公开(公告)号：US5270132A

公开(公告)日：1993-12-14

申请号：US813469

申请日：1991-12-26

申请人： Richard D. Breault ,  Anthony P. Mientek ,  Richard D. Sawyer

发明人： Richard D. Breault ,  Anthony P. Mientek ,  Richard D. Sawyer

IPC分类号： H01M4/86 ,  H01M4/96 ,  H01M8/02

CPC分类号： H01M4/96 ,  H01M8/02 ,  H01M8/0289 ,  Y02P70/56

摘要： A carbon-based material substrate of a cathode electrode of an acid electrolyte fuel cell is made corrosion resistant by depositing a material that is nonwettable by the electrolyte on that major surface of the substrate which carries a catalyst layer all over except for its edge regions to cover such major surface at least at one of those of its edge regions which are exposed to an oxidizing gas during the operation of the fuel cell, but advantageously also at an additional one of its edge regions that is remote from the one edge region but is also exposed to an oxidizing gas during the operation of the fuel cell. The corrosion resistance can be further improved by extending the catalyst layer of the anode electrode on all sides beyond the cathode catalyst layer.

摘要翻译： 酸性电解质燃料电池的阴极电极的碳基材料基板通过在基板的主表面上沉积不可润湿的电解质的材料而制成耐腐蚀性，所述基材的主要表面除了其边缘区域以外还具有催化剂层， 在燃料电池运行期间至少在其边缘区域的至少一个暴露于氧化气体的那些主表面上，但有利地还在其远离一个边缘区域的另外一个边缘区域中，但是 在燃料电池的操作期间也暴露于氧化气体。 通过将阳极电极的催化剂层在阴极催化剂层的所有侧面上延伸，可以进一步提高耐腐蚀性。

公开(公告)号：US5262034A

公开(公告)日：1993-11-16

申请号：US966002

申请日：1992-10-23

申请人： Harold R. Kunz ,  Richard D. Breault

发明人： Harold R. Kunz ,  Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： G01N27/416 ,  G01R31/36 ,  H01M8/04 ,  G01N27/26

CPC分类号： G01N27/416 ,  H01M8/04544

摘要： An electrochemical sensor comprised of wires, a sheath, and a conduit can be utilized to monitor fuel cell component electric potentials during fuel cell shut down or steady state. The electrochemical sensor contacts an electrolyte reservoir plate such that the conduit wicks electrolyte through capillary action to the wires to provide water necessary for the electrolysis reaction which occurs thereon. A voltage is applied across the wires of the electrochemical sensor until hydrogen evolution occurs at the surface of one of the wires, thereby forming a hydrogen reference electrode. The voltage of the fuel cell component is then determined with relation to the hydrogen reference electrode.

摘要翻译： 包括电线，护套和导管的电化学传感器可用于在燃料电池关闭或稳定状态期间监测燃料电池组分电位。 电化学传感器接触电解质储存器板，使得导管通过毛细作用将电解液吸入电线，以提供其上发生的电解反应所需的水。 在电化学传感器的导线之间施加电压，直到在其中一条导线的表面发生氢析出，从而形成氢参考电极。 然后，相对于氢参考电极确定燃料电池组件的电压。

公开(公告)号：US4017664A

公开(公告)日：1977-04-12

申请号：US609867

申请日：1975-09-02

申请人： Richard D. Breault

发明人： Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： H01M8/02

CPC分类号： H01M8/0293

摘要： In a fuel cell utilizing an acid electrolyte, such as H.sub.3 PO.sub.4, the electrolyte retaining matrix is made from silicon carbide. The silicon carbide has been found to be virtually inert to H.sub.3 PO.sub.4 at fuel cell operating temperatures and provides all the other necessary and desirable matrix properties. This matrix is expected to have a life of at least 40,000 hours under normal fuel cell operating conditions.

摘要翻译： 在利用酸性电解质如H 3 PO 4的燃料电池中，电解质保留基质由碳化硅制成。 已经发现碳化硅在燃料电池工作温度下对H3PO4几乎是惰性的，并且提供了所有其它必需和期望的基体特性。 在正常的燃料电池工作条件下，该基质预期寿命至少为40,000小时。

