The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 23, 1999
Filed:
May. 23, 1997
Shigeyuki Kawatsu, Susono, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides a fuel cell-based generator system that prevents a catalyst in fuel cells from being poisoned and a potential on oxygen electrodes of the fuel cells from lowering, while improving the energy efficiency. While I.sub.2 is fed from a halogen tank 41 to a preliminary reaction tank 30 via a first conduit 33, H.sub.2 O is fed from a water tank 43 to the preliminary reaction tank 30 via a second conduit 34. The preliminary reaction tank 30 is heated by the heat transmitted from a stack of fuel cells FC, and the reaction expressed as H.sub.2 O+I.sub.2 .fwdarw.2HI+(1/2)O.sub.2 occurs in the preliminary reaction tank 30. HI produced by the above reaction is dissolved in excess H.sub.2 O and fed into a reaction tank 50 via a fourth conduit 36. The reaction tank 50 is heated by the heat transmitted from the stack of fuel cells FC, and the reaction expressed as 2HI.fwdarw.H.sub.2 +I2 occurs in the reaction tank 50. The gaseous mixture of H.sub.2 and I.sub.2 is flown into a hydrogen purifier 60 via a sixth conduit 54. The hydrogen purifier 60 separates gaseous hydrogen H.sub.2 from the gaseous mixture. The gaseous hydrogen H.sub.2 is then fed into flows paths of gaseous hydrogen in the stack of fuel cells FC.