JP6147482B2 - Charge / discharge system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention reduces the amount of gas exhausted outside the system when switching from charge to discharge in a pure oxygen utilization type charge / discharge system that uses pure oxygen generated by water electrolysis as an oxidant during fuel cell operation. Thus, the present invention relates to a charge / discharge system that can drastically reduce the amount of water held in the system necessary for repeated charge / discharge.

  The polymer electrolyte reversible cell is an energy converter that integrates a polymer electrolyte water electrolysis cell and a fuel cell and selectively performs both functions in one cell. If it employ | adopts, it will charge by electrolyzing the water which is a raw material by water electrolysis operation, generating pure hydrogen and pure oxygen, and storing them in a container. And discharge is performed by operating a fuel cell with these stored gas, and electric power is supplied to the load side.

  That is, in a water electrolysis cell, by controlling the pressure of pure hydrogen and pure oxygen generated by electrolysis of water, pure hydrogen and pure oxygen of several MPa to several tens of MPa can be obtained without using a booster such as a compressor. Can be generated. If this pressurized gas is stored in a separately provided container, it can be used as a fuel and an oxidant during fuel cell operation. In fuel cell operation with fuel cells, electricity and water are generated by a chemical reaction between pure hydrogen and pure oxygen. If the generated water is stored in a container, it can be used as a raw material for water electrolysis operation. That is, by collecting and reusing the reaction product, charging by water electrolysis operation and discharging by fuel cell operation can be repeated.

  A technique described in Patent Document 1 is one in which charging and discharging using such a reversible cell are realized by one system. In this technique, the first tank for supplying raw water to the oxygen side of the reversible cell during the water electrolysis operation and the water accompanying the oxygen generated during the water electrolysis operation are separated into gas and liquid by the first tank. After that, the flow path leading to the atmospheric system exhausted out of the system system via the air layer portion of the first tank and the hydrogen generated in the reversible cell during the water electrolysis operation are the water accompanying the hydrogen. A hydrogen storage unit that stores the gas through a second tank that separates gas and liquid, and a pipe that connects the gas layer of the first tank and the second tank.

JP 2010-153218 A

  In this type of charge / discharge system, the volume of gas stored per volume increases as the pressure of pure hydrogen and pure oxygen stored increases, so that the volumetric energy density improves. Therefore, the operating pressure for water electrolysis is usually 1 MPa (abs) or more. On the other hand, the operating pressure of the fuel cell is usually in the vicinity of 0.1 MPa (abs) from the viewpoints of simplification of the system and control, performance stabilization, and the like. For this reason, when switching from the charge operation to the discharge operation, it is necessary to reduce the internal pressure in the vicinity of 1 MPa (abs) to 0.1 MPa (abs).

  In this regard, the technique described in Patent Document 1 exhausts all the gas in the system (pure hydrogen and pure oxygen) out of the system when switching from the charge operation to the discharge operation. Will be thrown out of the system. In particular, since the first tank has a gas-liquid separation function, all the oxygen in the gas layer of the tank is discharged out of the system. In such a case, in an environment where water can be constantly replenished from outside, charging and discharging can be repeated by replenishing water appropriately. However, when water is replenished once and charging / discharging is desired for some time, If it is difficult, charge and discharge the amount of pure hydrogen and pure oxygen in the system exhausted at the time of switching operation in addition to the minimum amount of water required to fully charge before starting charging and discharging. Many times (hereinafter referred to as “reserve water”) must be retained in the system. However, if this happens, an extra tank will be added, resulting in an increase in equipment size. Moreover, exhausting the high-pressure gas generated by electrolysis itself is a charging loss.

