CN211957796U

CN211957796U - Hydrogen supply device and fuel cell

Info

Publication number: CN211957796U
Application number: CN202020770078.2U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 廖至钢; 王飞; 赵猛; 孔丽超
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 2020-05-11
Filing date: 2020-05-11
Publication date: 2020-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 2030-05-11

Abstract

The present application provides a hydrogen supply device for a fuel cell, the hydrogen supply device including: a storage tank for storing hydrogen gas; an injection pump for supplying the hydrogen gas discharged from the storage tank to the stack of the fuel cell via an intake pipe; a circulation pump for supplying gas discharged from the stack through a gas discharge line to the stack; wherein the circulation pump is provided in connection with the intake line, and the hydrogen supply device further includes a three-way valve configured to selectively communicate the outlet line with the jet pump and the circulation pump. The application also provides a fuel cell, which comprises the hydrogen supply device. The hydrogen supply device and the fuel cell can save energy and reduce cost.

Description

Hydrogen supply device and fuel cell

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of fuel cells, and more particularly, to a hydrogen supply device for a fuel cell and a fuel cell including the same.

Background

With the development of electric vehicles and fuel cell technology, the use of fuel cells (e.g., proton exchange membrane fuel cell PEMFCs) as power supplies is increasingly being of interest to researchers and the market. Generally, a fuel cell includes a stack, a hydrogen supply device, an oxygen supply device, and the like. In the use process, hydrogen is supplied to the galvanic pile through the hydrogen supply device, oxygen is supplied to the galvanic pile through the oxygen supply device, the hydrogen and the oxygen in the galvanic pile are subjected to chemical reaction under the action of the catalyst, and electrons are released to drive the motor to output power.

The hydrogen is typically stored in a high pressure vessel and must be conditioned by a jet pump to provide the appropriate amount of hydrogen before being supplied to the stack. However, hydrogen supplied to the stack does not completely participate in the reaction, and excess hydrogen is discharged through the gas outlet pipe. In order to ensure stable operation of the fuel cell and to improve fuel utilization, it is generally necessary to re-supply the excess hydrogen discharged from the stack to the intake pipe using a circulation pump. One end of the existing circulating pump is communicated with an exhaust pipe of the galvanic pile, and the other end of the existing circulating pump is communicated with the jet pump, so that redundant hydrogen is supplied to the galvanic pile through the jet pump and the air inlet pipe. In such devices, the circulation pump must be operated at all times, whether the stack is in a high power operating state or a low power operating state, with a corresponding consumption of energy and increased operating and maintenance costs.

Therefore, there is a need for an improved hydrogen supply device and fuel cell to save energy and reduce cost.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

It is an object of the present application to provide an improved hydrogen supply device and fuel cell to overcome the above technical problems.

To this end, according to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a hydrogen supply device for a fuel cell, the hydrogen supply device including:

a storage tank for storing hydrogen gas;

an injection pump for supplying the hydrogen gas discharged from the storage tank to the stack of the fuel cell via an intake pipe;

a circulation pump for supplying gas discharged from the stack through a gas discharge line to the stack;

wherein the circulation pump is provided in connection with the intake line, and the hydrogen supply device further includes a three-way valve configured to selectively communicate the outlet line with the jet pump and the circulation pump.

Optionally, the three-way valve is configured to selectively communicate the gas outlet line with the jet pump and the circulation pump according to an operation state of the stack.

Optionally, when the electric pile is in a high-power operation state, the three-way valve communicates the gas outlet pipeline and the jet pump; when the galvanic pile is in a low-power operation state, the three-way valve is communicated with the gas outlet pipeline and the circulating pump.

Alternatively, the circulation pump stops operating when the three-way valve communicates the gas outlet line with the jet pump.

Optionally, the hydrogen supply means further comprises a hydrogen nozzle for controlling the discharge of hydrogen from the tank.

Optionally, the hydrogen supply device further comprises an exhaust valve connected to the outlet pipeline and intermittently opened and closed.

Optionally, the exhaust valve is connected to an exhaust pipe to exhaust the gas discharged from the outlet line to the atmosphere.

