Patent Application
20150198147
The entire contents of Taiwan Patent Application No. 103101523, filed on Jan. 15, 2014, from which this application claims priority, are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fuel cell, and more particularly to a fuel cell incorporating a wind power generating device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, as the energy shortage is growing and the environmental issues become more prominent, the fuel cell is widely expected as an environmentally friendly energy, which converts the chemical energy from a fuel (such as hydrogen) into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent to produce electricity, so as to provide low-pollution energy.
When the fuel cell 100 is operating, the input gas would be introduced from the input port 124, then be transmitted to the cell stack 110 by a channel 122, and afterwards be output through the gas output unit 130. When being transmitted, the input gas would directly impact on an impact area 112 of the cell stack 110 and correspondingly generate separated-flows of the input gas, which then may flow into the cell stack 110 from the peripheral region of the impact area 112. Therefore, the input gas could not be uniformly and simultaneously flow into the fuel cell stack 110, so that the pressure between the input port and the output port of the cell stack 110 may be greatly reduced and the fuel cell 100 cannot be operated at the best overall efficiency. Further, as the energy transition rate of conventional fuel cell is quite low, therefore the fuel cell usually is used as substitute energy, and the utility of the fuel cell are limited as well.
A need has thus arisen to propose a novel fuel cell to overcome deficiencies of the conventional fuel cells and improve the energy transition rate and utilization rate.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the embodiment of the present invention to provide a fuel cell for improving flow field uniformity and reducing gas pressure loss. The fuel cell with a configuration design of the baffle plate and perforated plate significantly improves the gas pressure loss and causes the input gas to uniformly flow into the cell stack for enhancing the overall efficiency.
According to one embodiment, a fuel cell incorporating wind generating device includes a cell stack, a gas input unit and a wind power generating device. The gas input unit is configured to provide an input gas. The gas input unit further includes a gas input passage and an input port. An end of the gas input passage is connected to the cell stack. The input port is disposed at another end of the gas input passage. The wind power generating device includes at least one first fan and at least one first generator. The first fan disposed in the gas input passage. When the fuel cell is in operation, the first fan is actuated by the input gas to drive the first generator for generating electricity from wind power simultaneously.
The detailed description of the present invention will be discussed in the following embodiments, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but can be adapted for other applications. While drawings are illustrated in details, it is appreciated that the quantity of the disclosed components may be greater or less than that disclosed, except expressly restricting the amount of the components.
Referring to FIG. 2A/2B,
As shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Then, referring to FIG. 2E/2F,
Therefore, when an input gas is introduced into the gas input passage 222 by the input port 224, the input gas may completely and directly impact on the input baffle plate 226, and then generate separated flows of the input gas, which flow from the two sides of the input baffle plate 226 to diffuse into the cell stack 210, so as to prevent the input gas from directly impacting on the cell stack 210 and greatly reduce the gas pressure loss. In this embodiment, the input baffle plate 226 has a rectangular shape. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, so the shape of the input baffle plate 226 may be adjusted according to different needs of the actual design or the manufacturing process.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2E/2F, the first fans 242A are respectively disposed at two sides of the input baffle plate 226. Thus, the separated flows of the input gas, which is caused by the input baffle plate 226, may flow to the first fans 242A disposed at two sides of the input baffle plate 226, so that the first fan 242A may be actuated to generate kinetic energy, which may cause the rotating shaft 246 to drive the first generator 244A to generate the electric energy. After the input gas flows into the first fans 242A, the input gas will flow uniformly from the gas input passage 222 into the cell stack 210 for transforming the chemical energy into the electric energy, so as to create a hybrid energy system, which may improve the overall efficiency and power supply of the fuel cell 200.
Referring to FIG. 3A/3B, FIG. 3A/3B respectively shows a cross-section view of a fuel cell 300 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The fuel cell 300 includes a cell stack 310, a gas input unit 320, a gas output unit 330 and a wind power generating device 340. The gas output unit 330 is disposed at another end of the cell stack 310. As shown in
In another embodiment, as shown in
Furthermore, the second fan 342B is disposed in front of the output port 334. Thus, when the output gas flows from the cell stack 310 to the output port 334, the second fan 342B will be actuated to generate kinetic energy, and then the rotating shaft 346 may drive the second generator 345 to generate electricity correspondingly. Accordingly, when the fuel cell is in operation, it may provide electricity transformed from the wind power to significantly improve the energy transition rate by the input/output gas flowing in the fuel cell.
With the configuration of the fuel cell incorporating a wind power generating device mentioned in the above embodiments, it may not only greatly improve the electric generation efficiency of the conventional fuel cell, but also provide the wind power energy by the input gas flowing in the fuel cell and the wind power generating device having the simple configuration, to increase the energy transition rate and utilization rate of the fuel cell.
Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is intended to be limited solely by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103101523 | Jan 2014 | TW | national |