  For this reason, in a charge / discharge system using a reversible cell, it has been desired to reduce the amount of pure hydrogen and pure oxygen exhausted outside the system when switching from charge operation to discharge operation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and in a charge / discharge system using a cell stack including a solid polymer water electrolysis device and a fuel cell, including a reversible cell, from a charge operation to a discharge operation. The purpose is to reduce the amount of gas exhausted outside the system as much as possible.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a charge / discharge system using a cell stack comprising a solid polymer water electrolyzer and a fuel cell, wherein the cell stack is a raw material water inlet during water electrolysis operation. And oxygen and raw water outlet, a hydrogen outlet during water electrolysis operation, and a hydrogen inlet during fuel cell operation, and the oxygen and raw water outlet serves as an oxygen inlet during fuel cell operation. It has a function.
The charge / discharge system further includes a first tank for supplying raw water from the raw water inlet to the oxygen side during water electrolysis operation, oxygen flowing out from the raw water outlet generated during the water electrolysis operation, and the oxygen A first gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of accompanying water, a first pipe for sending water separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the first tank, and the first The oxygen separated from the gas-liquid separation tank is supplied to the oxygen storage passage for supplying oxygen to the oxygen storage portion, and the hydrogen generated during the water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the hydrogen outlet and the water accompanying the hydrogen are gasified. A second gas-liquid separation tank for liquid separation, a second pipe for sending water separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the second tank, and the second gas-liquid separation tank are separated. A hydrogen supply path for the storage unit for supplying the hydrogen to the hydrogen storage unit, A cell stack oxygen supply path for supplying oxygen from an oxygen storage section to the oxygen inlet, and a cell stack hydrogen supply path for supplying hydrogen from the hydrogen storage section to the hydrogen inlet, and A first valve capable of closing one pipe, a second valve capable of closing the second pipe, and a flow connecting the first tank and a raw water inlet during water electrolysis operation of the cell stack. road possess a third valve closable and a, when switching the operation of the fuel cell from the water electrolysis operation, the first valve, by operating the second valve and the third valve, the first The pipe, the second pipe, and the flow path between the first tank and the raw water inlet of the cell stack are closed.

  According to the present invention, the conventional raw water storage tank basically does not have the gas-liquid separation function, and the first and second dedicated gas-liquid separation tanks are provided separately. When switching, the first and second tanks are closed, and the first tank and the second tank are closed by closing the flow path between the first tank and the raw water inlet of the cell stack. Since the direct cell stack is closed, oxygen and hydrogen in the gas layer portions of the first tank and the second tank are not discharged out of the system. Therefore, it is not necessary to exhaust the gas in the gas layer portion of the raw water tank as in the prior art.

According to another aspect, the charge / discharge system of the present invention includes a first tank that supplies raw water to the oxygen side from the raw water inlet during water electrolysis operation, and the raw water outlet that is generated during the water electrolysis operation. A first gas-liquid separation tank that gas-liquid separates outflowing oxygen and water accompanying the oxygen, and a first gas that sends the water separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the first tank Piping, an oxygen supply path for the storage unit that supplies oxygen separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the oxygen storage unit, hydrogen generated during water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the hydrogen outlet, and the hydrogen A second gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of accompanying water, a second pipe for sending water separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the second tank, and the second Hydrogen supplied to the storage unit that supplies the hydrogen separated in the gas-liquid separation tank to the hydrogen storage unit A cell stack oxygen supply path for supplying oxygen from the oxygen storage section to the oxygen inlet, and a cell stack hydrogen supply path for supplying hydrogen from the hydrogen storage section to the hydrogen inlet. An auxiliary oxygen supply path is provided between the first tank and the oxygen supply path for the cell stack, and an auxiliary hydrogen supply path is provided between the second tank and the hydrogen supply path for the cell stack. It is characterized by that. Thereby, it is easy to use the gas in the gas layer portion of the first and second tanks as the raw material gas in the discharge operation.

  In such a case, the oxygen supply passage for the cell stack is configured by an oxygen inflow portion directly connected to the oxygen storage portion and an oxygen supply passage main body following the oxygen inflow portion, and the hydrogen supply passage for the cell stack A hydrogen inflow part directly connected to the storage part and a hydrogen supply path main body following the hydrogen inflow part are provided, a first pressure reducing valve is provided in the auxiliary oxygen supply path, and a second pressure reduction valve is provided in the oxygen inflow part. A valve is provided, a third pressure reducing valve is provided in the auxiliary hydrogen supply passage, a fourth pressure reducing valve is provided in the hydrogen inflow portion, and a secondary side set pressure of the first pressure reducing valve is the second pressure reducing valve. The secondary side set pressure may be set higher than the secondary side set pressure of the valve, and the secondary side set pressure of the third pressure reducing valve may be set higher than the secondary side set pressure of the fourth pressure reducing valve.

  As a result, in the initial stage of discharge, the gas originally in the gas layer part of the first tank and the second tank is used first, and then the gas in the oxygen storage part and the hydrogen storage part is used. it can.

  The cell stack may include a reversible cell in which a water electrolysis device and a fuel cell are integrated.