Optionally, the hydrogen supply device further includes a control module configured to control an operation of the three-way valve according to an operation state of the fuel cell.

According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a fuel cell including:

a galvanic pile;

an oxygen supply device for supplying oxygen or air to the stack;

wherein, the fuel cell also comprises the hydrogen supply device.

The hydrogen supply device and the fuel cell of the present application can allow intermittent operation of the circulation pump, thereby saving energy and reducing cost.

Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the present application will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, with the understanding that the following description of the embodiments is intended to be illustrative, and not limiting of the scope of the application, and in which:

fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a hydrogen gas supply device for a fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to examples. In the embodiments of the present application, the present application is described by taking a hydrogen supply device for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell as an example. However, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that these exemplary embodiments are not meant to limit the present application in any way. Furthermore, the features in the embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other without conflict. In the different drawings, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and other components are omitted for the sake of brevity, but this does not indicate that the hydrogen supply device of the present application may not include other components. It should be understood that the dimensions, proportions and numbers of elements in the drawings are not intended to limit the present application.

The hydrogen supply device for a fuel cell of the present application is described below with reference to fig. 1, and fig. 1 schematically shows a hydrogen supply circuit diagram of a supply device for a fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present application. The fuel cell shown in fig. 1 may be, for example, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, which includes a stack 40 and may further include a hydrogen supply and an oxygen supply. It should be noted that only the hydrogen supply means and the piping are shown in fig. 1, and the oxygen supply means and the piping are not shown. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that various existing oxygen supply devices for supplying oxygen (or air) to the stack may be used.

As shown in fig. 1, the hydrogen supply apparatus for a fuel cell of the present application may include a storage tank 10, a jet pump 30, and a circulation pump 50. The storage tank 10 is used to store hydrogen gas, and may be a high-pressure vessel capable of withstanding several tens of megapascals. The jet pump 30 is used to supply the hydrogen gas discharged from the storage tank 10 to the stack 40 of the fuel cell via the intake pipe 31. The jet pump 30 may regulate the amount of hydrogen supplied to the stack 40 under the control of an electronic control unit ECU of the fuel cell. The circulation pump 50 is used to supply gas (mainly unreacted hydrogen, but also impurity gas such as nitrogen) discharged from the stack 40 through the gas outlet line 41 to the stack 40, so that the excess hydrogen that does not participate in the reaction in the stack 40 can be reused, thereby improving the utilization efficiency of hydrogen.

According to an embodiment of the present application, the circulation pump 50 is provided in connection with the intake line 31, and the hydrogen supply apparatus of the present application further includes a three-way valve 70 configured to selectively communicate the outlet line 41 with the jet pump 30 and the circulation pump 50. The three-way valve 70 has an inlet connected to the gas outlet pipe 41, a first outlet connected to the circulation pump 50, and a second outlet connected to the jet pump 30. In this way, gas exhausted from the stack via the outlet line 61 may be delivered to the jet pump 30, entering the stack 40 via the inlet line 31 under the control of the jet pump 30, or may be delivered to the circulation pump 50, passing through the circulation pump 50 and then directly entering the inlet line 31 without passing through the jet pump 30 and entering the stack 40. With this configuration, it is possible to flexibly adjust the pipe through which the surplus hydrogen discharged from the stack 40 flows, and accordingly, it is possible to adjust the operation of the circulation pump 50.

The three-way valve 70 may be configured to selectively communicate the gas outlet line 41 with the jet pump 30 and the circulation pump 50 according to the operation state of the stack 40. When the stack 40 is in a high power operation state, the three-way valve 70 communicates the gas outlet line 41 and the jet pump 30. In the high power operation state, the amount of hydrogen supplied through the jet pump 30 is relatively large, so the amount of gas discharged from the gas discharge pipe 41 is also relatively large, and the discharged gas can smoothly flow to the jet pump 30 without causing flow disorder in the stack 40 and the gas discharge pipe 41 even without the assistance of the circulation pump 50. When the cell stack 40 is in the low power operation state, the three-way valve 70 communicates the gas outlet line 41 and the circulation pump 50. In the low power operation state, the amount of hydrogen supplied by the jet pump 30 is relatively small, so the amount of hydrogen discharged from the gas outlet line 41 is also relatively small, and the circulation of excess hydrogen discharged from the cell stack 40 can be smoothly realized with the aid of the circulation pump 50.

