Alliedsignal Inc.

Hybrid Power Generation Systems, LLC

Allied Signal Aerospace

General Electric Company

Nguyen Q Minh

Estela T Ong

Jie Guan

Craig R Horne

Dan S Matulich

Rajiv Doshi

Timothy R Armstrong

Gregory Lear

Kurt Meister

Di-Jia Liu

Kurtis C Montgomery

David M Kotchick

Brandon W Chung

Thomas L Stillwagon

James V Guiheen

David Wolfe

James J Van Ackeren

Dave Wolfe

Kurt Montgomery

A catalyzed interconnect for an SOFC electrically connects an anode and an anodic current collector and comprises a metallic substrate, which provides space between the anode and anodic current collector for fuel gas flow over at least a portion of the anode, and a catalytic coating on the metallic substrate comprising a catalyst for catalyzing hydrocarbon fuel in the fuel gas to hydrogen rich reformate. An SOFC including the catalyzed anodic inter-connect, a method for operating an SOFC, and a method for making a catalyzed anodic interconnect are also disclosed.

Solid oxide fuel cell with internal reforming, catalyzed interconnect for use therewith, and methods

A fuel cell stack comprises a plurality of planar fuel cells in a spiral configuration. The fuel cells angularly offset from one another such that immediately adjacent cells only partially overlap one another. The cells are preferably of the unitized type. A manifold assembly is operatively adjacent to the fuel cells. The manifold assembly includes an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold for each of the gases that are in communication with the fuel cells. The unitized solid oxide fuel cell comprises a first planar interconnect, a planar ceramic cell adjacent the first planar interconnect, a second planar interconnect adjacent the opposite side of the planar ceramic cell, and a plurality of gas tubes adjacent the planar ceramic cell. The gas tubes are arranged to a first configuration, a second configuration, a third configuration and a fourth configuration with a cylindrical gas tube shape and a T-shape gas tube designs. These configurations provide a choice of co-flow, cross flow or counter flow patterns inside the cell to improve the thermal management and cell efficiency and provide more flexibilities to connect a manifold assembly. They also provide an option to directly combust the spent fuel just outside the fuel cell to eliminate a separate burner for residual energy recovery. These configurations thus provide means for improved fuel cell power system efficiency and lowered capital and operational costs.

Stacking and manifolding of unitized solid oxide fuel cells

An environmental control system includes a turbomachine and an air cycle machine that is driven by shaft power of the turbomachine. The turbomachine includes a compressor, which supplies compressed bleed air to the air cycle machine. Ambient air is compressed by the compressor, and heat of compression is removed by an air-to-air heat exchanger, which envelops the turbomachine. The cooled, compressed air is expanded in the air cycle machine to produce a stream of cooled, conditioned air. Ambient air used by the air-to-air heat exchanger to cool the compressed bleed air is drawn into the turbomachine's exhaust by an eductor.

Turbomachine-driven environmental control system

A unitized solid oxide fuel cell comprises a first electrically conductive interconnect operatively connected to an anode of the fuel cell, with the first interconnect having a first substantially planar portion and a first skirt portion. A second electrically conductive interconnect is operatively connected to a cathode of the fuel cell, with the second interconnect having a second substantially planar portion and a second skirt portion that is juxtaposed to the first skirt portion. A gas inlet is fixed to at least one of the first and second skirt portions while a gas outlet is fixed to at least one of the first and second skirt portions. The gas inlet and outlet can be releasably attached to a gas manifold.

Unitized cell solid oxide fuel cells

The present invention relates to a multi-layered and multifunctional cathode in solid oxide fuel cells having high conductivity, high catalytic activity, minimized coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch, excellent compatibility to other portions of the fuel cell, and reduced temperature operation. The cathode comprises a conductive layer, a catalyst layer and a graded composition layer. The conductive layer has a first density, the catalyst layer has a second density that is less than the first density, and the graded composition layer is characterized by a graded electronic conductivity and a graded ionic conductivity.

High performance cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells

A solid oxide fuel cell comprises an anode, a cathode opposite to the anode, and an electrolyte between the anode and cathode. The electrolyte includes a barrier layer that prevents chemical interactions between the electrolyte and the anode, in addition to preventing elemental losses from the electrolyte. The electrolyte further includes a strengthening layer having alternating layer elements that provide fracture resistance to the electrolyte.

Integrated SOFC

A fuel cell stack comprises a plurality of planar fuel cells in a spiral configuration. The fuel cells angularly offset from one another such that immediately adjacent cells only partially overlap one another. The cells are preferably of the unitized type. A manifold assembly is operatively adjacent to the fuel cells. The manifold assembly includes an inlet manifold and an outlet manifold for each of the gases that are in communication with the fuel cells.

Stacking and manifolding of angularly offset, unitized solid oxide fuel cells

A solid oxide fuel cell stack includes a plurality of solid oxide fuel cells juxtaposed to one another, with at least two of the cells having a substantially flat configuration; and each of the two cells having an anode layer, an electrolyte layer, and a cathode layer. The fuel stack also includes at least one interconnect disposed among the plurality of cells, with the interconnect being capable of providing an electrical connection between the cells, and the interconnect comprising a plurality of first extensions on a first surface of the interconnect and a plurality of second depressions on a second surface of the interconnect. The first extensions and second depressions are integrally formed with one another to provide a plurality of oxidant passageways and fuel passageways.