公开(公告)号：US08758958B2

公开(公告)日：2014-06-24

申请号：US12856732

申请日：2010-08-16

申请人： Richard D. Breault ,  Warren L. Luoma ,  Robert P. Roche

发明人： Richard D. Breault ,  Warren L. Luoma ,  Robert P. Roche

IPC分类号： H01M8/04 ,  H01M8/24

CPC分类号： H01M8/0213 ,  H01M8/0221 ,  H01M8/0226 ,  H01M8/0228

摘要： A fuel cell separator plate assembly (20) includes a separator plate layer (22) and flow field layers (24, 26). In one disclosed example, the separator plate layer (22) comprises graphite and a hydrophobic resin. The hydrophobic resin of the separator plate layer (22) serves to secure the separator plate layer to flow field layers on opposite sides of the separator plate layer. In one example, at least one of the flow field layers (24, 26) comprises graphite and a hydrophobic resin such that the flow field layer is hydrophobic and nonporous. In another example, two graphite and hydrophobic resin flow field layers are used on opposite sides of a separator plate layer. One disclosed example includes all three layers comprising graphite and a hydrophobic resin.

摘要翻译： 燃料电池分离器板组件（20）包括隔板层（22）和流场层（24,26）。 在一个公开的示例中，隔板层（22）包括石墨和疏水性树脂。 隔板层（22）的疏水性树脂用于将隔板层固定在隔板层的相对侧上的流场层。 在一个示例中，流场层（24,26）中的至少一个包括石墨和疏水性树脂，使得流场层是疏水且无孔的。 在另一个实例中，在隔板层的相对侧上使用两个石墨和疏水树脂流场层。 一个公开的示例包括包括石墨和疏水性树脂的所有三个层。

公开(公告)号：US20100119911A1

公开(公告)日：2010-05-13

申请号：US12448144

申请日：2006-12-22

申请人： Carl A. Reiser ,  Richard D. Breault

发明人： Carl A. Reiser ,  Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： H01M2/00

CPC分类号： H01M8/04119 ,  H01M8/0223 ,  H01M8/04283 ,  H01M8/086 ,  H01M8/2445 ,  H01M8/2459

摘要： A liquid electrolyte fuel cell power plant (6) includes a stack (7) of fuel cells (8) demarcated by fluid impermeable separator plates (19, 23) with additional wicking to ensure backflow of condensated electrolyte from a condensation zone (27) back through the active area of the fuel cells. Wicking material (49) is disposed in channels interspersed with reactant gas channels (20, 21); wicking material (54) is disposed in zones (53) formed within electrode substrates (16, 17); wicking material (58) is disposed on the base surface of reactant gas channels (20, 21); wicking material (62) is disposed between the ribs (50) of the separator plates (19, 23) and the adjacent surfaces of the substrates (16, 17); and wicking material (65) is formed as ribs on planar separator plates (19a, 23a), the spaces between the wicking ribs (65) comprising the reactant gas channels (20, 21).

摘要翻译： 液体电解质燃料电池发电厂（6）包括由流体不可渗透隔板（19,23）划分的燃料电池堆（7），附加芯吸，以确保冷凝区（27）向后冷凝的电解液回流 通过燃料电池的活动区域。 芯吸材料（49）设置在散布有反应气体通道（20,21）的通道中; 芯吸材料（54）设置在形成在电极基板（16,17）内的区域（53）中。 芯吸材料（58）设置在反应气体通道（20,21）的基面上; 芯吸材料（62）设置在隔板（19,23）的肋（50）和基板（16,17）的相邻表面之间; 并且芯吸材料（65）在平面隔板（19a，23a）上形成为肋，包括反应气体通道（20,21）的芯吸排（65）之间的空间。

公开(公告)号：US20100035126A1

公开(公告)日：2010-02-11

申请号：US12311483

申请日：2007-03-29

申请人： Richard D. Breault

发明人： Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： H01M4/133 ,  C08L61/06 ,  D02J1/00 ,  H01M4/583 ,  C25B11/12

CPC分类号： D04H1/54 ,  D04H1/42 ,  D04H1/4242 ,  D04H1/542 ,  D04H1/64 ,  D04H1/732 ,  D21H13/16 ,  D21H13/22 ,  D21H13/50 ,  D21H17/07 ,  D21H27/30 ,  H01M8/023 ,  Y02P70/56

摘要： A method of making an electrochemical cell electrode substrate includes creating an aqueous or dry mixture of chopped carbon fibers, chopped cross-linkable resin fibers that are still fuseable after being formed into a felt, such as novolac, a temporary binder, such as polyvinyl alcohol fiber or powder, forming a non-woven felt from either an aqueous suspension of the aqueous mixture or an air suspension of the dry mixture, by a non-woven, wet-lay or dry-lay, respectively, felt forming process, a resin curing agent, such as hexamethylene tetramine may be included in the aqueous or dry mixture, or it may be coated onto the formed felt; pressing one or more layers of the formed felt for 1-5 minutes to a controlled thickness and a controlled porosity at a temperature at which the resin melts, cross-links and then cures, such as 150° C.-200° C.; and heat treating the pressed felt in a substantially inert atmosphere, first to 750° C.-1000° C. and then to 1000° C.-3000° C.