When the three-way valve 70 communicates the gas outlet line 41 with the jet pump 30, the circulation pump 50 stops operating. Thus, energy required for the operation of the circulation pump 50 can be saved, abrasion of the circulation pump 50 is reduced, and maintenance and replacement costs are reduced.

In an embodiment of the present application, the hydrogen supply device may further include a hydrogen nozzle 20 for controlling the discharge of hydrogen from the storage tank 10. The pressure in the storage tank 10 is high, and the hydrogen nozzle 20 is provided to adjust the pressure of hydrogen gas entering the jet pump 30.

After the fuel cell has been used for a while, the gas discharged from the gas outlet line 41 contains a large amount of impurity gas, and therefore needs to be discharged outside the entire hydrogen supply device. Therefore, in an embodiment of the present application, the hydrogen supply device may further include a discharge valve 60 connected to the gas outlet line 41 and intermittently opened and closed to discharge the impurity gas. A vent valve 60 may be connected to a vent line 61 to vent the gases exiting the vent line 41 to the atmosphere or for further processing.

To control the operation of the three-way valve 70, the hydrogen supply apparatus of the present application may further include a control module (not shown) configured to control the operation of the three-way valve 70 according to the operating state of the fuel cell: that is, when the stack 40 is in the high power operation state, the three-way valve 70 is controlled to communicate the gas outlet line 41 with the jet pump 30; when the electric pile 40 is in the low power operation state, the control three-way valve 70 is communicated with the gas outlet pipeline 41 and the circulating pump 50. The control module may be a separate control module or may be part of the electronic control unit of the fuel cell.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present application, by providing the three-way valve in the hydrogen supply device, the circulation pump can be intermittently operated according to the operation state of the cell stack, so that energy can be saved and operation and maintenance costs can be reduced.

The present application is described in detail above with reference to specific embodiments. It is to be understood that both the foregoing description and the embodiments shown in the drawings are to be considered exemplary and not restrictive of the application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit of the application, and these changes and modifications do not depart from the scope of the application.

Claims

1. A hydrogen supply device for a fuel cell, the hydrogen supply device comprising:

a tank (10) for storing hydrogen;

an injection pump (30) for supplying the hydrogen gas discharged from the storage tank (10) to a stack (40) of the fuel cell via an intake pipe (31);

a circulation pump (50) for supplying gas discharged from the cell stack (40) through a gas discharge line (41) to the cell stack (40);

characterized in that the circulation pump (50) is arranged in connection with the inlet line (31) and the hydrogen supply device further comprises a three-way valve (70) configured to selectively communicate the outlet line (41) with the ejector pump (30) and the circulation pump (50).

2. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 1, wherein the three-way valve (70) is configured to selectively communicate the gas outlet line (41) with the jet pump (30) and the circulation pump (50) according to an operation state of the stack (40).

3. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the three-way valve (70) communicates the gas outlet line (41) and the jet pump (30) when the stack (40) is in a high power operation state; when the galvanic pile (40) is in a low-power operation state, the three-way valve (70) is communicated with the gas outlet pipeline (41) and the circulating pump (50).

4. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 3, wherein the circulation pump (50) stops operating when the three-way valve (70) communicates the gas outlet line (41) with the jet pump (30).

5. Hydrogen supply device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that it further comprises a hydrogen nozzle (20) for controlling the discharge of hydrogen from the tank (10).

6. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a purge valve (60) connected to the gas outlet line (41) and intermittently opened and closed.

7. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 6, wherein the exhaust valve (60) is connected to an exhaust pipe (61) to discharge the gas discharged from the gas outlet line (41) to the atmosphere.

8. The hydrogen supply device according to claim 3, further comprising a control module configured to control an operation of the three-way valve (70) in accordance with an operation state of the fuel cell.

9. A fuel cell, comprising:

a galvanic pile (40);

an oxygen supply device for supplying oxygen or air to the stack (40);

characterized in that the fuel cell further comprises a hydrogen supply device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.