Design for solid oxide fuel cell stacks

A method of fabricating solid oxide fuel cell electrodes, and in particular anodes, includes the steps of forming a microcomposite element comprising a plurality of layers of an electrically conductive tape and an electrolyte tape, with the plurality of layers forming a first electrically conductive pattern. A plurality of microcomposite subelements are created from the microcomposite element, with each microcomposite subelement having the first electrically conductive pattern. A plurality of the microcomposite subelements are juxtaposed to one another and also rotated in planes substantially parallel to one another. Thereby, a totality of the first electrically conductive patterns form a second electrically conductive pattern in the anode. Electrical conduction is established with the patterns all being in electrical contact with one another.

Method of fabricating solid oxide fuel cell electrodes

A hybrid electrical power system includes a solid oxide fuel cell and a turbomachine. Fuel flow to the turbomachine is increased in response to demands for boost power, whereby the turbomachine's electrical generator provides the boost power. The turbomachine supplies heated, high pressure air to the solid oxide fuel cell, bringing the solid oxide fuel cell to its required operating temperature. Waste from the solid oxide fuel cell, including exhaust air and unreacted fuel, is utilized by the turbomachine.

Hybrid electrical power system

A method of preparing a fuel cell element includes the steps of: laminating ceramic tapes to form an unfired anode/electrolyte laminate; reducing the thickness of the anode/electrolyte laminate; sintering the anode/electrolyte laminate; laminating ceramic tapes to form an unfired cathode/interconnect laminate; reducing the thickness of the cathode/interconnect laminate; embossing a gas flow path pattern into the cathode layer of the cathode/interconnect laminate; sintering the cathode/interconnect laminate; and bonding the sintered anode/electrolyte laminate to the sintered cathode/interconnect laminate such that the electrolyte layer contacts the cathode layer. The fuel cell produced by this method has thin electrolyte and interconnect layers which result in high fuel cell outlet power.

Preparation of a solid oxide fuel cell having thin electrolyte and

A fuel cell is made by preparing a first unfired anode ceramic tape and a second unfired electrolyte ceramic tape, with the second ceramic tape being much thinner than the first ceramic tape. The first ceramic tape and the second ceramic tape are laminated together to form an unfired anode/electrolyte laminate, which is rolled to reduce the layer thicknesses. The anode layer is embossed with a gas flow path pattern. A third unfired cathode ceramic tape and a fourth unfired interconnect ceramic tape are prepared, with the fourth ceramic tape being much thinner than the third ceramic tape. The third ceramic tape and the fourth ceramic tape are laminated together to form an unfired cathode/interconnect laminate, which is rolled to reduce the layer thicknesses. The cathode layer is embossed with a gas flow pattern. The two laminates are sintered, stacked, and bonded in the appropriate pattern to form a fuel cell element.

A device having a thin ceramic layer therein, is made by preparing a mixture of ceramic particles, a binder, and a plasticizer, and forming the mixture into a ceramic layer. A second layer is placed adjacent to the ceramic layer to form a composite layered structure. The thickness of the composite layered structure is reduced, preferably by rolling, until the ceramic layer portion of the composite layered structure has a preselected small thickness. If desired, the thickness of the ceramic layer can be reduced to an arbitrarily small value by stacking the reduced composite layered structures (or one of the layered structures with another structure) and repeating the reducing operation on the stack. The ceramic layer having the preselected thickness is assembled into a device. Devices that can be prepared by this approach include, for example, multilayer capacitors, solid oxide fuel cells, and solid-electrolyte electrochemical storage cells.

Preparation of devices that include a thin ceramic layer

A fuel cell comprises an anode, a cathode, a solid electrolyte disposed between the anode and the cathode, and interconnect means for providing an electrical connection located adjacent to either the cathode or the anode but not adjacent to the solid electrolyte. The interconnect means includes an interconnect layer having a composition of (i) a mixture of an electrical conductor and a ceramic matrix material that is sinterable in an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature of less than about 1500.degree. C., (ii) a mixture of a lanthanum chromite-based ceramic and a yttrium chromite-based ceramic, or (iii) a yttrium chromite-based ceramic of the form Y.sub.w-x-y Ca.sub.x Zr.sub.y Cr.sub.v-z Zn.sub.z O.sub.3 , where w is from about 0.9 to about 1.1, x is from about 0.1 to about 0.3, y is from about 0.001 to about 0.1, z is from about 0.1 to about 0.3, and v is from about 1 to about 1.2.

Monolithic fuel cell having improved interconnect layer

A fuel cell comprises an anode, a cathode, a solid electrolyte disposed between the anode and the cathode, and interconnect means for providing an electrical connection located adjacent to either the cathode or the anode but not adjacent to the solid electrolyte. The interconnect means includes an interconnect layer having a composition of a mixture of an electrical conductor and a ceramic matrix material that is sinterable in an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature of less than about 1500.degree. C. The interconnect means includes, a first buffer layer having a region with a composition that is intermediate between that of the anode and that of the interconnect layer, a second buffer layer having a region with a composition that is intermediate between that of the cathode and that of the interconnect layer, and the interconnect layer disposed between the first buffer layer and the second buffer layer.

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Fountain Valley, CA, United States of America

Nguyen Q Minh