JP2005267893A - Fuel supplying device for fuel cell, and fuel cell - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fuel supplying device capable of stably supplying gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to a fuel cell or the like, even at the place where atmospheric pressure is fluctuated like in an airplane or on a high mountain. <P>SOLUTION: The fuel supplying device supplying gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to the fuel cell comprises a pressure control device with sealed structure housed in the fuel cell capable of controlling the pressure of sealed inside, a diaphragm arranged on the pressure control device, expanding and contracting according to the fluctuation of the pressure of the gaseous fuel to be consumed at the fuel cell, and a supply valve supplying the gaseous fuel stored in the fuel cartridge to the fuel cell. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a fuel cell that uses a gas such as hydrogen as a fuel, and relates to a fuel supply device that supplies gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to the fuel cell. In particular, the present invention relates to a fuel supply device that is effective for performing stable power generation in an aircraft or in a place where atmospheric pressure such as an alpine falls and varies, and a fuel cell using the same.

  In recent years, there has been a demand for clean energy free from harmful waste due to environmental destruction. In addition, depletion of fossil fuels has become a problem, and new energy sources are being sought. On the other hand, in the electronics field, the amount of information increases, and accordingly, the information processing capability dramatically increases and the power consumption of electronic devices tends to increase.

  Therefore, hydrogen, which is contained in inexhaustible water on the earth and does not emit harmful substances with large chemical energy, has attracted attention as an energy source. In particular, fuel cells that directly extract electric energy have high utilization efficiency of hydrogen and can generate large electric power, and are being applied to automobiles, portable electronic devices such as notebook computers, mobile phones, and video cameras.

  A so-called fuel cell that extracts electric energy from hydrogen has a hydrogen electrode to which hydrogen is supplied and an oxidation electrode to which oxygen is supplied. The hydrogen electrode separates hydrogen into electrons and protons by a catalytic reaction. It passes through the membrane and reaches the oxidation electrode, and reacts with oxygen by a catalytic reaction to generate water. In this process, an electron flow, that is, electric power is generated.

Unlike conventional batteries, fuel cells do not need to be charged and can be used to generate power immediately after replenishing the fuel.
A fuel cell that supplies fuel from a fuel cartridge into the fuel cell main body is described in, for example, Patent Document 1.
JP 2002-158022 A

As described above, the fuel cell can take out electric energy by replenishing the fuel anytime and anywhere. However, unlike a conventional secondary battery, the fuel cell handles a gas such as hydrogen.
In addition, fuel is supplied to the fuel cell by using a fuel cartridge. However, no consideration is given to a method of supplying fuel in a place where the air pressure fluctuates, such as in an airplane or an alpine.

  The present invention has been made in view of such background art, and enables stable supply of gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to a fuel cell even in a place where air pressure fluctuates, such as in an airplane or an alpine, A fuel supply device capable of obtaining a stable output and a fuel cell using the same are provided.

  In order to achieve this object, the present invention proposes a fuel supply device that is not affected by atmospheric pressure in order to stably maintain the pressure of the gaseous fuel supplied from the fuel cartridge at a predetermined value. In particular, a diaphragm provided in the fuel cell is used to detect a change in the pressure of the gaseous fuel in the fuel cell, and automatically adjust the opening and closing of the gaseous fuel supply valve of the fuel cartridge to adjust the predetermined pressure. The fuel is supplied while maintaining.

  That is, a first aspect of the present invention is a fuel supply device that supplies gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to a fuel cell, and has a sealed structure built in the fuel cell, and can adjust the sealed internal pressure. A pressure regulator; a diaphragm that is provided in the pressure regulator and expands and contracts due to pressure fluctuations of the gaseous fuel consumed in the fuel cell; and a gas fuel that is opened and closed by the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm and accommodated in the fuel cartridge A fuel supply device for a fuel cell, comprising: a supply valve that supplies the fuel cell.

The diaphragm is provided in the fuel cell, and the supply valve is provided in the fuel cartridge. When the fuel cartridge is attached to the fuel cell, the diaphragm and the supply valve come into contact at the attachment portion.
The diaphragm is preferably maintained at a constant pressure by the pressure of the gas inside the sealed pressure regulator.
The diaphragm is preferably maintained at a constant pressure by the pressure of the gas inside the sealed pressure regulator and the pressing force of the elastic body.

  A second aspect of the present invention is a fuel cell using the above fuel supply device.

