EP4487400A1 - Shared pressure vessel metal hydrogen battery - Google Patents
Shared pressure vessel metal hydrogen batteryInfo
- Publication number
- EP4487400A1 EP4487400A1 EP23714950.5A EP23714950A EP4487400A1 EP 4487400 A1 EP4487400 A1 EP 4487400A1 EP 23714950 A EP23714950 A EP 23714950A EP 4487400 A1 EP4487400 A1 EP 4487400A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- pressure vessels
- pressure
- hydrogen battery
- metal hydrogen
- battery
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Pending
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M10/00—Secondary cells; Manufacture thereof
- H01M10/34—Gastight accumulators
- H01M10/345—Gastight metal hydride accumulators
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
- H01M10/00—Secondary cells; Manufacture thereof
- H01M10/42—Methods or arrangements for servicing or maintenance of secondary cells or secondary half-cells
- H01M10/4207—Methods or arrangements for servicing or maintenance of secondary cells or secondary half-cells for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y02E60/10—Energy storage using batteries
Definitions
- Figure 1 illustrates an example of a metal-hydrogen battery according to some aspects of the present disclosure.
- Figure 2 illustrates an example of a metal-hydrogen battery with a shared pressure vessel configuration according to some embodiments.
- Figure 3 illustrates another example of a metal-hydrogen battery with a shared pressure vessel configuration according to some embodiments.
- Figure 4 illustrates another example of a metal-hydrogen battery with a shared pressure vessel configuration according to some embodiments.
- FIG. 1 depicts a schematic depiction of a metal-hydrogen battery 100 according to some aspects of the present disclosure.
- the metal-hydrogen battery 100 illustrated in Figure 1 includes electrode stack assembly 104 that includes stacked electrodes separated by separators 110.
- Some examples of electrode stack assemblies such as electrode stack assembly 104 are further described in U.S. Pat. Appl. 17/687,527, entitled “Electrode Stack Assembly for a Metal Hydrogen Battery,” filed on March 4, 2022; and U.S. Pat. Appl. 17/830,193, entitled “Electrode Stack Assembly for a Metal Hydrogen Battery,” filed on June 1, 2022, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
- the electrodes in electrode stack assembly 104 include cathodes 112, anodes 114. Separator 110 is disposed between the cathode 112 and the anode 114. Each pair of cathode 112 and anode 114 electrodes can be considered a cell.
- the electrode stack 104 can further include a frame 106 that fixes the cathodes 112, anodes 114, and separators 110 in place. In the particular example illustrated in Figure 1, there is an anode 114 on both the top and bottom of stack 104, adjacent to frame 106, however other arrangements can also be formed.
- the electrode stack assembly 104 can be housed in a pressure vessel 102. An electrolyte 126 is also disposed in pressure vessel 102.
- the cathode 112, the anode 114, and the separator 110 are porous to allow electrolyte 126 to flow between the cathode 112 and the anode 114.
- the separator 110 can be omitted as long as the cathode 112 and the anode 114 can be electrically isolated from each other.
- the space occupied by the separator 110 may be filled with the electrolyte 126.
- the metal-hydrogen battery 100 can further include a fill tube 122 configured to introduce electrolyte or gasses (e.g., hydrogen) into pressure vessel 102.
- fill tube 122 can be coupled to a gas manifold that is further connected to a storage vessel so that hydrogen gas can be exchanged between pressure vessel 102 and the storage vessel.
- electrode stack assembly 104 includes a number of stacked layers of alternating cathode 112 and anode 114 separated by a separate 110. Cells can be formed by pairs of cathode 112 and anode 114 layers. Although the cells in an electrode stack assembly 104 may be coupled either in parallel or in series, in the example of battery 100 illustrated in Figure 1 the cells are coupled in parallel. In particular, each of cathodes 112 are coupled to a conductor 118 and each of anodes 114 are coupled to conductor 116. Although Figure 1 illustrates that fill tube 122 is positioned on the side of anode conductor 116, it may alternatively be placed on the side of cathode conductor 118, or in the side wall of pressure vessel 102.
- pressure vessel 102 is illustrated as a cylindrical vessel.
- pressure vessel 102 can be any shape large enough to receive electrode stack 104 and hold the pressures involved during operation.
- electrode stack 104 is illustrated as oriented along a length of pressure vessel 102.
- electrode stack 104 can be arranged so that the electrodes are laterally oriented instead. Consequently, electrode stack 104 can be any shape or orientation.
- conductor 116 which is coupled to anodes 114, is electrically coupled to an anode feedthrough terminal 120, which may present the negative terminal of battery 100.
