Claims
- 1. An electrochemical converter assembly, comprising
- a stack of converter plate elements having unsealed peripheral edges including
- a plurality of electrolyte plates having an oxidizer electrode material on one side and a fuel electrode material on the opposing side, and
- a plurality of interconnector plates for providing electrical contact with said electrolyte plates, wherein said stack of converter elements is assembled by alternately stacking interconnector plates with said electrolyte plates, and
- low pressure drop reactant flow means for producing a substantially uniform flow of reactants through said stack of converter elements, and for producing a substantially low differential pressure condition within said converter assembly, such that spent fuel and oxidizer reactants are discharged from said converter assembly along at least a substantial portion of said peripheral edges of said converter element.
- 2. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 wherein said interconnector plate has a textured pattern formed thereon for providing reactant-flow passageways for the distribution of a fuel reactant and an oxidizer reactant introduced to said converter assembly, said passageways channeling said fuel reactant over said fuel electrode surface and said oxidant reactant over said oxidizer electrode surface.
- 3. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 2 further comprising flow adjustment means, interposed between said interconnector plate and said electrolyte plate, for adjusting the pressure drop of said reactants in said reactant-flow passageways.
- 4. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 3 wherein said flow adjustment means is a wire mesh.
- 5. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 2 wherein said reactant-flow passageways are formed on at least one side of said electrolyte plate.
- 6. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 2 wherein said textured pattern comprises a dimpled surface forming said reactant-flow passageways.
- 7. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 further including a spacer plate, disposed between said interconnector plate and said electrolyte plate, for distributing a fuel reactant introduced to said converter assembly over said fuel electrode surface, and an oxidizer reactant introduced to said converter assembly over said oxidizer electrode surface.
- 8. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 wherein said converter element further comprises
- first aperture means forming one or more first centrally disposed passageway in said converter element for introducing one of said fuel and oxidizer reactants to said converter element, and
- second aperture means forming one or more second passageway in said converter element, spaced outwardly from said first passageway, for introducing the other of said reactants.
- 9. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 8 further comprising third aperture means outwardly spaced from said second aperture means, for forming one or more third passageways for removing spent fuel from said converter element.
- 10. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 9 wherein said third aperture means facilitates removal of CO.sub.2 from said converter assembly prior to discharge at said converter periphery.
- 11. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 8 wherein said first aperture means is adapted to receive said oxidizer reactant.
- 12. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 11 wherein said second aperture means is adapted to receive said fuel reactant.
- 13. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 8 wherein said sealer means is disposed along selected portions of said interconnector plate at least at one of said first and second passageways, to selectively prevent at least one of said fuel and oxidizer reactants to flow through said reactant-flow passageways.
- 14. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 8 wherein said first aperture seats support means for providing structural support to said converter assembly.
- 15. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 14 wherein said support means comprises at least one spring loaded tie-rod assembly, said tie-rod assembly providing a selected compressive force to said converter assembly for compressing said electrolyte and interconnector plates together.
- 16. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 further comprising reforming means for reforming said fuel reactant into H.sub.2 and CO.
- 17. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 further comprising sealer means forming a non-hermetic seal between said electrolyte plates and said interconnector plates.
- 18. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 17 wherein said sealer means is a filler material.
- 19. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 further comprising thermal enclosure means, enclosing said electrochemical converter assembly, for collecting said spent reactants discharged from said converter element at said peripheral edge.
- 20. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 19 wherein said thermal enclosure means is a heat conduit.
- 21. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 20 wherein said thermal enclosure means conveys said collected spent reactants to a bottoming plant.
- 22. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 wherein said converter element has an outer surface adapted to be a heat exchange surface.
- 23. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 22 wherein said heat exchange surface radiatively exchanges heat between said surface and an external environment.
- 24. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 22 wherein said heat exchange surface conductively exchanges heat between said surface and an external environment.
- 25. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 22 wherein said heat exchange surface convectively transfers heat from said outer surface to an external environment.
- 26. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 wherein said converter assembly has a substantially columnar shape.