  According to the fuel supply device of the present invention, it is possible to supply gaseous fuel to the fuel cell while maintaining a predetermined fuel gas pressure without being affected by the environment in which the fuel cell is used, in particular, a change in atmospheric pressure. A stable output can be obtained from the battery.

The present invention is a fuel supply device that adjusts the pressure of a gaseous fuel used in a fuel cell and supplies the gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to the fuel cell.
The fuel supply device of the present invention is a fuel supply device that supplies gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to a fuel cell, and has a sealed structure built in the fuel cell, and is capable of adjusting the sealed internal pressure. A regulator, a pressure regulator (hereinafter referred to as a regulator), and a diaphragm that expands and contracts due to pressure fluctuations of gaseous fuel consumed in the fuel cell, and opens and closes by expansion and contraction of the diaphragm, and is accommodated in a fuel cartridge And a supply valve for supplying the gaseous fuel to the fuel cell.

A desirable embodiment of the present invention is described using a figure.
FIG. 1 is a central sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external view showing a state in which the fuel cell main body 1 and the fuel cartridge 2 are connected. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing only the fuel cartridge. Reference numeral 3 denotes a fuel cartridge housing, which may be filled with compressed hydrogen, or may be configured to occlude hydrogen in a hydrogen storage alloy such as an Fe—Ti alloy or Ti—Mn alloy. 3a is a cover member to be described in detail later, and 4b is a convex portion of the supply valve.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the fuel cell main body, and is drawn from the viewpoint from the right of FIG. 1 for easy understanding. Reference numeral 6 denotes a casing of the fuel cell main body. Reference numeral 6a denotes a concave portion into which the connecting portion of the fuel cartridge is inserted.

  In FIG. 1, 3a is a cover member and is arrange | positioned around the convex part 4b of the supply valve 4, and the protrusion part is larger than the convex part 4b. The conical surface 4a of the supply valve 4 is in contact with the conical surface 3b of the fuel cartridge so that gaseous fuel does not come out. Reference numeral 5 denotes a compression spring. A right end portion in the figure is fixed to a member (not shown) in the fuel cartridge, and the left end portion presses the bottom surface 4 c of the supply valve 4. That is, the conical surfaces 3b and 4a are in contact with each other by the hydrogen gas pressure and the force of the compression spring 5, so that the hydrogen gas does not leak out of the fuel cartridge.

  The supply valve 4 and the cover member 3a in the figure are made smaller than the child's finger, and are dimensioned so that the child's finger cannot reach the convex portion 4b of the supply valve 4 in the hole 3c of the cover member. .

Reference numeral 6a denotes a recess having a V-shaped groove 6c formed therein and an O-ring 7 serving as a seal member. 3g is a screw part provided in the cover member 3a.
Next, the operation will be described.

  When the fuel cartridge 1 is inserted into the fuel cell body, the chamfered portion 3e formed at the front end of the cover member 3a contacts the seal member 7 and compresses the seal member 7, while the cover member 3a moves to the left in FIG. Move to. The seal member 7 is in close contact with the outer surface 3d of the cover member 3a to make the fuel flow path airtight.

  6d is a screw part provided in the recess 6a. After the seal member 7 is compressed by the recess 6a and the cover member 3a and the airtightness of the fuel flow path is ensured, the screws 3g and 6d are engaged with each other to screw the housing 3 of the fuel cartridge, whereby the supply valve 4 and the pin 8 to be described later are The fuel cartridge 2 is further inserted into the recess 6a against the pressure of the gaseous fuel pressure and the compression spring 5, the contact between the conical surfaces 3b and 4a is cut off, and hydrogen gas is supplied from the inside of the housing 3 of the fuel cartridge. Supplied to the battery body 1.

The surface 3f of the housing 3 of the fuel cartridge and the surface 6b of the housing 6 of the fuel cell main body come into contact with each other, and the insertion is completed, and the fuel cell main body 1 and the fuel cartridge 2 are fixed.
Reference numeral 9 denotes a diaphragm, which has a disk shape, and an outer peripheral portion 9a is fixed to the casing 10 of the regulator body. The housing 10 is fixed to a fixed member (not shown) inside the housing 6. The diaphragm 9 has a pin 8 fixed to a central flat portion 9b, and has corrugated irregularities formed concentrically, and receives the hydrogen gas pressure on the right side in the figure and the gas pressure inside the housing 10. . Further, it can be freely displaced in the left-right direction in the figure by the change in the hydrogen gas pressure.

