Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yukimune Kani

Hidenobu Wakita

Seiji Fujihara

Kunihiro Ukai

Osamu Sakai

Tomoyuki Nakajima

Kiyoshi Taguchi

Akira Maenishi

Tomoya Kamata

Norihiko Kawabata

Hiromi Kita

Takashi Kakuwa

Yuji Mukai

Jin Zhang

Takayuki Nakaue

Tomohiro Kuroha

Yuuichi Yakumaru

Shigenori Onuma

Yuichi Mikami

Hiroaki Kaneko

Hiroshige Matsumoto

Kensaku Kinugawa

Yumi Kondo

Takeshi Terayama

Takashi Sotoku

An electrochemical hydrogen pump includes at least one hydrogen pump unit including an electrolyte membrane, an anode on one main surface of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode on the other main surface of the electrolyte membrane, an anode separator on the anode, and a cathode separator on the cathode, the at least one hydrogen pump unit transferring, to the cathode, hydrogen supplied to the anode and pressurizing the hydrogen, a first fixing member for preventing movement of the cathode separator in a direction in which the cathode separator is stacked, a first end plate on the anode separator at one end in the stacking direction, a second end plate on the cathode separator at the other end in the stacking direction, and a first gas flow channel through which hydrogen in the cathode is supplied to a first space between the second end plate and the cathode separator.

Electrochemical hydrogen pump

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.

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 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 fuel cell system includes a fuel feeder that supplies fuel, a fuel cell stack that generates power through an electrochemical reaction using air and a hydrogen-containing gas generated from the fuel, a first temperature sensor that senses the temperature of the fuel cell stack, and a controller. The fuel cell stack has a membrane electrode assembly including an electrolyte membrane through which protons can pass, a cathode on one side of the electrolyte membrane, and an anode on the other side of the electrolyte membrane. The controller defines an upper limit of current output from the fuel cell stack on the basis of the temperature of the fuel cell stack, the supply of the fuel, and the hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell stack associated with internal leakage current and keeps the current output from the fuel cell stack at or below the upper limit.

Fuel cell system and method for operating the same

A proton conductor is a proton conductor represented by a composition formula of BaZrYInO, and x and y in the composition formula satisfy 0&#x3c;y&#x2264;0.013 and 0&#x3c;x+y&#x3c;0.5. A small amount of In is added to the composition in a predetermined range, whereby a resistance of the crystal grain boundary of the proton conductor can be decreased so as to compensate for or even exceed the increase in resistance in the crystal gains of the proton conductor caused by the addition of In, and as a result, the entire resistance can be decreased.

Proton conductor

An apparatus includes: an electrolyte membrane; a cathode catalyst layer provided to one main surface of the electrolyte membrane; an anode catalyst layer provided to the other main surface of the electrolyte membrane; a cathode gas diffusion layer provided on a main surface of the cathode catalyst layer not facing the electrolyte membrane; a separator including a recess through which cathode gas flows; an anode gas diffusion layer provided on a main surface of the anode catalyst layer not facing the electrolyte membrane; a voltage applicator applying a voltage between the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer; and a fastener fastening a laminated body. The cathode gas diffusion layer is accommodated in the recess, projects from the recess in a thickness direction before fastening of the laminated body, and includes an elastic member between side surfaces of the cathode gas diffusion layer and of the recess.

A hydrogen purifier () includes: a shift conversion catalyst () which reduces, through a shift reaction, carbon monoxide contained in a hydrogen-containing gas; and a methanation catalyst () which reduces, through a methanation reaction, carbon monoxide contained in the hydrogen-containing gas that has passed through the shift conversion catalyst (). The shift conversion catalyst () and the methanation catalyst () are heat exchangeable with each other via a first partition wall (), and a flow direction of the hydrogen-containing gas that passes through the shift conversion catalyst () is opposite to a flow direction of the hydrogen-containing gas that passes through the methanation catalyst ().

Hydrogen-purification apparatus and fuel-cell system using same

A hydrogen generator () includes: a hydrogen generating unit () configured to generate a hydrogen-containing gas by using a raw material gas; a hydro-desulfurizer () configured to remove a sulfur compound in the raw material gas supplied to the hydrogen generating unit (); a first gas channel () through which the raw material gas supplied through the hydro-desulfurizer () to the hydrogen generating unit () flows; a recycle channel () through which the hydrogen-containing gas from the hydrogen generating unit () is supplied to the raw material gas in the first gas channel () located upstream of the hydro-desulfurizer (); a raw material gas supply unit () disposed between the hydro-desulfurizer () and a meeting point where the first gas channel () and the recycle channel () meet; and a first on-off valve () disposed between the raw material gas supply unit () and the hydro-desulfurizer () to close when the hydrogen generator () stops.