- Terminal 120 can include a feedthrough to allow terminal 120 to extend outside of pressure vessel 102, or conductor 116 may be connected directly to pressure vessel 102.
- cathode conductor 118 which is coupled to cathode 112, can be coupled to a cathode feedthrough terminal 124 that represents the positive side of battery 100.
- Terminal 124 also pass through an insulated feedthrough to allow terminal 124 to extend to the outside of pressure vessel 102.
- each cell included in electrode stack 104 includes a cathode 112 and an anode 114 that are separated by separators 110.
- Electrode stack 104 is positioned in pressure vessel 102 where an electrolyte 126 can flow between cathode 112 and anode 114.
- cathode 112 is formed of a conductive substrate coated by a metal compound.
- anode 114 is formed of a porous conductive substrate coated by a porous catalyst.
- Separator 110 is a porous insulator that can separate alternating layers of cathode 112 and anode 114 and allow electrolyte 126 to flow between cathode 112 and anode 114.
- the electrolyte 126 is an aqueous electrolyte that is alkaline (with a pH greater than 7).
- Each of anode 114 and cathode 112 can be formed as electrode assemblies with multiply layered structures, as is discussed further below.
- Electrode stack assembly 104 the core of battery 100, operates chemically to charge and discharge battery 100 through a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and a hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). These reactions are more mechanistically complex in alkaline conditions than in acidic conditions. Active alkaline HER/HOR catalysts tend to have more dynamic surfaces. In acidic conditions, the reactions proceed via the reduction of H + to H2 or the oxidation of H2 to H + . The activity of a catalyst for these reactions in acidic conditions can be closely correlated to the binding energy of hydrogen to the metal surface. If hydrogen binds too strongly or too weakly, the catalytic process cannot effectively proceed and the kinetic overpotential will be large.
- HER hydrogen evolution reaction
- HOR hydrogen oxidation reaction
- Platinum has an ideal binding energy for hydrogen and demonstrates better HER/HOR performance than any other catalyst in low pH solutions.
- the concentration of free H + is essentially zero, and thus the HER first proceeds via the cleavage of the H-0 bond of a water molecule to generate a surface- adsorbed hydrogen atom and a hydroxide anion according to Eq. 1 below.
- This step is slow on metal surfaces, resulting in alkaline HER exchange current densities that are two to three orders of magnitude smaller than in acid on the same metal.
- Hydrogen gas is generated according to Eq. 2 or Eq. 3 below.
- This step (Eq. 1) occurs in reverse as the last step of HOR and is also rate determining as metal surfaces do not interact strongly with the hydroxide anions required to complete the reaction and form H2O.
- a catalyst material that contains (i) metal sites to bind with hydrogen and (ii) metal oxide/metal hydroxide sites to bind with hydroxide anions.
- the interfaces where metal and metal oxide meet are highly active for both HER and HOR and an optimal ratio of metal-to-metal oxide is maintained to achieve high catalyst activity. If the catalyst surface becomes too oxidized during prolonged, or high overpotential, HOR, the catalyst surface can become deactivated and the battery performance will suffer as a result.
- anode 114 is a catalytic hydrogen electrode.
- anode 114 includes a porous conductive substrate with a catalyst layer covering the porous conductive substrate.
- the catalyst layer of anode 114 can cover the outer surface of the porous conductive substrate of anode 114 and, since the porous conductive substrate has internal pores or interconnected channels, can also cover the surfaces of those pores and channels.
- the catalyst layer includes a bi- functional catalyst to catalyze both hydrogen evolution reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction at anode 114.
- the porous conductive substrate of anode 114 can have a porosity of at least about 10%, at least about 20%, at least about 30%, at least about 40%, or at least about 50%, and up to about 80%, up to about 90%, up to about 95% or greater.
- the porous conductive substrate of anode 114 can be a metal foam, such as a nickel foam, a copper foam, a steel foam, an aluminum foam, or others.
- the porous conductive substrate of anode 114 can be a metal alloy foam, such as a nickel-molybdenum foam, a nickel-copper foam, a nickel-cobalt foam, a nickel-tungsten foam, a nickel-silver foam, a nickel-molybdenum-cobalt foam, or others.
- a metal alloy foam such as a nickel-molybdenum foam, a nickel-copper foam, a nickel-cobalt foam, a nickel-tungsten foam, a nickel-silver foam, a nickel-molybdenum-cobalt foam, or others.
- Other conductive substrates such as metal foils, metal meshes, and fibrous conductive substrates can be used.
