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INVENTION
Patent of the Russian Federation RU2290725
METHOD OF OPERATION OF THE ALKALINE BATTERY OF FUEL CELLS OF THE FLOW TYPE
The name of the inventor: Glukhikh Igor Nikolaevich (RU); Shcherbakov Andrey Nikolaevich (RU); Chelyaev Vladimir Filippovich
The name of the patent holder: Open Joint-Stock Company "Rocket and Space Corporation Energia" named after SP Korolev "
Address for correspondence: 141070, Moscow Region, Korolev, ul. Lenin, 4a, RSC Energia after SP Korolev, Department of Intellectual Property
Date of commencement of the patent: 2005.02.01
The invention relates to direct current power sources, more precisely to power units (EPS) on fuel cells (FCs) operating on oxygen, hydrogen and a flowing alkaline electrolyte. According to the invention, the method of operating an alkaline battery of a flow type TE includes heating it and its working alkaline solution, and subsequent supply of working gases. The fuel cell batteries are heated by pumping through it a working alkaline solution preheated under adiabatic conditions by dissolving crystalline alkali in water or by diluting the more concentrated alkali solution with water, and supplying the working gases after heating them with a working alkaline solution. The technical result of the invention is: the possibility of accelerated start-up of a fuel cell battery with reduced energy consumption for battery warm-up; The possibility of heating the FC battery to the minimum operating temperature without using external power sources; The possibility of starting an alkaline battery of a flow-through type at low ambient temperatures.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to DC power supplies, more precisely to power plants (ECs) on fuel cells (TEs) operating on oxygen and hydrogen. At the same time, TEs of flow type (or with "electrolyte pumping") are considered, which work with the constant circulation of the alkaline solution.
It is known that the launch of the EA on the FC is usually carried out by self-heating: they simply start to supply the fuel cells (BTE) with the working gases and pump the alkali solution through it. Used and heating from a foreign source of electricity. Such methods, taken for analogs [1], take a lot of time, or require considerable expenditure of electricity from an external source, before this BTE should be stored at a sufficiently high ambient temperature. It is impossible to start such a BTE at negative temperatures: crystallization starts in the alkaline solution, its viscosity increases by two orders of magnitude, etc. For example, a 30% solution of KOH already becomes hotter at a temperature of plus 5 ° C and becomes jelly-like.
From the shortcomings of this method of launching the BTE free technical solution [2], taken for the prototype. In this case, before starting the EC (engine), it is heated by the hot liquid circulating in the heating circuit. At the same time, the liquid is heated by means of a gas burner.
The disadvantages of the prototype are its following features:
1. The heating liquid is not the working body of the power unit (motor), it is only an intermediate coolant. Therefore, if such a launch method is applied to a BTE containing a lot of heat-intensive alkaline solution, the process of heat transfer from the intermediate coolant to the working alkaline solution will be greatly delayed.
2. This method does not work if the gas burner does not work (for example, there is no gas).
The objective of the proposed solution is, therefore, to shorten the warm-up time of the BTE containing a significant amount of the heat-intensive alkaline solution, and to ensure that such a BTE can start if external sources are not available (for example, in an emergency situation).
The problem is solved by the fact that during operation of an alkaline battery of fuel cells of a flow type including the heating of it and its working alkaline solution, and the subsequent supply of working gases, the fuel cell stacks are heated by pumping through it a working alkaline solution preheated under adiabatic conditions, and The supply of working gases is carried out after heating them with a working alkaline solution, the warming of the working alkaline solution is carried out by dissolving crystalline alkali in water or by diluting with water a more concentrated solution of this alkali.
The essence of the proposed method is as follows. Alkaline BTE flow type contains a lot of aqueous alkali solution. For example, BTE with a dry weight of ~60 kg requires ~25 liters of solution for its operation. Since the heat capacity of the water (~4 kJ / kg) is noticeably greater than the heat capacity of the materials from which the battery is made (~ 1 kJ / kg), when heating such a BTE, most of the heat is expended to heat the solution. In this regard, it is advisable to heat the solution separately from the battery, and then warm the circulating solution with the battery itself. It is also possible to heat the working gases and the same gases before they are fed into the fuel cell.
In addition, the proposal uses the possibility of obtaining a hot alkaline solution, not by heating the cold solution, but by means of the heat of hydration (dissolution) of crystalline alkali, that is, during the preparation of the solution itself. As practice has shown, when preparing 30% NaOH, the temperature of the finished solution rises to almost 100 ° C.
For BTE with the above-mentioned weight characteristics (dry weight - 60 kg, weight of alkaline solution ~30 kg), the heat released during hydration is sufficient to heat the BTE (with alkali) to 50 ÷ 60 ° C with an initial battery temperature of 0 ÷ 20 ° C. Thus, it is possible to warm up even the "requested" BTE to the operating temperature without using external energy sources.
This can be useful when starting EC on alkaline fuel cells in an abnormal situation (for example, in an emergency in a cold environment).
The proposed method is as follows. The cold alkaline solution outside the BTE is heated to the design temperature (which exceeds the operating temperature of the BTE) and starts pumping through the battery until it warms to the minimum operating temperature. After that, BTE is supplied with working gases, and the battery begins to self-heat up to its optimum operating temperature. In order not to cool BTE with working gases (for example, at negative air temperatures) they can be passed through the same alkaline solution and heated to the same temperature as BTE (gas-liquid heat exchangers placed in alkaline solution can be used for this).
In some situations (for example, when the alkali heater does not work), a hot alkaline solution is obtained by dissolving the calculated amount of crystalline alkali in water and not allowing the solution to cool (for example, in a heat-insulated container), after which all operations are repeated. Instead of crystalline alkali, you can use its more concentrated solution, but the heating will be less.
The positive effect in this technical solution is:
- possibility of accelerated start-up of BTE with reduced energy consumption for battery warm-up;
- the possibility of warming up the BTE to the minimum operating temperature without using external energy sources;
- the possibility of starting an alkaline BTE flow type at low ambient temperatures.
These circumstances make it possible to use this technical solution for the operation of autonomous EC with alkaline fuel cells, including at low ambient temperatures.
USED BOOKS
1. NV Korovin. Electrochemical generators, M., (p. 93), 1974.
2. Preheating heater on gas fuel, RU Pat. 2138676, 1997.
CLAIM
A method for operating an alkaline battery of fuel cells of a flow type including heating it and its working alkaline solution, and subsequent supply of working gases, characterized in that the heating of the fuel cell stack is carried out by pumping through it a working alkaline solution preheated under adiabatic conditions by dissolving in Water of crystalline alkali or by dilution with water of a more concentrated solution of this alkali, and the supply of working gases is made after heating them with a working alkaline solution.
print version
Date of publication 08.02.2007gg
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