摘要翻译： 一种制造电化学电池电极基板的方法包括产生切碎的碳纤维的水性或干混合物，在切割后的可交联树脂纤维，其在形成毡之后仍然可熔融，例如酚醛清漆，临时粘合剂如聚乙烯醇 纤维或粉末，通过水分混合物的水性悬浮液或干燥混合物的空气悬浮液，分别通过无纺布，湿敷或干铺，分别形成无纺毡，毡成型工艺，树脂 固化剂如六亚甲基四胺可以包含在水或干混合物中，或者可以将其涂布到形成的毡上; 将一层或多层所形成的毡压制至受控的厚度，并在树脂熔化，交联，然后固化，例如150℃-2200℃的温度下控制孔隙率。 并在基本惰性的气氛中对压制毛毡进行热处理，首先至750℃-1000℃，然后至1000℃-3000℃

公开(公告)号：US07435502B2

公开(公告)日：2008-10-14

申请号：US10668869

申请日：2003-09-22

申请人： Richard D. Breault ,  Michael D. Harrington ,  Frederick Sribnik

发明人： Richard D. Breault ,  Michael D. Harrington ,  Frederick Sribnik

IPC分类号： H01M2/00 ,  H01M2/02

CPC分类号： H01M8/0234 ,  H01M8/0258 ,  H01M8/0267 ,  H01M8/04029 ,  H01M8/04097 ,  H01M8/04119 ,  H01M8/04141 ,  H01M8/04149 ,  H01M8/04156 ,  H01M8/04171 ,  H01M8/04291 ,  H01M8/241 ,  H01M8/2483 ,  H01M2250/20 ,  Y02T90/32

摘要： Water transfer means (86) transfers fuel cell product water from a cathode water transport plate (34) to an anode water transport plate (23) of the same or a different fuel cell, wholly within a fuel cell stack (50), (disposed within each fuel cell of a fuel cell stack (50)). The water transfer means may be a very high permeability proton exchange membrane (21a), a water transfer band (90) such as silicon carbide particles, a porous water transfer zone (107), with or without a flow restrictor (109), internal water manifolds (112, 113) which extend through an entire fuel cell stack, or internal manifolds (112a, 112b, 112c, 112d, 113a, 113b, 113c, 113d) which extend only through groups of cells between solid plates (71). As an example, 90% product water may be removed as vapor in oxidant exhaust, 30% may be transferred through the water transfer means (86) from cathode water transport plates to anode water transport plates, of which 20% may flow from the anode to the cathode, the net result of osmosis and proton drag, and 10% may exit the anode water transport plates as liquid water.

摘要翻译： 水输送装置（86）将燃料电池产物水从阴极输送板（34）转移到完全在燃料电池堆（50）内的相同或不同燃料电池的阳极水输送板（23） 在燃料电池堆（50）的每个燃料电池内）。 水输送装置可以是非常高的渗透性质子交换膜（21a），诸如碳化硅颗粒的输水带（90），具有或不具有限流器（109）的多孔水转移区（107） 内部歧管（112,113），其延伸穿过整个燃料电池堆，或内部歧管（112a，112b，112c，112d，113a，113b，113c，113d），其仅延伸通过组 的固体板（71）之间的细胞。 例如，作为氧化剂排气中的蒸气可以除去90％的产物水，30％的水可以通过水转移装置（86）从阴极水输送板转移到阳极水输送板，其中20％可以从阳极流出 到阴极，渗透和质子阻力的净结果，10％可能作为液态水离开阳极水输送板。

公开(公告)号：US07381489B2

公开(公告)日：2008-06-03

申请号：US10633917

申请日：2003-08-04

申请人： Richard D. Breault

发明人： Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： H01M8/04

CPC分类号： H01M8/04253 ,  H01M8/0258 ,  H01M8/0267 ,  H01M8/04029 ,  H01M8/241 ,  H01M8/2457

摘要： A fuel cell stack (50) includes fuel cells (16, 18, 19) with anode and cathode water transport plates (23, 31, 34, 37) having porosity of at least 50%, thereby to significantly increase the amount of water stored within the water transport plates when the stack is shut down, which doubles the heat of fusion as the ice in the pores melts during a startup following freeze. This extends the period of time before the water in the pores reaches a hard freeze at −20° C. from 180 hours to 280 hours. A controller (60) controls the bypass (55) of a heat exchanger (54) to cause the temperature of the stack to reach a temperature sufficient to raise the sensible heat of the stack by 20%-40% above what it is with the fuel cell power plant operating steady state, prior to being shut down, thereby increasing the hours required for the fuel cell to cool down to 0° C. in −20° C. environment from 60 hours to 90 hours, allowing easier startups when shut down for less than 90 hours.