- 27. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 1 wherein said converter assembly has a substantially rectilinear shape.
- 28. An electrochemical converter assembly comprising
- a stack of converter plate elements having unsealed peripheral edges including
- a plurality of electrolyte plates having an oxidizer electrode material on one side and a fuel electrode material on the opposing side, and
- a plurality of interconnector plates for providing electrical contact with said electrolyte plates, wherein said stack of converter elements is assembled by alternately stacking interconnector plates with said electrolyte plates,
- peripheral exhaust removal means for discharging spent oxidizer and fuel reactants along at least a substantial portion of said peripheral edge of said converter assembly, and
- sealer means in contact with said interconnector plate and said electrolyte plate for forming a non-hermetic seal between said electrolyte and interconnector plates.
- 29. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 wherein said interconnector plate has a textured pattern formed thereon for providing reactant-flow passageways for the distribution of a fuel reactant and an oxidizer reactant introduced to said converter assembly, said reactant-flow passageways channeling said fuel reactant over said fuel electrode surface and said oxidant reactant over said oxidizer electrode surface.
- 30. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 29 wherein said textured pattern comprises a dimpled surface forming reactant-flow passageways.
- 31. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 further including a spacer plate, disposed between said interconnector plate and said electrolyte plate, for distributing a fuel reactant introduced to said converter assembly over said fuel electrode surface, and an oxidizer reactant introduced to said converter assembly over said oxidizer electrode surface.
- 32. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 29 further comprising flow adjustment means, interposed between said interconnector plate and said electrolyte plate, for adjusting the pressure drop of said reactants in said reactant-flow passageways.
- 33. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 32 wherein said flow adjustment means is a wire mesh.
- 34. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 further comprising reactant flow means including
- first aperture means forming one or more first centrally disposed reactant manifolds in said converter element for introducing one of a fuel reactant and an oxidizer reactant to said converter element, and
- second aperture means forming one or more second reactant manifolds in said converter element, outwardly spaced from said first central manifold, for introducing the other of said reactants.
- 35. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 34 further comprising third aperture means outwardly spaced from said first and second aperture means, for forming at least one third manifold for removing spent fuel from said converter element.
- 36. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 35 wherein said third aperture means facilitates removal of CO.sub.2 from said converter assembly prior to discharge at said converter periphery.
- 37. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 36 further comprising reforming means for reforming said fuel reactant into H.sub.2 and CO.
- 38. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 34 wherein said oxidizer reactant is introduced to said columnar converter element through said first manifold.
- 39. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 38 wherein said fuel reactant is introduced to said converter element through said second manifold.
- 40. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 33 wherein said sealer means is disposed along selected portions of said interconnector plate at least at one of said first and second manifolds, to selectively allow at least one of said fuel and oxidizer reactants to flow through said reactant-flow passageways.
- 41. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 wherein said sealer means is a filler material.
- 42. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 further comprising thermal enclosure means, enclosing said electrochemical converter assembly, for collecting said spent reactants discharged from said converter element at said peripheral edge.
- 43. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 42 wherein said thermal enclosure means is a heat conduit.
- 44. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 42 wherein said thermal enclosure means conveys said collected spent reactants to a bottoming plant.
- 45. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 44 wherein said thermal enclosure means includes means for fastening said thermal enclosure means to said bottoming plant.
- 46. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 44 wherein fuel and oxidizer reactants introduced to said converter assembly are preheated in said bottoming plant.
- 47. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 44 wherein said bottoming plant is adapted to reform a fuel reactant introduced to said assembly.
- 48. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 wherein said converter assembly has a substantially columnar shape.
- 49. The electrochemical converter assembly of claim 28 wherein said converter assembly has a substantially rectilinear shape.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/287,092 filed on Aug. 8, 1994 now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of United States Ser. No. 08/215,466, entitled "Electrochemical Converter Having Optimal Pressure Distribution", filed on Mar. 21, 1994 now abandoned.
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Oct 1989 |
EPX |
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Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
287092 |
Aug 1994 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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215466 |
Mar 1994 |
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