- the conductive substrates of anode 114 can be carbon-based materials, such as carbon fibrous paper, carbon cloth, carbon felt, carbon mat, carbon nanotube film, graphite foil, graphite foam, graphite mat, graphene foil, graphene fibers, graphene film, and graphene foam.
- Battery 100 illustrated in Figure 1 can illustrate an independent pressure vessel configuration. If battery 100 illustrates an independent pressure vessel configuration, then pressure vessel 102 is first filled with electrolyte 126 through fill tube 122 and later drained through fill tube 122 before fill tube 122 is sealed. In this configuration, stack 104 needs to be porous enough to hold a sufficient quantity of electrolyte 126 for the operation of battery through the numerous charge/discharge cycles throughout its lifetime. During HER/HOR cycling of battery 100, the pressure within pressure vessel 102 can vary drastically through the charge/discharge cycle (from 50 psi to 2000 psi, for example) as hydrogen is consumed or produced according to Eqs. 1-3 above.
- FIG. 2 illustrate a shared pressure vessel (SPV) battery 200 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.
- battery 200 includes a plurality of N pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N, each of which includes a corresponding one of electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N.
- Electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N can be electrode stack 104 as described above with respect to Figure 1.
- each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N includes a fill tube 216-1 through 216-N, respectively.
- the number of pressure vessels 202, N can be any number greater than 1.
- Each of fill tubes 216-1 through 216-N is coupled to a manifold 218.
- Manifold 218 can include a control device 206 and is coupled to a shared storage tank 208.
- Shared storage tank 208 can store hydrogen that can be supplied through manifold 218 to each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N.
- shared storage tank 208 can be formed from multiple storage tanks and has sufficient capacity to support charge/discharge cycling of battery 200.
- control device 206 can be coupled to provide stored hydrogen to each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N simultaneously or may be configured to provide hydrogen to each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N independently.
- Device 206 can be a device that controls the flow of hydrogen between pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N and storage vessel 208.
- Device 206 can, for example, be a straight connection, a valve, a regulator, a compressor, or combinations of any of these devices. If device 206 is a compressor, for example, then pressure in storage tank 208 can be higher than that of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N.
- pressure in each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N can be held relatively constant and at a relatively low pressure (e.g., ⁇ 50 PSI).
- each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N an electrode stack 204-1 through 204-N, respectively.
- Each of electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N are coupled to terminals 210-1 through 210-N, respectively, and terminals 212-1 through 212-N, respectively. Consequently, electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N can be coupled in series, parallel, or combinations of series and parallel configurations to form battery 200.
- the operating pressure in each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N can be regulated to a low pressure.
- the operating pressure can, as an example, be about 40 PSI or less.
- Pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N need only be large enough to contain electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N.
- Hydrogen can flow between storage vessel 208 and each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N as needed during operation.
- low (e.g., minimum to partial vacuum) operating pressures can be determined for efficient operation of battery 200 and this pressure maintained during operation of battery 200.
- This pressure can be controlled by device 206 so that hydrogen flows between pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N and storage vessel 208. Further, during long term storage of battery 200, device 206 can shut off flow of hydrogen so that the internal charge leakage or self-discharge of the charged battery can be minimized or even reduced to zero.
- Storage vessel 208 can be sized to store sufficient hydrogen so that battery 200 can cycled through a lifetime of charge/discharge cycles. Storage vessel 208 can be maintained at a high pressure if control device 206 includes a compressor. Operating pressures and storage vessel 208 capacity can be arranged to provide for reasonable charging rates (C -rates) for battery 200.
- Storage vessel 208 can be formed from any material that supports pressures and volumes of hydrogen gas discussed above.
- storage vessel 208 can be formed from stainless steel, composite materials, carbon fiber composites, rubber, expandable rubber structures (e.g. balloons or bladders), or any other suitable material.
- pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N operate at relatively low operating pressures, as discussed above, pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N can be formed of lighter weight, less expensive materials.
- pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N can be formed of plastics, composites, or rubber instead of metals.
- each of pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N includes a corresponding one of electrode stacks 204-1 through 204-N.
- a system can include pressure vessels that contain a plurality of electrode stacks as well.
- FIG. 3 illustrates a battery 300 that includes pressure vessel 302 that contains a plurality of electrode stacks 304. As is illustrated in Figure 3, manifold 218 is also coupled to fill tube 306 of pressure vessel 302. Battery 300 can also include the N shared pressure vessels 202-1 through 202-N as illustrated in Figure 2. Battery 300 may include one or more other pressure vessels similar to pressure vessel 302 as well. In general, any number of pressure vessels 202 and pressure vessels 302 can be included in battery 300.
- pressure vessel 302 includes a plurality M of electrode stacks 304-1 through 304-M.