  According to the present invention, when switching from the charging operation to the discharging operation, it is not necessary to exhaust the gas in the gas layer portion such as the raw water tank as in the prior art, and the amount of gas exhausted outside the system can be reduced. Is possible.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of a structure of the charging / discharging system concerning embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which showed typically the plane cross section of the reversible cell used with the charging / discharging system of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline at the time of the fuel cell driving | operation in the charging / discharging system of FIG. It is the graph which showed the chargeable / dischargeable frequency | count with respect to the electrical storage capacity of the charging / discharging system of FIG. 1, and a conventional system.

  Referring to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment. In the charge / discharge system 1, the reversible cell 10 having the configuration shown in FIG. A cell sutter 2 in which a plurality of, for example, several tens to several hundreds are stacked.

  FIG. 2 schematically shows the inside (planar cross-section) of the reversible cell 10. In this reversible cell 10, oxygen-side collection is provided on both sides of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane 11 having electrode catalyst layers formed on both sides. An electric body 12 and a hydrogen side current collector 13 are disposed. A separator 15 is formed outside the oxygen-side current collector 12 to form a flow path 14 through which the reaction fluid flows, and a flow path 16 through which the reaction fluid flows is formed outside the hydrogen-side current collector 13. A separator 17 is disposed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, water (pure water) is supplied from the tank 21 to the raw material water inlet (also serving as the oxygen outlet) a during the water electrolysis operation of the cell stack 2 of the charge / discharge system 1 described above. The water electrolysis operation is performed after being supplied. That is, water from the tank 21 is supplied to the one raw material water inlet on the oxygen side of the cell stack 2 by a pump 24 provided in the pipe 22 through a pipe 22 connected to the tank 21 and a pipe 23 connected to the cell stack 2. a can be supplied. The piping 22 is provided with an electromagnetic valve V1.

One end of a pipe 31 is connected to an oxygen outlet (which also serves as a raw material water outlet and serves as an oxygen inlet during fuel cell operation) b during water electrolysis operation of the cell stack 2. Is connected to one end of the pipe 32 and one end of the pipe 33. The other end of the pipe 33 and the other end of the pipe 23 are connected to a pipe 42 communicating with the gas-liquid separation tank 41 on the oxygen side by an electromagnetic three-way valve V2.

  An electromagnetic valve V3 is provided at the other end of the pipe 32, and an electromagnetic valve V4 is provided closer to the electromagnetic valve V3 side than a connection point between the pipe 32 and the pipe 33. A gas pump 35 is provided between the solenoid valve V3 and the solenoid valve V4 in the pipe 32. An ejector may be used instead of the gas pump 35.

  A pipe 43 is connected between the bottom of the gas-liquid separation tank 41 and the tank 21, and an electromagnetic valve V <b> 5 is provided in the pipe 43. A pipe 44 connected to the pipe 32 is connected to the upper part of the gas-liquid separation tank 41, and a pipe 45 leading to the oxygen storage tank OT is connected to a connection portion of the pipe 32 with the pipe 44. The piping 45 is provided with a back pressure valve B1. The oxygen supply path of the present invention is constituted by the pipes 44 and 45.

  A pipe 46 connected to the pipe 32 is connected to the upper portion of the tank 21, and a pipe 47 leading to the oxygen storage tank OT is connected to a connection portion of the pipe 32 with the pipe 46. The pipes 46 and 47 are respectively provided with pressure reducing valves R1 and R2. The pipe 47 constitutes the oxygen inflow portion of the present invention, the pipe 31 constitutes the oxygen supply path main body of the present invention, and the pipes 47 and 31 constitute the oxygen supply path for the cell stack of the present invention.

  On the other hand, one end of a pipe 61 is connected to the hydrogen outlet c of the cell stack 2, and the other end of the pipe 61 is connected to the upper part of the gas-liquid separation tank 62. A pipe 64 communicating with the tank 71 is connected to the lower part of the gas-liquid separation tank 62. The pipe 64 is provided with an electromagnetic valve V6.

  One end of a pipe 81 is connected to the hydrogen inlet d of the cell stack 2, and an electromagnetic valve V7 is provided at the other end of the pipe 81. The pipe 81 is further provided with a gas pump 82 and a solenoid valve V8 in the middle. An ejector may be used instead of the gas pump 82.

  A pipe 65 connected to the pipe 81 is connected to the upper part of the gas-liquid separation tank 62, and a pipe 66 communicating with the hydrogen storage tank HT is connected to a connection portion of the pipe 81 with the pipe 65. The piping 66 is provided with a back pressure valve B2. The pipes 65 and 66 constitute the hydrogen supply path of the present invention.

