Bloom Energy Corporation

Michael Petrucha

Martin Perry

David Edmonston

David Weingaertner

Nilanjana Basu

Matthias Gottmann

William David Lyle

Siddharth Patel

James Huynh

Navaneetha Krishnan

Ivan Hartana

Emad El Batawi

Avinash Verma

Arne Watson Ballantine

Tad Armstrong

Swaminathan Venkataraman

Dien Nguyen

Andy Ta

Adil Ashary

Victor Fung

Yashas Keshav

Aniket Pratap

Prasad Pmsvvsv

John Fisher

Cheng-Yu Lin

Ian Russell

Srikanth Ranganathan

Vlad Kalika

Ram Ramanan

Adrian Basharain

Shraddesh Malviya

Kyle Kekelis

Natarajan Ramanan

Karanpal Bhangu

Virpaul Bains

Victor Silva

Tyler Dawson

Jerome A Mack

Joshua Baime

Dongai Shi

Pawan Patil

Shruti Baharani

Brandon Snow

Matthias Gottman

Annamalai Raman

Sumit Raj

Mosur K Premkumar

Paul Bhangu

Subhash Chander Deswal

Ananda Sundararajan

A fuel cell system includes a plurality of fuel cell segments, each segment having a plurality of fuel cells. The segments include a positive terminal having a positive voltage with respect to ground and a negative terminal. The fuel cell system also includes at least one component electrically connecting the negative terminal to ground, the at least one component configured to decrease a surge current through the segments.

Fuel cell stack grounding through an impedance creating element

A fuel cell system anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) includes an inner ATO wall, an outer ATO wall, and a first catalyst ring disposed in a chamber formed between the inner ATO wall and the outer ATO wall. The first catalyst ring includes an inner wall, an outer wall, and a matrix disposed between the inner wall and the outer wall and loaded with an oxidation catalyst.

Fuel cell system including catalyst ring anode tail gas oxidizer

A fuel cell column includes a plurality of fuel cell stacks, at least one fuel manifold configured to provide fuel to the plurality of fuel cell stacks, and at least one heat sink insert located between adjacent fuel cells of the plurality of fuel cell stacks. A fuel cell column including at least one heat sink insert located between adjacent fuel cell stacks of the column may reduce the peak temperatures of the fuel cell stacks adjacent to the heat sink inserts and may provide a smaller temperature distribution within the fuel cell stacks and within the column as a whole.

Fuel cell stack assembly including heat sink inserts

Various embodiments of a reactant feed and return assembly, such as an anode splitter plate (ASP), are provided for facilitating reactant feed flow in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack system. Embodiments include a reactant feed and return assembly including at least one nozzle structure along a flow path of a reactant feed to a fuel cell stack. The at least one nozzle structure may include a width dimension that decreases along the flow path of the reactant. The at least one nozzle structure of the assembly may accelerate the reactant feed as it enters the adjacent fuel cell stack and may provide the reactant feed with sufficient kinetic energy to negate the effects of an increase in viscous resistance along the reactant flow path through the fuel cell stack.

Reactant feed and return assembly for fuel cell stacks including a nozzle structure

A conduit assembly includes a dielectric tube having a first end and a second end, a first metal tube including a first flange coupled to the first end of the inner dielectric tube, the first flange including relief openings, a first dielectric ring coupled to the first flange, a second metal tube including a second flange coupled to the second end of the inner dielectric tube, the second flange including relief openings, and a second dielectric ring coupled to the second flange.

Dielectric conduit assemblies and methods of making thereof

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack, an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO), an ATO injector configured to mix a first portion of an anode exhaust from the fuel cell stack with a cathode exhaust from the fuel cell stack and to provide a mixture of the first portion of the anode exhaust and the cathode exhaust into the ATO, an anode exhaust conduit which is configured to provide the first portion of the anode exhaust into the ATO injector, and cathode exhaust conduit which is configured to provide at least a portion of the cathode exhaust from the fuel cell stack into the ATO injector. The ATO injector includes injector tubes or injection apertures.

Fuel cell system including ATO injector and method of operating the same

A method of operating a fuel cell system includes providing fuel and air to a stack of fuel cells located in a hotbox, operating the stack to generate an anode exhaust and a cathode exhaust, in a startup mode, providing a first amount of the anode exhaust and the cathode exhaust to an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) located in the hotbox to oxidize the anode exhaust and to generate heat which is provided to the stack, and in a steady-state mode, stopping providing the anode exhaust to the ATO or providing to the ATO a second amount of the anode exhaust which is smaller than the first amount, and providing the anode exhaust and the cathode exhaust outside the hotbox.

Fuel cell system including anode exhaust diversion and method of operating the same

A fuel cell system conduit assembly includes a dielectric tube having a first end and a second end, a metallic first flange press-fit to the first end of the dielectric tube, a metallic second flange press-fit to the second end of the dielectric tube, a first snap ring disposed between the first flange and the dielectric tube, and a second snap ring disposed between the second flange and the dielectric tube.

Metal-dielectric conduit assemblies and methods of making thereof

A fuel cell system includes at least one spark igniter containing an insulated cable where at least a first end of the insulated cable is positioned within a reaction zone of the fuel cell system. A power supply is configured to provide a direct current (DC) voltage to the at least one spark igniter such that a spark is generated at the first end of the insulated cable.

Internal light off mechanism for solid oxide fuel cell system startup using a spark ignitor

A method of operating a fuel cell system includes providing an anode exhaust from a fuel cell stack to a water injector, supplying water to the water injector, and injecting the water from the water injector into the anode exhaust to vaporize the water and generate a humidified anode exhaust.

Fuel cell system containing water injector and method of operating the same

A fuel cell column includes first and second fuel cell stacks, a fuel manifold disposed between the first and second fuel cell stacks and configured to provide fuel to the first and second fuel cell stacks, and first and second dielectric separators located between the fuel manifold and the respective first and second fuel cell stacks, and configured to electrically isolate the respective first and second fuel cell stacks from the fuel manifold. The first and second dielectric separators each include a top layer of a ceramic material, a bottom layer of the ceramic material, a middle layer disposed between the top and bottom layers and including a material having a lower density and a higher dielectric strength than the ceramic material, and glass or glass ceramic seals which connect the middle layer to the top and bottom layers.

Dielectric separator for fuel cell stack assembly and manufacturing method thereof

A fuel cell device includes at least one fuel cell column containing first and second fuel cell stacks, a fuel manifold located between the first and second fuel cell stacks and configured to provide fuel to the first and second fuel cell stacks, and a dielectric material located to electrically isolate the first and second fuel cell stacks from the fuel manifold.

Fuel cell column containing electrically insulated fuel manifold and manifold jumper

A fuel cell system includes a plurality of fuel cell stacks or columns, each fuel cell stack or column containing a plurality of fuel cells, and at least one pressure drop tool located in a fuel path of at least one first fuel cell stack or column but not in a fuel path of at least one second fuel cell stack or column.

Method of equalizing the pressure drop of fuel cell columns

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Michael Petrucha