Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Praxair Technology, Inc.

Steven R Falta

Thomas A Trabold

Jon P Owejan

Daniel C Di Fiore

Thomas W Tighe

Matthew A Lang

Henry Edward Howard

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan Chakravarthy

Brian S Powell

Steven G Goebel

Maulik R Shelat

Pinkhas A Rapaport

Jeffrey Allan Rock

Manish Sinha

James R Handley

John C Fagley

Derek R Lebzelter

Seth E Lerner

Lee Curtis Whitehead

Jun Cai

Hai Du

Gayatri Vyas Dadheech

William Henry Pettit

Glenn William Skala

Steven D Burch

Oliver Maier

Neil Andrew Stephenson

Chunxin Ji

Rainer Pechtold

Donald H Keskula

Brian K Brady

Sergio E Garcia

Yan Zhang

Eric J Connor

Ralf Senner

Reena L Datta

Joseph Nicholas Lovria

James Patrick Meagher

Scot Eric Jaynes

Loren Devries

Michael Leykauf

Carol A Galskoy

Michael J Dray

The present invention relates to an adsorption process for xenon recovery from a cryogenic liquid or gas stream wherein a bed of adsorbent is contacted with a xenon-containing liquid or gas stream selectively adsorbing the xenon from said stream. The adsorption bed is operated to at least near full breakthrough with xenon to enable a deep rejection of other stream components, prior to regeneration using the temperature swing method. After the stripping step, the xenon adsorbent bed is drained to clear out the liquid residue left in the nonselective void space and the xenon molecules in those void spaces is recycled upstream to the ASU distillation column for increasing xenon recovery. The xenon adsorbent bed is optionally purged with oxygen, followed by purging with gaseous argon at cryogenic temperature (&#x2264;160 K) to displace the oxygen co-adsorbed on the AgX adsorbent due to higher selectivity of argon over oxygen on the AgX adsorbent. By the end of this step, the xenon adsorbent bed is filled with argon and xenon. Then the entire adsorbent bed is heated indirectly without utilizing any of the purge gas for direct heating. Operating the adsorption bed to near full breakthrough with xenon and displacing the adsorbed oxygen and other residues with argon, prior to regeneration, along with indirect heating of the bed, enables production of a high purity product &#x2265;40 vol % xenon from the adsorption bed and further enables safely heating without any purge gas and ease for downstream product collection, even in cases where hydrocarbons are co-present in the feed stream.

Adsorptive xenon recovery process from a gas or liquid stream at cryogenic temperature

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through condensers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the air separation plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Prior to flowing into the once-through condensers, the partially vaporized crude oxygen stream enters a phase separator which separates the crude oxygen vapor from the crude liquid oxygen. The separated crude oxygen vapor bypasses the once-through condensers and is mixed with the vaporized oxygen stream that exits the one-through condensers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

Argon condensation system and method

An argon reflux condensation system and method in which a plurality of once-through heat exchangers are connected to an argon column of an air separation plant to condense argon-rich vapor streams for production of reflux to the argon column. Condensation of the argon-rich vapor streams is brought about through indirect heat exchange with crude liquid oxygen streams that partially vaporize and are introduced into a lower pressure column of the plant for further refinement. The flow rate of the crude liquid oxygen streams are sensed and controlled at locations in the plant where the crude liquid oxygen is in a liquid state and in proportion to the size of the once-through heat exchangers. Feed stream flow rate to the argon column is controlled in response to air flow rate to the plant and product flow rate is controlled in response to the feed stream flow rate to the argon column.

The present invention generally relates to a method to enhance heat transfer in the temperature swing adsorption process (TSA) and to an intensified TSA process for gas/liquid purification or bulk separation. Helium is designed as the heat carrier media to directly bring heat/cool to the adsorbent bed during the TSA cycling process. With helium's superior heat conductivity, the time consuming regeneration steps (warming, regeneration and precooling) of TSA process can be significantly reduced and allowing for the TSA process to be intensified.

Helium enhanced heat transfer in adsorptive liquid or gas phase argon purification processes

A system and method for quantifying an anode leak location in a fuel cell system. The system and method include determining there is a leak in an anode sub-system of a fuel cell stack and estimating a first effective leak area using a first leak flow value and first operating parameters. The system and method also include increasing airflow to a cathode side of the fuel cell stack and estimating a second leak effective area using a second leak flow value and second operating parameters. The system and method further include comparing the first leak effective area to the second leak effective area and determining an anode outflow leak location based on the comparison between the first and second leak effective areas.

Anode leak location detection

A combined water drain and diluent gas purge valve routes fluid from the anode side of a fuel cell to the cathode inlet. When a purge of diluent gas is requested, the valve opens, draining any liquid present in the sump of a water separation device, for example. After the liquid has drained, the diluent gas is purged. An anode bleed model using fuel injector feedback can determine the amount of gas exiting the valve, and can request the valve to close once the required amount of diluent is purged. During operation, an amount of hydrogen may exit the valve. Hydrogen passing through the valve can be catalytically consumed once it reaches the cathode electrode, causing the cathode exhaust, and the fuel cell exhaust to have a reduced hydrogen content.