  A pipe 72 connected to the pipe 81 is connected to the upper part of the tank 71, and a pipe 73 connected to the hydrogen storage tank HT is connected to a connection portion of the pipe 81 with the pipe 72. The pipes 72 and 73 are provided with pressure reducing valves R3 and R4, respectively. The pipe 73 constitutes the hydrogen inflow portion of the present invention, the pipe 81 constitutes the hydrogen supply path main body of the present invention, and the pipes 73 and 81 constitute the hydrogen supply path for the cell stack of the present invention.

  A pipe 51 for circulating cooling water for cooling is connected to the cell stack 2, and the cooling water heat-exchanged by a heat exchanger (not shown) circulates in the cell stack 2 by driving a pump 52. And each reversible cell 10 is cooled.

  Further, in the charge / discharge system 1 according to the present embodiment, the pressure in the tank and the piping is appropriately measured by a pressure gauge, and the measurement result is output to a control device (not shown), and the system is controlled based on the measurement result. It is done. Specifically, the pressure in the piping 31 is measured by the pressure gauge P1, the pressure in the oxygen storage tank OT is measured by the pressure gauge P2, the pressure in the piping 81 is measured by the pressure gauge P3, and the pressure in the hydrogen storage tank HT is measured by the pressure gauge. Each is measured by P4.

  Moreover, the electric power required for the electrolysis of water is supplied to each reversible cell 10 of the cell stack 2 by a power supply device (not shown).

  The main configuration of the charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment is as described above. Next, an example of the operation will be described.

  At the start of the water electrolysis operation, the electromagnetic valves V1, V5, V6 are opened, the electromagnetic three-way valve V2 is opened with the pipes 33, 42, and the electromagnetic valves V3, V4, V7, V8 are closed. The pump 24 is started from this state. Then, the water (pure water) stored in the tank 21 is supplied to each reversible cell 10 of the cell stack 2 through the pipes 22 and 23. In such a case, in order to maintain the quality of the electrolyzed water, a bypass (not shown) provided with an ion exchange resin or the like is provided between the pipe 22 and the tank 21, and a part of the water in the pipe 22 is passed through the bypass. You may make it return to the tank 21. FIG. The fluid flow at the start of the water electrolysis operation is indicated by a thick line and an arrow on each pipe in FIG.

  If power is supplied to each reversible cell 10 of the cell stack 2 from a power supply device (not shown), water corresponding to the output is electrolyzed into hydrogen ions and oxygen ions in each reversible cell 10. Among them, oxygen ions become oxygen molecules on the catalyst and are discharged out of the cell through the piping 31 together with circulating water (water that has not been electrolyzed). On the other hand, hydrogen ions move to the hydrogen side with accompanying water, become hydrogen molecules on the hydrogen side catalyst, and are discharged out of the cell through the pipe 61.

  The discharged pure oxygen is sent to the gas-liquid separation tank 41 through the pipes 31, 33, 42, where gas-liquid separation is performed. The water after the gas-liquid separation is returned to the tank 21 through the pipe 43. The pure oxygen after the gas-liquid separation is supplied and stored from the pipes 44 and 45 to the oxygen storage tank OT via the back pressure valve B1. Both the gas-liquid separation tank 41 and the later-described gas-liquid separation tank 62 have a function of actively separating the gas and liquid using a demister or the like. A demister in which a metal filter is laminated is adopted at the top of the plate.

The discharged pure hydrogen is sent to the gas-liquid separation tank 62 through 61 along with the accompanying water, where gas-liquid separation is performed. The water after the gas-liquid separation is sent to the tank 71 through the pipe 64. Pure hydrogen after separated into gas and liquid may also, from the pipe 65, 66 through the back pressure valve B2, supplied to the hydrogen storage tank HT, it is stored.

  Although the water level of the tank 21 decreases and the water level of the tank 71 increases due to such charging operation (electrolysis), the water level of both tanks is known using a known method (for example, connecting a communication pipe between both tanks). Is always kept at an appropriate level. Then, when the pressure of the oxygen storage tank OT and the hydrogen storage tank HT reaches a predetermined charge end pressure (= full charge state), the power supply device (not shown) is turned off and the pump 24 is stopped. The solenoid valves V1, V2, V5, V6 are closed. At this time, since the water in the tank 21 is electrolyzed, the water level is lower than the initial water level, and the volume of the gas layer portion is increased accordingly. This gas layer is filled with oxygen. On the other hand, the gas layer in the tank 71 is filled with hydrogen.

