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WO2009068188A1 - Dispositif pour humidifier un gaz - Google Patents

Dispositif pour humidifier un gaz Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2009068188A1
WO2009068188A1 PCT/EP2008/009589 EP2008009589W WO2009068188A1 WO 2009068188 A1 WO2009068188 A1 WO 2009068188A1 EP 2008009589 W EP2008009589 W EP 2008009589W WO 2009068188 A1 WO2009068188 A1 WO 2009068188A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
gas
adjusting element
inlets
mechanical adjusting
passages
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/EP2008/009589
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Jochen Sang
Original Assignee
Daimler Ag
Ford Global Technologie, Llc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Daimler Ag, Ford Global Technologie, Llc filed Critical Daimler Ag
Publication of WO2009068188A1 publication Critical patent/WO2009068188A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04082—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration
    • H01M8/04089—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration of gaseous reactants
    • H01M8/04119—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration of gaseous reactants with simultaneous supply or evacuation of electrolyte; Humidifying or dehumidifying
    • H01M8/04126—Humidifying
    • H01M8/04149—Humidifying by diffusion, e.g. making use of membranes
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04291—Arrangements for managing water in solid electrolyte fuel cell systems
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04298—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems
    • H01M8/04313—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems characterised by the detection or assessment of variables; characterised by the detection or assessment of failure or abnormal function
    • H01M8/0438—Pressure; Ambient pressure; Flow
    • H01M8/0441—Pressure; Ambient pressure; Flow of cathode exhausts
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04298—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems
    • H01M8/04313—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems characterised by the detection or assessment of variables; characterised by the detection or assessment of failure or abnormal function
    • H01M8/04492—Humidity; Ambient humidity; Water content
    • H01M8/04522—Humidity; Ambient humidity; Water content of cathode exhausts
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04298—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems
    • H01M8/04694—Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems characterised by variables to be controlled
    • H01M8/04828—Humidity; Water content
    • H01M8/04835—Humidity; Water content of fuel cell reactants
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
    • H01M8/00—Fuel cells; Manufacture thereof
    • H01M8/04—Auxiliary arrangements, e.g. for control of pressure or for circulation of fluids
    • H01M8/04082—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration
    • H01M8/04089—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration of gaseous reactants
    • H01M8/04119—Arrangements for control of reactant parameters, e.g. pressure or concentration of gaseous reactants with simultaneous supply or evacuation of electrolyte; Humidifying or dehumidifying
    • H01M8/04126—Humidifying
    • H01M8/04141—Humidifying by water containing exhaust gases
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y02E60/30—Hydrogen technology
    • Y02E60/50—Fuel cells

