provided on a second principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator provided on the anode, a cathode separator provided on the cathode, and a voltage applier that applies a voltage between the anode and the cathode. The compression apparatus causes, by using the voltage applier to apply a voltage, protons taken out from a hydrogen-containing gas that is supplied to the anode to move to the cathode via the electrolyte membrane and produces compressed hydrogen. The anode separator has a first flow channel, provided in a principal surface thereof facing away from the anode, through which a cooling fluid flows.

Compression apparatus for hydrogen-containing gas utilizing an anode separator arrangement

A hydrogen system includes: a water electrolysis apparatus including a water electrolysis cell; an electrochemical hydrogen pump that increases the pressure of hydrogen-containing gas produced by the water electrolysis apparatus; a gas flow path that supplies the hydrogen-containing gas produced by the water electrolysis apparatus to the electrochemical hydrogen pump; and a first flow path through which a first heat medium that is a liquid and has collected waste heat of the water electrolysis cell flows. The electrochemical hydrogen pump is capable of performing heat exchange with the first heat medium having collected waste heat of the water electrolysis cell.

Hydrogen system

The compression apparatus includes an electrolyte membrane, an anode on a principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode on another principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator on the anode, a cathode separator on the cathode, and a voltage applicator. Upon the voltage applicator applying the voltage between the anode and the cathode, protons are extracted from an anode fluid fed onto the anode to migrate onto the cathode through the electrolyte membrane and compressed hydrogen is produced. The cathode separator has a first manifold hole and a first O-ring groove surrounding the first manifold hole. The compression apparatus includes a first O-ring held by the first O-ring groove and a face seal disposed on an outer periphery of a region of an anode-side principal surface of the anode separator which faces the anode. The first O-ring is arranged to abut against the anode-side principal surface.

Compression apparatus

A compression apparatus includes a stack of electrochemical cells each including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween, a pair of insulating plates disposed at respective ends of the stack in a stacking direction, a pair of end plates disposed on outside surfaces of the respective insulating plates, and a voltage applicator that applies a voltage between the anode and the cathode. The end plate having the cathode gas channel includes a first region that includes an outer peripheral surface of the cathode gas channel and is composed of a first steel material and a second region other than the first region which is composed of a second steel material. The first steel material has higher hydrogen embrittlement resistance than the second steel material, and the second steel material has higher stiffness than the first steel material.

An electrochemical cell unit according to the present disclosure includes a flat plate type membrane electrode assembly having a structure in which an electrolyte membrane, a first electrode layer disposed on a first surface of the electrolyte membrane, and a second electrode layer disposed on a second surface of the electrolyte membrane are laminated; a first current collector in contact with the first electrode layer of the membrane electrode assembly; an interconnector electrically connected to the first current collector, a second current collector in contact with the second electrode layer of the membrane electrode assembly; and an outer peripheral part made of a metal material that surrounds an outer periphery of the first electrode layer together with the interconnector and the electrolyte membrane to form a gas introduction space for guiding internal gas to the first electrode layer.

Electrochemical cell unit, electrochemical cell stack, method for producing electrochemical cell unit, and method for producing electrochemical cell stack

A compression apparatus includes a stack of electrochemical cells each including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween, a pair of insulating plates disposed at respective ends of the stack in a stacking direction, a pair of first end plates disposed on outside surfaces of the respective insulating plates, and a voltage applicator that applies a voltage between the anode and the cathode. Upon the voltage applicator applying the voltage, the compression apparatus causes hydrogen included in a hydrogen-containing gas fed to the anode to move to the cathode and produces compressed hydrogen. One of the first end plates have a first channel formed therein, through which the hydrogen-containing gas fed to the anode flows, and a second channel formed therein, through which a heating medium flows. The compression apparatus further includes a heater that heats the heating medium.

A compression apparatus includes an electrolyte membrane, an anode on a principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode on another principal surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator on the anode, a cathode separator on the cathode, and a voltage applicator. Upon the voltage applicator applying a voltage between the anode and the cathode, protons are extracted from an anode fluid fed to the anode to migrate to the cathode through the electrolyte membrane and compressed hydrogen is produced. The cathode separator has a first O-ring groove formed in a cathode-side principal surface of the cathode separator to surround a region of the cathode-side principal surface which faces the cathode. The compression apparatus includes a first O-ring held by the first O-ring groove and a face seal disposed on an outer periphery of a region of an anode-side principal surface of the anode separator which faces the anode.

A solid oxide fuel cell including unit cells, including: a pair of interconnectors for electrically connecting the unit cells; a membrane-electrode assembly including an electrolyte membrane and a pair of electrode layers disposed with the electrolyte membrane therebetween; a pair of current collectors disposed between the electrode layers and the interconnectors so as to be in contact with the pair of electrode layers and the pair of interconnectors, respectively, and electrically connecting the pair of electrode layers and the pair of interconnectors; and elastic bodies biasing at least one current collector of the pair of current collectors toward a corresponding electrode layer and made of austenitic stainless steel.