  Next, a flow when performing a discharge operation (fuel cell operation) from this state will be described. First, when switching from the charge operation to the discharge operation, as described above, it is necessary to depressurize both sides of the reversible cell 10, that is, the oxygen side and the hydrogen side system to near 0.1 MPa (abs). For this reason, first, from the stopped state (all the solenoid valves V1 to V8 are closed), the solenoid valves V3 and V7 are first opened to reduce the pressure in the system on both sides to near 0.1 MPa (abs). In such a case, the gas in the gas layer portion of the tanks 21 and 71 is not discharged out of the system.

  Then, after reaching a predetermined pressure in this way and drying of the reversible cell 10 is completed, the operation is switched to the fuel cell operation. In addition, a well-known method can be used about the drying method at the time of switching an operation | movement from a water electrolysis operation to a fuel cell operation, For example, it can implement | achieve by supplying the gas which dried the system inside, or heated up.

  At the start of fuel cell operation, the solenoid valves V4 and V8 are opened, the solenoid three-way valve V2 is opened, the solenoid valves V1, V3, V5, V6 and V7 are closed, and then the gas pumps 35 and 82 are opened. Start up. The fluid flow during the discharge operation (fuel cell operation) is indicated by thick lines and arrows on each pipe in FIG.

  If a power load is connected to the cell stack 2 in this state, discharging is performed according to the load, and pure hydrogen and pure oxygen corresponding to the discharge current are consumed in the cell stack 2.

  Here, pure oxygen that has not been consumed in each reversible cell 10 of the cell stack 2 and generated water are sent to the gas-liquid separation tank 41 through the pipes 23 and 42. After gas-liquid separation in the gas-liquid separation tank 41, pure oxygen is supplied again from the pipe 31 to the reversible cells 10 of the cell stack 2 by the gas pump 35 through the pipes 44 and 32. The gas-liquid separated water is temporarily stored in the gas-liquid separation tank 41.

  The same applies to the hydrogen side, and hydrogen and generated water that have not been consumed in each reversible cell 10 of the cell stack 2 are sent to the gas-liquid separation tank 62 through the pipe 61. After the gas-liquid separation in the gas-liquid separation tank 62, the pure hydrogen is supplied again from the piping 81 to the reversible cells 10 of the cell stack 2 by the gas pump 82 through the piping 65 and 81. The water subjected to the gas-liquid separation is temporarily stored in the gas-liquid separation tank 62.

  Here, during discharge operation (fuel cell operation), oxygen consumed in the cell stack 2 is replenished from the gas layer of the tank 21 and the oxygen storage tank OT. Replenished from the layer, hydrogen storage tank HT. In the present embodiment, first, the secondary side pressure of the pressure reducing valve R1 is several kPa higher than that of the pressure reducing valve R2 on the oxygen side so that the gas in the gas space of the tanks 21 and 71 is consumed first. Similarly, on the hydrogen side, similarly, the secondary side set pressure of the pressure reducing valve R3 is set several kPa higher than that of the pressure reducing valve R4. By doing so, pure oxygen and pure hydrogen stored in the tanks 21 and 71 are supplied to the cell stack 2 while the pressure in the system is higher than the secondary set pressure of the pressure reducing valves R2 and R4. When it becomes equal to the set pressure of R2 and R4, pure oxygen and pure hydrogen stored in the oxygen storage tank OT and hydrogen storage tank HT are also supplied.

  When the pressure gauges P1 and P3 confirm that the system pressure has reached the set pressure of the pressure reducing valves R2 and R4, the electromagnetic valves V5 and V6 are opened, and the water accumulated in the gas-liquid separation tanks 41 and 62 is Water is returned to the tanks 21 and 71, respectively. The solenoid valves V5 and V6 may remain open until the end of the fuel cell operation thereafter, but may be controlled to be intermittently opened to reduce power consumption.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when switching from the charging operation to the discharging operation, the high-pressure gas in the gas layer portion of the tanks 21 and 71 that has been exhausted outside the system for decompression is conventionally used as the fuel cell. It can be used as an oxidant and fuel during operation. Therefore, the system is less wasteful than before.