Hydrogen generator and fuel cell system

A hydrogen generation apparatus () includes: a first desulfurizer () configured to remove, through adsorption, a sulfur compound in a raw material gas that is to be supplied to a reformer; a second desulfurizer () configured to hydrodesulfurize a sulfur compound in the raw material gas that is to be supplied to the reformer; a first passage () through which the raw material gas is supplied to the reformer through the first desulfurizer (); a second passage () through which the raw material gas is supplied to the reformer through the second desulfurizer (), without passing through the first desulfurizer (); a switch configured to switch a passage through which the raw material gas flows between the first passage () and the second passage (); and a controller. The controller controls the switch such that the raw material gas flows through the first passage () in at least one of a pressure compensation operation and a raw material gas purge operation, the pressure compensation operation being an operation of supplying the raw material gas in order to compensate for an internal pressure drop that occurs after an operation of generating a hydrogen-containing gas is stopped, and the raw material gas purge operation being an operation of purging the inside of the hydrogen generation apparatus with the raw material gas.

Hydrogen generation apparatus, fuel cell system, and hydrogen generation apparatus operation method

A fuel cell power generation systemfor performing power generation using hydrogen-containing gas generated from a raw material containing a hydrocarbon component and an odorizer component includes a raw material supply sectionfor controlling a flow rate of the raw material; a water supply sectionfor supplying water; an adsorptive removal sectionfor causing the raw material to pass therethrough and adsorbing the odorizer component contained in the raw material; a reformerfor generating the hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction of the raw material which has passed the adsorptive removal section and water supplied from the water supply section; a fuel cellfor performing power generation using the hydrogen-containing gas as a fuel; and an operating control section for, as an accumulated flow volume of the raw material supplied to the adsorptive removal sectionfrom the raw material supply sectionincreases, decreasing the flow rate of the raw material to be supplied to the adsorptive removal sectionfrom the raw material supply section, the flow rate being set with respect to an amount of power to be generated by the fuel cell

Fuel cell power generation system, and method for operating fuel cell power generation system

A hydrogen generating apparatus is provided that further suppresses deterioration in capability of a converting catalyst in raw material purge in a shutdown operation. The hydrogen generating apparatus contains a raw material supplying devicethat supplies a raw material; a reforming devicethat contains a reformation catalyst and generates a hydrogen-containing gas from the raw material through reformation reaction with the reformation catalyst; a modifying devicethat contains a modification catalyst and decreases carbon monoxide in the hydrogen-containing gas through shift reaction with the modification catalyst; a first temperature detectorthat detects a temperature of the modification catalyst; and a controlling device, and the controlling devicecontrols the raw material supplying deviceto purge an interior of the converting devicewith the raw material when a detected temperature of the first temperature detectorbecomes a first threshold value, at which deterioration of the modification catalyst with the raw material is suppressed, or lower in a shutdown operation.

Hydrogen generation system, fuel cell system, and method for operation of hydrogen generation system

A fuel processing apparatus includes: a reformer; a raw material supplying unit for supplying a raw material to the reformer and blocking the supply of the raw material; a steam supplying unit for supplying steam to the reformer and blocking the supply of the steam; a closing device for blocking a gas passage located downstream of the reformer; and a controller. The controller seals the reformer by blocking the supply of the raw material from the raw material supplying unit and the supply of the steam from the steam supplying unit and closing the closing device, and performs a pressure compensation operation by using both the supply of the steam from the steam supplying unit and the supply of the raw material from the raw material unit as pressure in the reformer decreases due to a temperature decrease.

Fuel processing apparatus, fuel cell system including fuel processing apparatus, and method for operating fuel processing apparatus

A hydrogen generator of the present invention includes: a raw material supplying device () configured to supply a raw material; a water supplying device () configured to supply water; an evaporator () configured to evaporate the water supplied from the water supplying device () to generate steam; a reformer () having a reforming catalyst which generates a hydrogen-containing gas by a reforming reaction using the raw material and the steam; a valve () disposed on a gas passage to cause the reformer () to be communicated with an atmosphere and block the reformer () from the atmosphere, the gas passage being located downstream of the reformer (); and a controller () configured to stop supplying the water from the water supplying device (), then continue to supply the raw material from the raw material supplying device () with the valve () open, and stop supplying the raw material from the raw material supplying device () and close the valve () before an inside of the reformer () is purged with the raw material.

Hydrogen generator, fuel cell system including hydrogen generator, and method for operating hydrogen generator

A hydrogen generation apparatusof the present invention includes: a reformerfor generating a hydrogen-containing gas through a reforming reaction using a raw material gas; a raw material gas supplierfor supplying the raw material gas to the reformer; a methanatorfor reducing carbon monoxide contained in the hydrogen-containing gas through a methanation reaction; and a controller for controlling the raw material gas supplierto decrease an amount of the raw material gas supplied to the reformerso as to decrease an amount of generation of the hydrogen-containing gas when a temperature of the methanatorincreases.

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Osaka, Japan

Yukimune Kani