Definitions

  • the invention relates to a device for humidifying a gas according to the preamble of patent claim 1.
  • humidityifiers such devices are also known from fuel cell systems in which hydrogen reacts with atmospheric oxygen to yield water. In such cases, said reaction is promoted if at least the supplied air has a particular humidity level.
  • contact humidifiers in which liquid water is injected from a reservoir
  • gas-to-gas humidifiers in which the waste gas of the fuel cell system, which contains water anyway, is used as a source of moisture, the waste gas being conveyed past membranes through which the moisture may pass in order to reach the gas to be humidified.
  • Contact humidifiers have the disadvantage that they may ice up particularly quickly at cold ambient temperatures, if they are not expensively insulated or specially heated.
  • contact humidifiers have the advantage that the quantity of moisture supplied may be controlled relatively precisely.
  • control or regulation of the humidity level is difficult.
  • the temperatures of the gas streams vary depending on ambient conditions and load, and this has a direct effect on humidifying efficiency, without it being possible to intervene with regard to control.
  • the moisture content of the waste gas varies as a function of load. Feedback effects may then occur: the more water is discharged from the fuel cell stack, the more water is transferred in the humidifier from the outgoing air stream to the incoming air stream.
  • the device for humidifying a gas regularly comprises a plurality of passages, through which gas may pass.
  • gas-to-gas humidifiers there are provided both passages for the moisture-receiving gas - in the passages the through-flowing gas thus receives moisture from another medium during operation - and passages through which the moisture-releasing gas is passed.
  • the inlets and outlets of the passages are precisely defined. It is assumed here that a majority of the inlets and preferably all of the inlets are formed in a common surface. It is also possible for a majority of the outlets, preferably all of the outlets, to be formed in a common surface. It is not impossible for both the passage inlets and outlets to be formed in a common surface, these then preferably being inlets and outlets of different passages.
  • the provision of a plurality of passages makes it difficult to control the level of humidity in the air passing through.
  • the active membrane surface area is firstly predetermined per se by the number of passages. This structure means that the pressure drops over the device for humidifying a gas vary with the through-flowing air volume (which corresponds to the load of the fuel cell system), and these pressure drops likewise influence the moisture level which the gas to be humidified attains.
  • a device for humidifying a gas having the features of patent claim 1.
  • a mechanical adjusting element is thus provided, which may be brought into at least two positions, with it directly covering at least one portion of the surface (in which the inlets/outlets are formed) in at least one of the positions, so at least partly closing some of the inlets and/or outlets.
  • the invention thus abandons the use of valves arranged outside the humidifier. Instead, a simple adjusting element is used, which is associated directly with the passages and thus with the active membranes. This direct association gives rise to a compact structure, which is associated with weight and space savings and at the same time is cheaper than using valves.
  • the direct association of the mechanical adjusting element with the surface with the inlets or outlets makes possible in particular continuous adjustment of the active membrane surface area, namely by making the mechanical adjusting element continuously displaceable, at least between two end positions, such that the size of a subarea of the surface covered by the mechanical adjusting element is adjustable in any desired way between two extreme values.
  • the mechanical adjusting element directly influences as a result of its position the number of passages into which gas may enter and thus the number of membranes in the walls of the passages via which humidification takes place.
  • the continuous displacement may be such that a planar surface is selected as the surface and a plate-shaped slide is selected as the mechanical adjusting element.
  • the mechanical adjusting element may alternatively take the form of a diaphragm, in particular of a diaphragm constructed of lamellae like in a camera.
  • the surface into which the passages open with their inlets or outlets is the inner surface of a recess, the air then being guided for example into the recess and then outwards over the surface, if the inlets are formed in the surface. If the recess is a cylindrical recess, the air may be guided radially outwards.
  • the mechanical adjusting element may then be a body which fits perfectly into the recess, such that it partially covers the surface when inserted into the recess. It makes good sense for the mechanical adjusting element to take the form of a tubular body, through which the air passes in a straight line, in particular into that area of the recess into which the mechanical adjusting element has not yet been inserted.
  • the mechanical adjusting element To regulate the moisture supplied to the gas, it is not absolutely necessary for the mechanical adjusting element to operate continuously. It is also wholly possible for the mechanical adjusting element to be such that the proportion of the surface which is covered may be defined in relatively small stages. This is possible in particular when the mechanical adjusting element comprises a plurality of sub-elements, the surface then being covered sub-element by sub-element. In a particularly simple embodiment thereof the mechanical adjusting element takes the form of a roller blind.
  • the present invention is particularly suitable for use in a gas- to-gas humidifier.
  • a gas-to-gas humidifier it is possible, in the case of a gas-to-gas humidifier, to regulate the active membrane surface area by way of the number of covered inlets or outlets to the passages to which the waste gas, which releases the moisture, is conveyed, but preferably the mechanical adjusting element is used to regulate the dry air supplied, i.e. that gas which has to be humidified.
  • the invention also finds expression in a fuel cell system having a device according to the invention for humidifying a gas.
  • the device according to the invention also makes possible in particular regulation of the humidity of the gas, in particular the air supplied to a fuel cell stack, such that a preferred embodiment of the fuel cell system also comprises a regulating means.
  • This operates as a function of a controlled variable, which is preferably a measure of the load of the fuel cell stack.
  • the controlled variable may here be the quantity of waste gas or indeed the quantity of air which passes or is intended to pass through the device for humidifying a gas.
  • a fuel cell system having a device according to the invention for humidifying a gas is to provide power for driving an electric motor of a motor vehicle.
  • a preferred embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the drawing, the figure being a schematic simplification illustrating the structure of a gas-to-gas humidifier according to the invention.
  • a gas-to-gas humidifier designated overall as 10 serves to humidify air flowing in from the left-hand side in the figure (cf. arrows 12) and flowing out on the right-hand side in the figure (cf. arrows 14).
  • the air is passed through a plurality of passages 16, whose walls are water-permeable, taking the form in particular of membranes. Moist air is conveyed past the membranes. This is illustrated in the figure by the arrows 18, without the precise flow path of this air being illustrated.
  • the already moist air is in particular the waste gas of the fuel cell stack, in which hydrogen reacts with atmospheric oxygen to yield water.
  • the passages 16 comprise inlets 20, which are formed in a planar surface 22.
  • the gas-to-gas humidifier 10 then comprises a mechanical adjusting element, namely a slide 24, which is plate-shaped and may be pushed precisely over the surface 22 and away again, cf. the double-headed arrow 26.
  • a mechanical adjusting element namely a slide 24, which is plate-shaped and may be pushed precisely over the surface 22 and away again, cf. the double-headed arrow 26.
  • the slide 24 When the slide 24 is pushed in front of the surface 22, it covers some of the inlets 20.
  • the inlets 20 are distributed in such a way that the number of inlets 20 covered by the mechanical adjusting element 24 increases, the further the slide 24 is pushed upwards in the figure. No more air is able to flow through the passages 16 whose inlets 20 have been covered by the mechanical adjusting element 24, and all the air flows through the passages 16 whose inlets 20 have not been covered.
  • Some inlets 20 may be partially covered, but the proportion thereof is negligible in a real system, in which the number of passages 16 is greater by several orders of magnitude than in the figure.
  • the active membrane surface area by way of which the waste gas may release moisture to the air is proportional to the number of passages 16.
  • the invention enables precise regulation of the moisture content of the air, e.g. as a function of the load of a fuel cell stack, of which the amount of air supplied, which could be measured for example directly in the humidifier 10 itself, may be a measure, or of which the amount of waste gas may also be a measure, which could likewise be measured in the humidifier 10.
  • the correcting variable is then advance of the slide 24 in accordance with the double- headed arrow 26, an electric motor conventionally being activated by an electronic regulating unit in order in practice to implement regulation.
  • the mechanical adjusting element 24 may also be arranged on the outlet side thereof. It is not even necessary for the slide 24 to cover in- or outlets for the dry air: rather, it is also possible variably to cover corresponding inlets or outlets, not shown in the figure, for the waste gas by a mechanical adjusting element.

