Claims
- 1. A fuel cell comprising:
at least one hydrogen electrode in contact with a hydrogen stream; at least one oxygen electrode in contact with an oxygen containing stream; at least one hydrogen electrolyte chamber in contact with said hydrogen electrode and at least one oxygen electrolyte chamber in contact with said oxygen electrode, each of said electrolyte chambers providing mechanical support within said fuel cell and providing an uninterrupted pathway for an electrolyte solution to contact said hydrogen electrode and said oxygen electrode; and at least one bipolar plate, said bipolar plate having a hydrogen side in contact with said hydrogen electrode and an oxygen side in contact with said oxygen electrode.
- 2. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said hydrogen electrode comprises an anode active material having hydrogen storage capacity.
- 3. The fuel cell of claim 2, wherein said hydrogen electrode has a hydrogen contacting surface, an electrolyte solution contacting surface, and a bulk of said active anode material.
- 4. The fuel cell of claim 3, wherein said bulk of said anode active material is disposed between said hydrogen contacting surface and said electrolyte contacting surface.
- 5. The fuel cell of claim 3, wherein said hydrogen contacting surface is adapted to dissociate and adsorb gaseous hydrogen.
- 6. The fuel cell of claim 5, wherein said bulk of said anode active material is adapted to store said adsorbed hydrogen.
- 7. The fuel cell of claim 6, wherein said electrolyte contacting surface is adapted to react said stored hydrogen with an electrolyte solution.
- 8. The fuel cell of claim 1, said hydrogen electrode comprising:
a source of gaseous hydrogen; an anode active material having hydrogen storage capacity; said anode active material having a gaseous hydrogen contacting surface, an electrolyte contacting surface, and the bulk of said anode active material disposed between said gaseous hydrogen contacting surface and said electrolyte contacting surface; means for transporting said gaseous hydrogen to said gaseous hydrogen contacting surface of said anode active material; said gaseous hydrogen contacting surface being adapted to dissociate and adsorb said gaseous hydrogen; said bulk of said anode active material being adapted to store said adsorbed hydrogen; said electrolyte contacting surface being adapted to react said stored hydrogen with an electrolyte solution.
- 9. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said bipolar plate has a plurality of channels depressed into said hydrogen side and said oxygen side.
- 10. The fuel cell of claim 9, wherein said channels extend vertically and horizontally across said hydrogen side and said oxygen side.
- 11. The fuel cell of claim 10, wherein a hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode is adjacently disposed to said bipolar plate and said plurality of channels line up to form a series of hydrogen flow channels between the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate and the hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode.
- 12. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said bipolar plate comprises a material selected from the group consisting of nickel and conductive plastic.
- 13. The fuel cell of claim 12, wherein said conductive plastic comprises a conductive agent and a plastic element.
- 14. The fuel cell of claim 13, wherein said conductive agent is selected from the group consisting of graphite, copper and conducting plastic.
- 15. The fuel cell of claim 13, wherein said plastic element is selected from the group consisting of polyacetylenes, polypyrroles and azide plastics.
- 16. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein each of said electrolyte chambers comprises a porous support structure disposed between a pair of membranes.
- 17. The fuel cell of claim 16, wherein said porous support structure is comprised of an expanded polymer sheet.
- 18. The fuel cell of claim 17, wherein said expanded polymer sheet is comprised of a polyolefin.
- 19. The fuel cell of claim 18, wherein said hydrogen electrolyte chamber contacts an electrolyte contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode and said oxygen electrolyte chamber contacts an electrolyte contacting surface of said oxygen electrode.
- 20. The fuel cell of claim 16, wherein said membrane prevents excess electrolyte solution from contacting said hydrogen electrode and said oxygen electrode.
- 21. The fuel cell of claim 16, wherein said membrane prevents said hydrogen stream and said oxygen stream from penetrating into said electrolyte.
- 22. The fuel cell of claim 21, wherein said hydrogen electrode has a hydrogen inlet and a hydrogen outlet.
- 23. The fuel cell of claim 22, wherein said hydrogen electrode comprises a hydrogen contacting surface in contact with the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate and a second side in contact with said hydrogen electrolyte chamber.
- 24. The fuel cell of claim 3, wherein said hydrogen electrode has a plurality of channels depressed into said hydrogen contacting surface.
- 25. The fuel cell of 24, wherein said channels extend vertically and horizontally across said hydrogen contacting surface.
- 26. The fuel cell of claim 25, wherein said hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode is adjacently disposed to said bipolar plate and said plurality of channels line up to form a series of hydrogen flow channels between the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate and the hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode.