  The right end portion of the pin 8 in the drawing is a spherical surface 8a, and comes into contact with the convex portion 4b of the supply valve 4. Reference numeral 11 denotes a compression spring, one end of which is fixed to the inside of the housing 10 and the other end is fixed to the surface opposite to the pin of the flat portion 9b of the diaphragm 9 to which the pin is fixed.

Next, the operation will be described.
When the housing 3 of the fuel cartridge is inserted and the screw portions 3g and 6d are engaged and screwed and the surfaces 3f and 6b come into contact with each other, the hydrogen gas pressure inside the fuel cartridge and the compression spring 5 exert a force in the left direction in the figure. The gas pressure inside the casing 10 of the diaphragm and the compression spring 11 exert a force in the right direction in the figure. The gas pressure inside the housing 6 of the fuel cell main body applies a force to the diaphragm 9 in the left direction in the figure. The positions of the pin 8 and the supply valve 4 are determined by the resultant force. That is, when the hydrogen gas pressure in the housing 6 of the fuel cell main body is a predetermined value, the conical surface 4a of the supply valve 4 and the conical surface 3b of the fuel cartridge come into contact with each other, and the fuel cell main body from the fuel cartridge side Inflow of hydrogen gas to the side is stopped.

  When the hydrogen gas is consumed with the power generation, the hydrogen gas pressure in the housing 6 of the fuel cell main body is lowered, and the diaphragm 9 is displaced rightward in the drawing. As a result, the pin 8 pushes the supply valve 4 to the right in the drawing to displace it, and the contact between the conical surfaces 4a and 3b is released, and the hydrogen gas inside the housing 3 of the fuel cartridge flows into the fuel cell main body.

  As described above, one side of the diaphragm is fixed to the casing 10 of the regulator and is not affected by the ambient atmospheric pressure, and is stable even when the atmospheric pressure is low or when it is used at a high altitude. It is possible to maintain the pressure. By appropriately setting the gas pressure inside the casing 10 of the regulator and the force of the compression spring 11, a desired hydrogen gas pressure can be maintained. It is also possible to obtain a desired hydrogen gas pressure only by setting the gas pressure inside the regulator housing 10 without using the compression spring shown in this embodiment.

  The fuel supply device of the present invention is capable of supplying gaseous fuel to a fuel cell while maintaining a predetermined fuel gas pressure without being affected by changes in the environment in which the fuel cell is used, particularly atmospheric pressure. Since a stable output can be obtained, it can be used for a fuel cell used in a place where the air pressure fluctuates, such as in an airplane or a high mountain.

It is a center sectional view showing the principal part concerning a desirable embodiment of a fuel supply device of the present invention. It is a general view which shows a fuel cell main body and a fuel cartridge. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a fuel cartridge portion of FIG. 2. It is a perspective view which shows the fuel cell main body of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fuel cell main body 2 Fuel cartridge 3 Fuel cartridge housing | casing 3a Cover member 3b Conical surface 3c Hole 3d Outer surface 3e Chamfer 3f Surface 4 Supply valve 4a Conical surface 4b Convex part 5 Compression spring 6 Fuel cell main body case 6a Concave part 6b Surface 6c V groove 6d Threaded portion 7 Seal member 8 Pin 8a Spherical surface portion 9 Diaphragm 10 Regulator housing 11 Compression spring 12 Mounting portion

Claims (5)

  A fuel supply device for supplying gaseous fuel from a fuel cartridge to a fuel cell, comprising a sealed structure built in the fuel cell and capable of adjusting the pressure inside the sealed fuel, and the pressure regulator A diaphragm that expands and contracts due to pressure fluctuations of the gaseous fuel consumed in the fuel cell, and a supply valve that opens and closes due to the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm and supplies the gaseous fuel contained in the fuel cartridge to the fuel cell. A fuel supply device for a fuel cell, comprising:   The fuel supply device for a fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein the diaphragm is provided in the fuel cell, the supply valve is provided in the fuel cartridge, and the diaphragm and the supply valve come into contact with each other when the fuel cartridge is attached to the fuel cell.   The fuel supply device for a fuel cell according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the diaphragm is maintained at a constant pressure by a gas pressure inside a sealed pressure regulator.   3. The fuel supply device for a fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein the diaphragm is maintained at a constant pressure by a pressure of a gas inside a sealed pressure regulator and a pressing force of an elastic body.   A fuel cell using the fuel supply device according to claim 1.

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