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Sustainable Development (AREA)
  • Sustainable Energy (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Electrochemistry (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Fuel Cell (AREA)
  • Air Humidification (AREA)

Abstract

Dans un humidificateur gaz-gaz (10), on contrôle la surface de la membrane active au moyen de laquelle le gaz d'échappement amené à l'humidificateur gaz-gaz libère l'humidité dans l'air qui doit être humidifié. Cela est possible en particulier en continu en utilisant une coulisse (24), qui couvre une partie des entrées (20) des passages (16). Grâce à la position de la coulisse (24), le niveau d'humidité de l'air qui doit être humidifié par l'humidificateur gaz-gaz (10) peut être défini. Grâce à l'utilisation d'une coulisse (24) ou d'un autre élément d'ajustement mécanique, qui couvre directement les entrées (20) ou les sorties des passages, l'humidificateur gaz-gaz (10) a une construction particulièrement compacte et occupe donc peu d'espace, tout en étant peu onéreux.
PCT/EP2008/009589 2007-11-28 2008-11-13 Dispositif pour humidifier un gaz WO2009068188A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE102007057192A DE102007057192A1 (de) 2007-11-28 2007-11-28 Einrichtung zum Befeuchten eines Gases
DE102007057192.7 2007-11-28

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2009068188A1 true WO2009068188A1 (fr) 2009-06-04

Family

ID=40303694

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/EP2008/009589 WO2009068188A1 (fr) 2007-11-28 2008-11-13 Dispositif pour humidifier un gaz

Country Status (2)

Country Link
DE (1) DE102007057192A1 (fr)
WO (1) WO2009068188A1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE102008050684B4 (de) * 2008-10-07 2010-09-30 Marc Ajhar Membranvorrichtung
CN105605872B (zh) * 2015-12-29 2018-04-20 青岛海尔股份有限公司 冰箱及其湿度控制方法

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4801385A (en) * 1987-05-19 1989-01-31 Dragerwerk Aktiengesellschaft System for exchanging a substance between fluids
DE10102447A1 (de) * 2000-01-19 2001-09-13 Honda Motor Co Ltd Befeuchter zur Verwendung mit einer Brennstoffzelle
WO2008121618A1 (fr) * 2007-03-30 2008-10-09 Bdf Ip Holdings Ltd. Procédé et appareil pour humidifier un gaz dans des systèmes de pile à combustible

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4801385A (en) * 1987-05-19 1989-01-31 Dragerwerk Aktiengesellschaft System for exchanging a substance between fluids
DE10102447A1 (de) * 2000-01-19 2001-09-13 Honda Motor Co Ltd Befeuchter zur Verwendung mit einer Brennstoffzelle
WO2008121618A1 (fr) * 2007-03-30 2008-10-09 Bdf Ip Holdings Ltd. Procédé et appareil pour humidifier un gaz dans des systèmes de pile à combustible

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE102007057192A1 (de) 2009-06-04

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