- 27. The fuel cell of claim 26, wherein said hydrogen electrode has a deep channel on the hydrogen contacting surface extending vertically along an edge of said hydrogen electrode.
- 28. The fuel cell of claim 27, wherein said deep channel forms a manifold when the first side of said hydrogen electrode and the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate are adjacently disposed.
- 29. The fuel cell of claim 28, wherein said deep channels have a conductive backing.
- 30. The fuel cell of claim 29, wherein said conductive backing is selected from the group consisting of nickel, nickel plated steel and nickel plated copper.
- 31. The fuel cell of claim 29, wherein said conductive backing is adapted to collect an electrical current.
- 32. The fuel cell of claim 29, wherein said conductive backing is electrically connected to said anode active material.
- 33. The fuel cell of claim 28, wherein said manifold distributes hydrogen to said plurality of channels.
- 34. The fuel cell of claim 3, wherein a porous sheet is disposed between the hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode and the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate, wherein said sheet is adapted to allow a stream of hydrogen to flow across the hydrogen contacting surface of said hydrogen electrode and the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate while maintaining mechanical support within said fuel cell.
- 35. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said hydrogen electrode comprises an anode active material layer, a porous polytetrafluoroethylene layer, and a current collector grid.
- 36. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said anode active material layer is disposed between said current collector grid and said polytetrafluoroethylene layer.
- 37. The fuel cell of claim 36, wherein said anode active material layer is dispersed throughout said current collector grid.
- 38. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said anode active material layer comprises a mixture of mischmetal nickel alloy, raney nickel, graphite, and polytetrafluoroethylene powder.
- 39. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said anode active material layer comprises:
39 weight percent mischmetal nickel alloy, 49 weight percent raney nickel, 4 weight percent graphite, and 8 weight percent polytetrafluoroethylene powder.
- 40. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said current collector grid comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of mesh, grid, matte, expanded metal, foil, foam and perforated plate.
- 41. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said current collector grid is comprises a conductive metal.
- 42. The fuel cell of claim 41, wherein said conductive metal is selected from the group consisting of nickel, nickel plated steel and nickel plated copper.
- 43. The fuel cell of claim 35, wherein said anode additionally includes a substrate component which provides for both electrical conductivity and mechanical support and comprises an electrically conductive mesh, grid, foam, matte, foil, plate, or expanded metal.
- 44. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said oxygen electrode comprises a cathode active material having an oxygen storage capacity.
- 45. The fuel cell of claim 44, wherein said oxygen electrode has an oxygen contacting surface, an electrolyte solution contacting surface, and a bulk of said cathode active material.
- 46. The fuel cell of claim 45, wherein said bulk of said cathode active material is disposed between said oxygen contacting surface and said electrolyte contacting surface.
- 47. The fuel cell of claim 45, wherein said oxygen contacting surface is adapted to dissociate and adsorb gaseous oxygen.
- 48. The fuel cell of claim 47, wherein said bulk of said cathode active material is adapted to store said adsorbed oxygen.
- 49. The fuel cell of claim 48, wherein said electrolyte contacting surface is adapted to react said stored oxygen with an electrolyte solution.
- 50. The fuel cell of claim 1, said oxygen electrode comprising:
a source of oxygen; a cathode active material having oxygen storage capacity; said cathode active material having a gaseous oxygen contacting surface, an electrolyte contacting surface, and the bulk of said cathode active material disposed between said gaseous oxygen contacting surface and said electrolyte contacting surface; means for transporting said gaseous oxygen to said gaseous oxygen contacting surface of said cathode active material; said gaseous oxygen contacting surface being adapted to dissociate and adsorb said gaseous oxygen; said bulk of said cathode active material being adapted to store said adsorbed oxygen; said electrolyte contacting surface being adapted to react said stored oxygen with an electrolyte solution.
- 51. The fuel cell of claim 50, wherein said cathode active material comprises a redox couple which provides for said oxygen storage capacity.
- 52. The fuel cell of claim 51, wherein said redox couple is selected from the group consisting of nickel hydroxide/nickel oxyhydroxide and cobalt hydroxide/cobalt oxyhydroxide.
- 53. The fuel cell of claim 51, wherein said redox couple comprises a metal/metal oxide couple of an element selected from the group consisting of copper, silver, zinc and cadmium.
- 54. The fuel cell of claim 53, wherein said cathode further includes a hydrophobic component, which comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.