  The specific effects of the charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment will be described below. First, the number of times of charge / discharge with respect to the same retained water, that is, the tank can be improved several times to several tens of times compared to the conventional system. FIG. 4 shows the storage capacity of the charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment and the conventional system (a system that does not include the gas-liquid separation tanks 41 and 62 and exhausts all the gas in the system when the operation is switched). Is a comparison of the number of times charge / discharge is possible. The storage capacity is the amount of power that can be stored. The results of the embodiment are indicated by solid lines, and the results of the conventional system are indicated by broken lines. In addition, the ratio of "-times" shown on the upper left in the graph of FIG. 4 represents the ratio of the retained water amount with respect to the minimum water amount required for full charge. According to this, the charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment is improved several times to several tens of times as compared with the conventional system regardless of the entire storage capacity and the holding ratio.

  Further, as described above, the amount of gas discharged out of the system at the time of operation switching can be greatly reduced as compared with the prior art, so that charging loss can be reduced and less reserve water is required. Therefore, the water tank can be reduced in size, and the mass and volume of the entire system can be reduced. Regardless of the charging depth (= charging pressure), the amount of gas exhausted when switching from the charging operation to the discharging operation is constant in the amount of the gas-liquid separation tanks 41 and 62. It can be calculated from the actual number of times of charge / discharge, and the remaining number of charge / discharge can be accurately grasped. Furthermore, since the amount of exhaust gas itself is small, a container for collecting and reusing exhaust gas (= exhaustless charging / discharging) can be made more compact than the conventional system.

  As for the sizes of the gas-liquid separation tanks 41 and 62, even if all the gas stored in the tanks 21 and 71 becomes the generated water, the gas-liquid separation function can be achieved without over-blowing the generated water from the tanks 21 and 71. Since the size of the generated water storage space may be secured so that it can be achieved, it can be easily calculated from the maximum air volume of the tanks 21 and 71. In addition, since the generated water basically accumulates once in the gas-liquid separation tank 41, the gas-liquid separation tanks 41, 62 are connected by piping so that the water moves between the water layers of the gas-liquid separation tanks 41, 62. It may be.

  Further, the gas exhausted out of the system from the electromagnetic valves V3 and V7 may be collected in a separation membrane container or the like used in an accumulator and reused. By doing so, it becomes a system which does not exhaust at all, and reserve water itself becomes unnecessary.

  During the fuel cell operation, most of the generated water is discharged to the oxygen side, so that the oxygen side system can be moved so that water can be transferred from the oxygen side gas / liquid separation tank 41 to the hydrogen side gas / liquid separation tank 62. The internal pressure may be made about 10 kPa higher than that on the hydrogen side.

  The valves used in the above embodiments are electromagnetic valves in consideration of controllability and responsiveness. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various valves and valves can be used.

  As described above, according to the charge / discharge system 1 according to the embodiment, it is possible to reduce the amount of pure hydrogen and pure oxygen that have been discharged out of the system at the time of switching operation as much as possible, and the amount of water to be discharged. Therefore, it is optimal for applications where charging / discharging is performed in an environment where, for example, the water infrastructure is disconnected for a long period of time or pure water at a level required by the system cannot be obtained.

  Note that the larger the storage capacity, the larger the air volume of the water tank at the end of charging. In this regard, in the conventional system, the amount of exhausted gas at the time of switching increases, but with the system according to the embodiment, gas-liquid separation can be performed even when all the gas in the air volume of the water tank becomes water. Since only the gas-liquid separation tank volume needs to be exhausted, it is ideal for applications with large storage capacity.

  In addition, this invention is applicable not only to the charging / discharging system which uses a reversible cell but to the charging / discharging system which uses each combination machine, such as a fuel cell and a water electrolysis cell (hydrogen production cell).

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful for applications in which charging / discharging is performed in an environment where the water infrastructure is disconnected for a long period of time or pure water at a level required by the system cannot be obtained.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Charging / discharging system 2 Cell stack 10 Reversible cell 11 Solid polymer electrolyte membrane 12 Oxygen side current collector 13 Hydrogen side current collector 14, 16 Flow path 15, 17 Separator 21, 71 Tank 22, 23, 31, 32, 33 43 to 47, 51, 61, 64 to 66, 72, 73, 81 Piping 24, 52 Pump 35, 82 Gas pump 41, 62 Gas-liquid separation tank B1, B2 Back pressure valve R1 to R4 Pressure reducing valve HT Hydrogen storage tank OT Oxygen Storage tank P1-P4 Pressure gauge V1, V3-V8 Solenoid valve V2 Solenoid three-way valve

