Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Siemens Energy, Inc.

Kevin P Litzinger

Kenneth G Lunz

Chun Lu

Paolo R Zafred

Shih-Yu W Liu

Gong Zhang

Roswell J Ruka

Robert Draper

James E Gillett

Kevin Huang

Nicolas Vortmeyer

Richard A Basel

Shailesh D Vora

Matthew W Riggle

James L Shull

Charles R Osborne

Mehrdad Tartibi

Michael Josef Suess

An ROB stack (') contains a plurality of stacked ROB cells () made from: thin metal bipolar housings () having air inlets and exits and horizontal channels for feeding air between the inlets () and exits (), the channel having top ridges and also grooves () for containing active material (); a porous air electrode () next to the air channels allowing air contact; a metal electrode (); and an oxygen ion transfer membrane () acting as electrolyte; wherein the plurality of all the assemblies form vertical air inlet and outlet plenums.

Oxygen plenum configurations of components in low cost planar rechargeable oxide-ion battery (ROB) cells and stacks

An all solid state rechargeable oxide-ion (ROB) battery () has a thermal energy storage (TES) unit () between two oxide-ion cells () with metal-metal oxide electrodes () on opposite sides of an anion conducting solid electrolyte () where none of the electrodes is contact with air.

All solid state rechargeable oxide-ion battery (ROB) system

Processing steps for constructing a rechargeable oxide-ion battery (ROB) cell using a cell membrane assemblyand a hollow metal housing structurewherein assembly steps include: a) forming a membrane assemblyof air electrode, metal electrodeand electrolytetherebetween; b) sealing the membrane assemblyto a surrounding frame; c) filling the hollow metal housing structurewith active material; d) forming electrical contact between the framed membrane assembly and the filled housing structure; and e) joining the framed membrane assembly and the active housing structure to form a ROB cell.

Construction of planar rechargeable oxide-ion battery cells and stacks using stainless steel housing structures

A solid oxide fuel cell module contains a plurality of integral bundle assemblies, the module containing a top portion with an inlet fuel plenum and a bottom portion receiving air inlet feed and containing a base support, the base supports dense, ceramic exhaust manifolds which are below and connect to air feed tubes located in a recuperator zone, the air feed tubes passing into the center of inverted, tubular, elongated, hollow electrically connected solid oxide fuel cells having an open end above a combustion zone into which the air feed tubes pass and a closed end near the inlet fuel plenum, where the fuel cells comprise a fuel cell stack bundle all surrounded within an outer module enclosure having top power leads to provide electrical output from the stack bundle, where the fuel cells operate in the fuel cell mode and where the base support and bottom ceramic air exhaust manifolds carry from 85% to all 100% of the weight of the stack, and each bundle assembly has its own control for vertical and horizontal thermal expansion control.

Generator module architecture for a large solid oxide fuel cell power plant

A solid oxide fuel cell generator is provided for electrochemically reacting a fuel gas with a flowing oxidant gas at an elevated temperature to produce power. The generator includes a generator section receiving a fuel gas and a plurality of elongated fuel cells extending through the generator section and having opposing open fuel cell ends for directing an oxidant gas between opposing plena in the generator. A sealant defines a seal on the fuel cells adjacent at least one of the fuel cell ends. The sealant is a modified lanthanum borate aluminosilicate glass composition having a minimal amount of boron oxide and silica, and in which the sealant maintains substantially constant physical characteristics throughout multiple thermal cycles.

Solid oxide fuel cell generator including a glass sealant

Fine and coarse resolvers are used to detect the length of cable withdrawn from a spool to provide an indication of the position of a neutron flux detector at the end of the cable. The position indicated by the resolvers when the neutron flux detector passes a withdrawn limit switch is stored in nonvolatile memory as an offset when the cable is first installed in a flux mapping system. Thereafter, the position indicated by the resolvers, each time the neutron flux detector passes the withdraw limit switch, is compared to the offset. If the difference between the two is significant, a warning is generated, but operation of the flux mapping system continues. During movement of the flux detector, the change in position between two readings of the resolvers is divided by an amount of time measured by a programmable interval timer to determine average speed. A warning is generated if the average speed is outside an expected range. The expected range may vary depending upon the position of the detector. The position indicated by the resolvers when the flux detector indicates a reduction in neutron flux due to the presence of grid straps is compared with predetermined grid strap positions to determine an accurate top of thimble limit.

Neutron flux detector positioning

A plurality of flux map sequences are stored in nonvolatile memory to control a flux mapping operation in a nuclear reactor. The flux map sequences are accessed by a host controller which receives instructions from either a local man machine interface or a remote man machine interface. A system control unit determines which of the man machine interfaces is active and also provides the ability to select manual control of detector drivers. A selected flux map sequence is displayed and can be modified and then restored or executed. The modifications to the flux map sequence may include deleting a detector driver from the flux mapping operation and then automatically redistributing the thimbles originally used by the deleted detector driver to be used by the remaining detector drivers. The man machine interfaces are preferably independent computer systems each connected to receive shared data transmitted from the host controller and capable of performing analysis on the flux map data including generating calibration data for a plant protection system. The flux mapping system also includes a diagnostic processor for monitoring the operation of the host controller and ensuring that the detector drivers receive instructions to return to a safe condition if there is a malfunction of the host controller.

Neutron flux mapping system for nuclear reactors

A detector path insertion verification system for use with flux mapping of a pressurized water nuclear reactor uses a transfer insertion switch at the input of each multiple-path selector to detect insertion of a detector into the multiple-path selector. No insertion switches are used at the output of the multiple-path selectors; instead software is used to verify the position of the multiple-path selectors. The sensed actual position of each multiple-path selector is monitored as the multiple-path selector is rotated to verify that the sensed actual position passes through the expected sequence of positions in an expected amount of time. The multiple-path selectors are rotated until a sensed actual position is equal to a desired position and rotation is stopped. After the passage of a short period of time, the actual and desired positions are again compared and if equal, insertion is begun. When the transfer insertion switch detects insertion of the detector into the multiple-path selector, the actual and desired positions are again checked and insertion of the detector is continued only if the actual and desired positions are still equal.

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Level Green, PA, United States of America

Kevin P Litzinger