- 55. The fuel cell of claim 54, wherein said oxygen electrode has an oxygen inlet and an oxygen outlet.
- 56. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said oxygen electrode has a plurality of channels having a wave configuration depressed into said oxygen contacting surface.
- 57. The fuel cell of claim 56, wherein said channels extend horizontally across said oxygen contacting surface.
- 58. The fuel cell of claim 57, wherein said oxygen contacting surface of said electrode is adjacently disposed with the oxygen side of said bipolar plate and said plurality of channels line up to form a series of oxygen flow channels between the oxygen contacting surface second oxygen electrode and the oxygen side of said bipolar plate.
- 59. The fuel cell of claim 58, wherein said oxygen electrodes has a deep channel on said oxygen contacting surface extending vertically along an edge of the oxygen electrode.
- 60. The fuel cell of claim 59, wherein said deep channel forms a manifold when said oxygen contacting surface of said oxygen electrode and the oxygen side of said bipolar plate are adjacently disposed.
- 61. The fuel cell of claim 60, wherein said deep channel has a conductive backing.
- 62. The fuel cell of claim 61, wherein said conductive backing is nickel.
- 63. The fuel cell of claim 61, wherein said conductive backing is adapted to collect an electrical current.
- 64. The fuel cell of claim 61, wherein said conductive backing is electrically connected to said cathode active material.
- 63. The fuel cell of claim 60, wherein said manifold distributes oxygen to said series of channels.
- 64. The fuel cell of claim 55, wherein a porous sheet is disposed between the oxygen contacting surface of said oxygen electrode and the oxygen side of said bipolar plate, wherein said sheet is adapted to allow a stream of oxygen to flow across said oxygen electrode while maintaining mechanical support within said fuel cell.
- 65. The fuel cell of claim 49, wherein said oxygen electrode comprises a gas diffusion layer, a catalyst layer, a polytetrafluoroethylene layer, and a current collector grid.
- 66. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said catalyst layer is disposed between said gas diffusion layer and said current collector grid.
- 67. The fuel cell of claim 66, wherein said gas diffusion layer is disposed between said catalyst layer and said polytetrafluoroethylene layer.
- 68. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said polytetrafluoroethylene layer is in intimate contact with said oxygen stream.
- 69. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said catalyst layer is dispersed throughout said current collector grid.
- 70. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said current collector grid is in intimate contact with said electrolyte solution.
- 71. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said current collector comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of mesh, grid, matte, expanded metal, foil, foam and plate.
- 72. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said current collector grid is comprised of nickel.
- 73. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said gas diffusion layer comprises:
60 weight percent polytetrafluoroethylene; 40 weight percent carbon black.
- 74. The fuel cell of claim 65, wherein said catalyst layer comprises:
50 weight percent of a mixture by weight of 40 percent polytetrafluoroethylene and 60 percent carbon black, 15 weight percent carbon black; 15 weight percent graphite; 20 weight percent silver oxide.
- 75. The fuel cell of claim 74, wherein said silver oxide contains a lithium aluminum alloy.
- 76. The fuel cell of claim 75, wherein said silver oxide contains gallium.
- 77. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said electrolyte solution comprises a potassium hydroxide solution.
- 78. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said oxygen stream comprises air.
- 79. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said hydrogen stream comprises gaseous hydrogen.
- 80. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said fuel cell is adapted to operate at ambient pressures.
- 81. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein said hydrogen electrode is disposed between the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate and said hydrogen electrolyte chamber.
- 82. The fuel cell according to claim 81, wherein said hydrogen electrode and said hydrogen electrolyte chamber are disposed between said the hydrogen side of said bipolar plate and a first current collector.
- 83. The fuel cell according to claim 82, wherein said hydrogen electrode, said hydrogen electrolyte chamber, and said bipolar plate are disposed between the said oxygen electrode and said first current collector.
- 84. The fuel cell according to claim 83, wherein said hydrogen electrode, said hydrogen electrolyte chamber, said bipolar plate, said oxygen electrode, and said oxygen electrolyte chamber are disposed between said first current collector and a second current collector.
- 85. The fuel cell according to claim 84, wherein said hydrogen electrode, said hydrogen electrolyte chamber, said bipolar plate, said oxygen electrode, said oxygen electrolyte chamber, said first current collector, and said second current collector are disposed between a pair of fuel cell end plates.
- 86. The fuel cell according to claim 85, wherein said fuel cell end plates are bolted together to provide mechanical support and compression within said fuel cell.