摘要翻译： 燃料电池堆（50）包括具有孔隙率至少为50％的阳极和阴极水输送板（23,31,34,37）的燃料电池（16,18,19），从而显着增加储存的水量 当堆叠关闭时，在运输板内，当冻结期间的启动期间，孔中的冰熔化时，熔化热量加倍。 这延长了在孔中的水在-20℃下从180小时到280小时的硬冻结之前的时间段。 控制器（60）控制热交换器（54）的旁路（55），以使堆叠的温度达到足以将堆叠的显热提高20％-40％以上的温度 燃料电池发电厂在关闭之前运行稳定状态，从而将燃料电池在-20°C环境中冷却至0°C所需的时间从60小时延长到90小时，从而使关闭时更容易启动 下降不到90小时。

公开(公告)号：US07049018B2

公开(公告)日：2006-05-23

申请号：US10656529

申请日：2003-09-05

申请人： Richard D. Breault ,  Patrick L. Hagans

发明人： Richard D. Breault ,  Patrick L. Hagans

IPC分类号： H01M8/04

CPC分类号： H01M8/04302 ,  H01M8/0258 ,  H01M8/04029 ,  H01M8/04156 ,  H01M8/04223 ,  H01M8/04303 ,  H01M8/241

摘要： A fuel cell system having a stack of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is operated in sub-freezing temperatures by draining any liquid water from the fuel cell water flow passages upon or after the previous shut-down of the stack before freezing can occur, and, thereafter a) starting-up the stack by directing fuel and oxidant reactants into the cell and connecting a load to the stack; b) using heat produced by the stack to increase the operating temperature of the stack to melt ice within the stack; and, c) upon the stack operating temperature reaching at least 0° C., circulating anti-freeze through stack coolers to maintain the temperature of the stack low enough to maintain a sufficiently low water vapor pressure within the cells to prevent cell dry out for at least as long as there is insufficient liquid water to circulate through the water flow passages.

摘要翻译： 具有质子交换膜燃料电池堆的燃料电池系统在次冷冻温度下通过在先前停止堆叠之前或之后从燃料电池水流通道排出任何液态水而在冷冻之前进行操作， 此后a）通过将燃料和氧化剂反应物引入电池并将负载连接到电池堆来启动电池堆; b）使用堆叠产生的热量来增加堆叠的工作温度以融化堆内的冰; 并且c）当堆叠工作温度达到至少0℃时，循环通过叠层冷却器进行冷冻，以将堆的温度保持在足够低的温度，以保持电池内的足够低的水蒸汽压力，以防止电池干燥 至少只要液体水不足以通过水流通道循环。

公开(公告)号：US06416892B1

公开(公告)日：2002-07-09

申请号：US09627989

申请日：2000-07-28

申请人： Richard D. Breault

发明人： Richard D. Breault

IPC分类号： H01M804

CPC分类号： H01M8/04029 ,  H01M8/04007 ,  H01M8/04119

摘要： An interdigitated enthalpy exchange device is disclosed for a fuel cell power plant that includes at least one fuel cell and a direct mass and heat transfer device secured in fluid communication with both an oxidant stream entering the fuel cell and an exhaust stream leaving the fuel cell. The direct mass and heat transfer device secures the interdigitated enthalpy exchange device in mass transfer relationship between the oxidant and exhaust streams. The device includes discontinuous oxidant entry and oxidant exit channels and discontinuous exhaust entry and exhaust exit channels, thereby providing for direct transfer of mass and heat from the exhaust stream to the oxidant stream while also restricting loss of liquid from the plant in the exhaust stream, filtering of dust entering the plant in the oxidant stream, and dampening of noise of the plant.

摘要翻译： 公开了一种用于燃料电池发电厂的叉指焓交换装置，其包括至少一个燃料电池和固定成与进入燃料电池的氧化剂流和离开燃料电池的废气流体连通的直接质量和传热装置。 直接质量传热装置将交错焓交换装置固定在氧化剂和废气流之间的传质关系中。 该装置包括不连续的氧化剂入口和氧化剂出口通道和不连续的排气入口和排气出口通道，从而提供质量和热量从排气流直接转移到氧化剂流，同时还限制来自废气流中的设备的液体损失， 过滤灰尘进入氧化剂流中的植物，并抑制植物的噪音。