Claims (4)

A charge / discharge system using a cell stack comprising a solid polymer water electrolyzer and a fuel cell,
The cell stack includes a raw water inlet during water electrolysis operation, an oxygen and raw water outlet,
It has four ports: a hydrogen outlet during water electrolysis operation and a hydrogen inlet during fuel cell operation.
The oxygen and raw water outlet has a function as an oxygen inlet during fuel cell operation,
Furthermore, the charge / discharge system
A first tank for supplying raw water from the raw water inlet to the oxygen side during water electrolysis operation;
A first gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of oxygen generated during water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the raw material water outlet and water accompanying the oxygen;
A first pipe for sending water separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the first tank, and a storage for supplying oxygen separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the oxygen storage unit Oxygen supply channel for the department,
A second gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of hydrogen generated during water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the hydrogen outlet and water accompanying the hydrogen;
A second pipe for sending water separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the second tank;
A hydrogen supply path for the storage unit that supplies the hydrogen separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the hydrogen storage unit;
An oxygen supply path for a cell stack for supplying oxygen from the oxygen storage unit to the oxygen inlet;
A hydrogen supply path for a cell stack for supplying hydrogen from the hydrogen storage unit to the hydrogen inlet;
A first valve capable of closing the first pipe;
A second valve capable of closing the second pipe;
A third valve capable of closing a flow path connecting the first tank and the raw water inlet during water electrolysis operation of the cell stack;
I have a,
When switching from the water electrolysis operation to the fuel cell operation, the first valve, the second valve, and the third valve are operated to operate the first valve, the second valve, and the third valve. A charging / discharging system characterized in that a flow path between raw water inlets of a stack is closed . A charge / discharge system using a cell stack comprising a solid polymer water electrolyzer and a fuel cell,
The cell stack includes a raw water inlet during water electrolysis operation, an oxygen and raw water outlet,
It has four ports: a hydrogen outlet during water electrolysis operation and a hydrogen inlet during fuel cell operation.
The oxygen and raw water outlet has a function as an oxygen inlet during fuel cell operation,
Furthermore, the charge / discharge system
A first tank for supplying raw water from the raw water inlet to the oxygen side during water electrolysis operation;
A first gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of oxygen generated during water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the raw material water outlet and water accompanying the oxygen;
A first pipe for sending water separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the first tank, and a storage for supplying oxygen separated in the first gas-liquid separation tank to the oxygen storage unit Oxygen supply channel for the department,
A second gas-liquid separation tank for gas-liquid separation of hydrogen generated during water electrolysis operation and flowing out from the hydrogen outlet and water accompanying the hydrogen;
A second pipe for sending water separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the second tank;
A hydrogen supply path for the storage unit that supplies the hydrogen separated in the second gas-liquid separation tank to the hydrogen storage unit;
An oxygen supply path for a cell stack for supplying oxygen from the oxygen storage unit to the oxygen inlet;
A hydrogen supply path for a cell stack that supplies hydrogen from the hydrogen storage unit to the hydrogen inlet,
An auxiliary oxygen supply path is provided between the first tank and the oxygen supply path for the cell stack,
An auxiliary hydrogen supply path is provided between the second tank and the hydrogen supply path for the cell stack,
A charge / discharge system characterized by that. The oxygen supply path for the cell stack is composed of an oxygen inflow part directly connected to the oxygen storage part, and an oxygen supply path main body following the oxygen inflow part,
The hydrogen supply path for the cell stack is composed of a hydrogen inflow part directly connected to a hydrogen storage part, and a hydrogen supply path main body following the hydrogen inflow part,
A first pressure reducing valve is provided in the auxiliary oxygen supply path;
A second pressure reducing valve is provided at the oxygen inlet;
A third pressure reducing valve is provided in the auxiliary hydrogen supply path;
A fourth pressure reducing valve is provided at the hydrogen inlet,
The secondary set pressure of the first pressure reducing valve is set higher than the secondary set pressure of the second pressure reducing valve,
The secondary set pressure of the third pressure reducing valve is set higher than the secondary set pressure of the fourth pressure reducing valve,
The charge / discharge system according to claim 2, wherein: The charge / discharge system according to claim 1, wherein the cell stack includes a reversible cell in which a water electrolysis device and a fuel cell are integrated.

Images