Anode purge and drain valve strategy for fuel cell system

A system and method for selectively operating a fuel cell stack in response to loss of a voltage signal from one or more fuel cells in the stack. If the voltage signal from the one or more fuel cells is lost, the method performs one or more remedial actions to cause the fuel cell stack to operate in a more stack safe condition. The method then determines whether the cell or cells whose voltage signal is lost was healthy, such as operating above a predetermined voltage threshold, prior to the voltage signal being lost. If the cell voltage signal was above the voltage threshold, then the fuel cell stack is operated normally under the remedial actions, and if the voltage signal is below the voltage threshold, then the fuel cell stack is operated in a power limitation mode.

Method for running a fuel cell system with a failed stack health monitor

A system and method for detecting an anode pressure sensor failure in a fuel cell system. The system and method include a controller that sets an initial minimum anode pressure sensor value and an initial maximum anode pressure sensor value. The controller determines a desired time interval for sampling anode pressure measurements and determines a total number of samples of anode pressure measurements to be collected by the controller from an anode pressure sensor. The controller also compares a pressure difference between the initial or a measured minimum anode pressure and the initial or a measured maximum anode pressure to a predetermined pressure difference threshold and sets a pressure sensor fault if the pressure difference between the initial or measured minimum anode pressure and the initial or maximum anode pressure is less than the predetermined pressure difference threshold.

Extremum seeking algorithm in a variable time interval to detect anode pressure sensor stuck failure in a fuel cell system

A fuel cell system, including a plurality of bipolar plate assemblies, each assembly including a first plate and a second plate with an internal coolant flow path disposed therebetween, a flow path for a first reactant gas on a side of the first plate opposite the internal coolant flow path, and a flow path for a second reactant gas on a side of the second plate opposite the internal coolant flow path, and a cooling system configured to place coolant in thermal communication with the plurality of bipolar plate assemblies, wherein cycling pressure differentials between the internal coolant flow path and the external reactant gas flow paths cause expansion and contraction of a volume of coolant disposed within the bipolar plate assembly, thereby pumping coolant through the cooling system. A method of cooling a fuel cell-powered vehicle is also provided.

System and method for cooling a fuel cell-powered vehicle

A fuel cell system includes a water vapor transfer unit and a fluid flow distribution feature, the water vapor transfer unit including a first plate having a plurality of first flow channels for receiving a flow of a first fluid therein, and a second plate having a plurality of second flow channels for receiving a flow of a second fluid therein. The fluid flow distribution feature is configured to control at least one of a volume of flow of the first fluid through the first flow channels and a volume of flow of the second fluid through the second flow channels, wherein at least one of a flow distribution of the first fluid across the first plate and a flow distribution of the second fluid across the second plate is varied.

Fuel cell system having a fluid flow distribution feature

A system and method for determining whether an anode injector that injects hydrogen gas into an anode side of a fuel cell stack has failed. The method includes monitoring a voltage of the fuel cell stack and performing spectral analysis of the stack voltage to identify amplitude peaks in the stack voltage. The method further includes determining whether the spectral analysis of the stack voltage has identified an amplitude peak at a location where an amplitude peak should occur if the injector is operating properly. If no amplitude peak is identified at that location, then the method determines that the injector is not operating properly. If an amplitude peak is identified at that location, then the method compares the amplitude peak to the desired amplitude peak to identify if it is within a threshold to determine if the injector is operating properly.

Diagnosing injector failure via stack voltage response analysis

A system and method for controlling hydrogen gas flow to an anode side of a fuel cell stack using a pressure regulator in the event that an injector that normally injects the hydrogen gas into the fuel cell stack has failed in a stuck open position. During normal operation, the control of the injector is determined based on the pressure of an anode sub-system and the position of the pressure regulator is determined based on a supply pressure between the pressure regulator and the injector. If it is determined that the injector is stuck in an open position, then the position of the pressure regulator is controlled to the anode pressure instead of the supply pressure. If the pressure regulator is an electrical pressure regulator, then it is pulsed to mimic normal system operation. Alternately, another valve, such as a shut-off valve, can be employed to provide the flow pulsing.

Fuel cell operation with a failed open injector

A method for determining a flow of a gas through an injector and a flow of a gas through a valve in a fuel cell system. The method includes determining an injector flow estimation for the gas flowing through the injector and determining a valve flow estimation for the gas flowing through the valve. The method also includes calculating an error that is a difference between the injector flow estimation and the valve flow estimation and adjusting the flow of the gas through the valve based on the error.

Control strategy to prevent unexpected hydrogen flow to the cathode due to a failed pressure sensor while catalytic heating

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Honeoye Falls, NY, United States of America

Steven R Falta