- Each of electrode stacks 304-1 through 304-M can be formed as discussed with electrode stack 104 as illustrated in Figure 1.
- electrode stacks 304-1 through 304-M are coupled in series, although in some embodiments they may be coupled in parallel or a combination of series and parallel configurations. Since the operating pressure in pressure vessel 302 can be minimal, pressure vessel 302 can be made of light-weight materials and is size limited only by the electrode stacks 304 that are contained within.
- FIG. 4 illustrates another configuration of shared pressure vessel battery 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.
- N pressure vessels 402-1 through 402-N each containing one or more electrode stacks 404.
- pressure vessel 402-1 includes electrode stacks 404-1,1 through 404-M1,! and pressure vessel 402-N includes electrode stacks 404- 1,N through 404-MN,N.
- any combinations of individual pressure vessels 402 each with any number of electrode stacks 404 connected in series, parallel, or a combination of series and parallel can be used.
- a shared pressure vessel battery can be formed of any number of pressure vessels 202 as illustrated in Figure 2 and any number of pressure vessels 302 as illustrated in Figure 3 with fill tubes coupled to a storage vessel 208 through a manifold 218 and control device 206. Hydrogen can then flow between each of pressure vessels 202 and pressure vessels 302 as needed during operation. Further, the operating pressure of each of pressure vessels 202 and pressure vessels 302 can be regulated at a relatively low pressure. Additionally, since all electrode stacks share the same hydrogen source, the state of charge (SOC) of the whole system is easily available, making charge/discharge control much easier. Also, the moisture level for all of the electrode stacks can be regulated through manipulating humidity of the hydrogen gas flow. Finally, charge leakage during storage of the shared pressure vessel battery can be minimized by restricting or turning off the flow of hydrogen from storage vessel 208.
- SOC state of charge
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
- Electrochemistry (AREA)
- General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Hybrid Cells (AREA)
- Filling Or Discharging Of Gas Storage Vessels (AREA)
- Fuel Cell (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US202263316591P | 2022-03-04 | 2022-03-04 | |
| US18/177,602 US20230282852A1 (en) | 2022-03-04 | 2023-03-02 | Shared Pressure Vessel Metal Hydrogen Battery |
| PCT/US2023/063662 WO2023168390A1 (en) | 2022-03-04 | 2023-03-03 | Shared pressure vessel metal hydrogen battery |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| EP4487400A1 true EP4487400A1 (en) | 2025-01-08 |
Family
ID=85800300
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP23714950.5A Pending EP4487400A1 (en) | 2022-03-04 | 2023-03-03 | Shared pressure vessel metal hydrogen battery |
Country Status (7)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP4487400A1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JP2025507052A (en) |
| KR (1) | KR20250060838A (en) |
| AU (1) | AU2023227584B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA3250888A1 (en) |
| MX (1) | MX2024010566A (en) |
| WO (1) | WO2023168390A1 (en) |
Family Cites Families (4)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US4395469A (en) * | 1981-07-14 | 1983-07-26 | The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air Force | Low pressure nickel hydrogen battery |
| US5389459A (en) * | 1994-01-14 | 1995-02-14 | Hall; John C. | Distributed energy system |
| JPH1064604A (en) * | 1996-08-23 | 1998-03-06 | Toshiba Corp | Nickel-metal hydride battery device |
| JP2003178738A (en) * | 2001-12-11 | 2003-06-27 | Honda Motor Co Ltd | Hydrogen gas processing apparatus for nickel-metal hydride battery and hydrogen gas processing method for nickel-metal hydride battery |
-
2023
- 2023-03-03 KR KR1020247033096A patent/KR20250060838A/en active Pending
- 2023-03-03 EP EP23714950.5A patent/EP4487400A1/en active Pending
- 2023-03-03 JP JP2024552743A patent/JP2025507052A/en active Pending
- 2023-03-03 AU AU2023227584A patent/AU2023227584B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2023-03-03 WO PCT/US2023/063662 patent/WO2023168390A1/en not_active Ceased
- 2023-03-03 CA CA3250888A patent/CA3250888A1/en active Pending
-
2024
- 2024-08-28 MX MX2024010566A patent/MX2024010566A/en unknown
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| MX2024010566A (en) | 2024-12-06 |
| CA3250888A1 (en) | 2023-09-07 |
| AU2023227584B2 (en) | 2025-12-04 |
| WO2023168390A1 (en) | 2023-09-07 |
| KR20250060838A (en) | 2025-05-07 |
| JP2025507052A (en) | 2025-03-13 |
| AU2023227584A1 (en) | 2024-08-15 |
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