- 87. The fuel cell of claim 1, said oxygen electrode comprising:
a porous first layer having a built-in hydrophobic character; a porous second layer disposed adjacent to said first layer having a greater built-in hydrophobic character than said porous first layer; a first current collector grid disposed adjacent to said first layer opposite said second layer; and a second current collector grid disposed adjacent to said second layer opposite said first layer.
- 88. The oxygen electrode according to claim 87, wherein said porous first layer is designed to contact an electrolyte stream.
- 89. The oxygen electrode according to claim 87, wherein said porous second layer is designed to contact a gaseous oxygen containing stream.
- 90. The oxygen electrode according to claim 87, wherein said porous first layer comprises a carbon matrix.
- 91. The oxygen electrode according to claim 90, wherein said carbon matrix comprises a plurality of polytetrafluoroethylene coated carbon particles.
- 92. The oxygen electrode according to claim 91, wherein said plurality of polytetrafluoroethylene particles contain 15-25% polytetrafluoroethylene by weight.
- 93. The oxygen electrode according to claim 91, wherein said carbon matrix further comprises 0-50% by weight of a peroxide decomposer.
- 94. The oxygen electrode according to claim 93, wherein said peroxide decomposer is selected from a group consisting of potassium doped manganese, MnO2, MnO, cobalt oxides, nickel oxides, iron oxides, and mixtures thereof.
- 95. The oxygen electrode according to claim 92, wherein said carbon matrix is impregnated with an active catalyst material.
- 96. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said active catalyst material is impregnated using a precursor selected from a group consisting of AgNO3, a AgNO3/Ga(NO)3 mixture, a AgNO3/LiNO3 mixture, Co(NO3)2, a cobalt amine complex, NI(NO3)2, Mn(NO3)2, cyano complexes, organo-metallic complexes, amino complexes, citrate/tartrate/lactate/oxalate complexes, transition metal complexes, and mixtures thereof.
- 97. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said active catalyst material forms submicron to nano particles within said carbon matrix.
- 98. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said carbon matrix is chemically impregnated with said active catalyst material.
- 99. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said carbon matrix is electrochemically impregnated with said active catalyst material.
- 100. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said carbon matrix is impregnated with said active catalyst material via chemical vapor deposition.
- 101. The oxygen electrode according to claim 95, wherein said carbon matrix is impregnated with said active catalyst material via plasma vapor deposition.
- 102. The oxygen electrode according to claim 87, wherein said porous second layer comprises a carbon matrix.
- 103. The oxygen electrode according to claim 102, wherein said carbon matrix comprises a plurality of polytetrafluoroethylene coated carbon particles.
- 104. The oxygen electrode according to claim 103, wherein said plurality of polytetrafluoroethylene coated carbon particles contains 40-60% polytetrafluoroethylene by weight.
- 105. The oxygen electrode according to claim 87, wherein said first current collector grid and said second current collector grid each comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of mesh, grid, matte, expanded metal, foil, foam and plate.
- 106. The fuel cell of claim 1, said fuel cell comprising at least two bipolar plates having at least one pin hole having a diameter and further comprising at least one elastic pin, wherein said at least one elastic pin is set into said at least one pin hole and wherein said at least one elastic pin connects said at least two bipolar and provides mechanical support for said fuel cell.
- 107. The fuel cell of claim 106, said at least one elastic pin comprising a tubular C-shaped pin having a diameter.
- 108. The fuel cell of claim 107, wherein the diameter of said tubular C-shaped pin is greater than the diameter of said at least one pin hole, wherein said tubular C-shaped pin compresses to form a compressed diameter and wherein said compressed diameter is less than the diameter of said at least one pin hole.
- 109. The fuel cell of claim 106, said at least two bipolar plates having a connecting point and said C-shaped pin having at least one slot and at least two expansion zones, wherein said at least one slot is set over said connection point and each of said at least two expansion zones contacts one of said at least two bipolar plates.
- 110. The fuel cell of claim 106, said at least one elastic pin fabricated from an electrically conductive, flexible material.
- 111. The fuel cell of claim 110, said electrically conductive, flexible material selected from the group consisting of nickel, steel and copper.
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
[0001] The application is filed under 37 CFR 1.53 as a continuation-in-part application of application Ser. No. 09/797,332 filed on Mar. 1, 2001 and application Ser. No. 10/219,788 filed on Aug. 15, 2002, both of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Continuation in Parts (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09797332 |
Mar 2001 |
US |
Child |
10277383 |
Oct 2002 |
US |
Parent |
10219788 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Child |
10277383 |
Oct 2002 |
US |