Solid oxide fuel cell and electrochemical cell

A cell including: a pair of interconnectors for electrically connecting unit cells; a membrane-electrode assembly disposed between the interconnectors; a pair of current collectors, each of which includes an abutting surface abutting against a corresponding one of the electrode layers and a first base material surface being in contact with a corresponding one of the interconnectors and electrically connecting the corresponding of the electrode layers and the corresponding one of the interconnectors; and elastic bodies biasing the abutting surface of at least one current collector toward a corresponding one of the electrode layers. The elastic bodies includes: a second base material surface being in contact with the first base material surface; and an elastic body protruding portion supporting the abutting surface and protruding from the second base material surface toward the corresponding one of the electrode layers to bias the abutting surface toward the corresponding one of the electrode layers.

An electrochemical hydrogen pump includes a hydrogen pump unit including an electrolyte film, an anode catalyst layer, a cathode catalyst layer, an anode gas diffusion layer, an anode separator, a cathode gas diffusion layer, and a cathode separator, a first end plate and a second end plate, a fastener, and a voltage applicator. The electrochemical hydrogen pump transfers and pressurizes hydrogen on the cathode catalyst layer, when a voltage is applied by the voltage applicator. Cathode gas flow channels in which the cathode gas flows are connected to each other. The amount of thickness reduction of the cathode gas diffusion layer due to compression resulting from fastening of the fastener is larger in the hydrogen pump unit positioned at at least one end of the stacked hydrogen pump units than in the hydrogen pump unit positioned at neither end of the stacked hydrogen pump units.

Electrochemical hydrogen pump

A hydrogen generation system including: a reformer generating hydrogen-containing gas using a raw material and reforming water; a combustor combusting hydrogen-containing gas and air and generating exhaust gas; a first channel passing cooling water; a condenser generating condensed water by heat exchange between exhaust gas and cooling water; a tank storing condensed water as cooling water; a pump supplying cooling water from the tank to the condenser; a second channel branching at a branch between the pump and condenser in the first channel, and passing some cooling water to the reformer as reforming water; a heater provided downstream of the branch, and heating the first channel; a temperature detector detecting the temperature of the first channel; and a controller, in an activation operation mode, determining whether the second channel is filled with reforming water, based on the temperature detected by the temperature detector after the heater has operated.

Hydrogen generation system and fuel cell system

A solid oxide fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell unit including a solid oxide fuel cell and a mixer, the solid oxide fuel cell including an anode gas passage and a cathode gas passage, the mixer mixing an anode off gas discharged from the anode gas passage and a cathode off gas discharged from the cathode gas passage; a power-generating raw material supply device operative to supply a power-generating raw material to the fuel cell unit; a combustible gas passage, which extends from the power-generating raw material supply device to a downstream end of the anode gas passage; an oxidizing gas supply device operative to supply an oxidizing gas to the cathode gas passage; and a controller operative to, after electric power generation by the fuel cell unit is stopped, control the power-generating raw material supply device to supply the power-generating raw material in a volume more than or equal to a volume of the combustible gas passage to the combustible gas passage, and concurrently control the oxidizing gas supply device to supply the oxidizing gas to the cathode gas passage.

Solid oxide fuel cell system and method of stopping the same

A fuel cell system includes a desulfurizer that removes a sulfur compound in a raw material, a fuel cell unit that performs electric-power generation using fuel obtained by reforming a raw material from which the sulfur compound is removed and electric-power generation air supplied, a combustion exhaust gas passage through which combustion exhaust gas generated by combusting fuel not utilized for the electric-power generation in the fuel cell unit is emitted, a combustion exhaust gas container that is connected to the combustion exhaust gas passage and accommodates the desulfurizer inside the combustion exhaust gas container, a purifier that removes carbon monoxide included in the combustion exhaust gas, and an air heat exchanger that performs heat exchange of the combustion exhaust gas and the electric-power generation air supplied to the fuel cell unit.

Fuel cell system

A hydrogen generator includes a hydro-desulfurizer, a reformer, a reactor and an electric heater. The hydro-desulfurizer is operative to remove a sulfur compound in a raw material and including a tubular first wall. The reformer is operative to generate a hydrogen-containing gas by using the raw material supplied from the hydro-desulfurizer. The reactor includes a tubular second wall provided coaxially with the first wall so as to be opposed to the first wall. The electric heater is annularly provided in a gap between the first wall and the second wall so as to extend in an axial direction of the first wall and turn back in the axial direction of the first wall. The electric heater includes a first portion contacting the first wall and a second portion contacting the second wall. A connecting portion, which connects the first portion and the second portion, has elasticity.

Hydrogen generator and fuel cell system

A hydrogen generator includes: a tubular reformer configured to generate a hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction using a material gas; a CO reducer configured to reduce carbon monoxide contained in the hydrogen-containing gas generated in the reformer; a tubular hydro-desulfurizer provided at an outer periphery of the reformer and configured to remove a sulfur compound contained in the material gas; and a material gas supply passage through which the material gas to be supplied to the hydro-desulfurizer flows. The material gas supply passage is configured to perform heat exchange with the CO reducer, and a material gas inlet port of the hydro-desulfurizer is provided at an end surface closer to the CO reducer.

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Nara, Japan

Hiromi Kita