JPH0446535A - Uninterruptible power source - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To cope with a large power load required momentarily before an emergency generator is completely started after interruption of system power source by separately storing hydrogen gas, oxygen gas generated at the time of charging in vessels, and generating by electrochemical reaction of the gases at the time of discharging. CONSTITUTION:When a DC current flows to an electrode 9 through a rectifier 4 from a system power source 1, electrolyte 10 in a battery is electrolytically decomposed to hydrogen and oxygen by the operation of catalyst. The hydrogen gas is stored in a hydrogen storage vessel 11, and the oxygen gas is stored in the state of compressed gas in an oxygen gas storage vessel 12. At the time of generating, the stored hydrogen and oxygen are electrochemically reacted on the electrode 9 to become water and to simultaneously generate DC power, which is converted by an inverter 7 to AC, and AC power is supplied to an AC load 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention relates to an uninterruptible power supply using a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell.

"Prior Art" An example of the configuration of a conventional emergency uninterruptible power supply is shown in FIG. In the figure, power is always supplied from the grid type R1 to the AC load 2, and the storage battery 13 is always charged with DC power obtained from the grid type R1 via the rectifier 4.

In an emergency, when grid type R1 has a power outage, the emergency prime mover 5 starts up, drives the emergency generator 6 to obtain AC power, and generates AC negative power.
Supply power to rR2.

However, normally after a power outage, the prime mover 5 starts up and the generator 6
A startup time of several tens of seconds is required until power can be supplied from the storage battery 13. During this time, the DC power from the storage battery 13 is converted to AC by the inverter 7 to supply power to the AC load 2.

"Problem to be solved by the invention" In the conventional technology using such a storage battery, (1)
Instantaneous high power cannot be obtained.

(2) There is energy storage loss due to self-M electricity.

(3) Heavy weight.

(4) The volume is large compared to the capacity.

There are other problems.

"Means for Solving the Problems" In the present invention, a storage battery section that uses a conventional lead-acid battery or an alkaline storage battery is replaced with a hydrogen storage battery section that uses a conventional lead-acid battery or an alkaline storage battery.
It consists of an oxygen fuel cell, and at all times (when charging), the electrolyte in the fuel cell is electrolyzed by the grid power supply, and energy is stored in the form of pressurized hydrogen and oxygen, and in an emergency (during a power outage) , automatically generates an electrochemical reaction between the stored hydrogen and oxygen to supply electricity.

"Function" According to the present invention, it functions as a small and lightweight uninterruptible power supply that can handle power loads that require instantaneous high power for a short period of time until the start of the emergency generator is completed in the event of a power outage. It becomes possible to accomplish this.

``Example'' An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an uninterruptible power supply using the fuel cell of the present invention. At all times, power is supplied from the grid power source 1 to the AC load 2, and the fuel cell 3 is charged with DC power obtained from the grid type R1 via the rectifier 4. The charged state in this case refers to a state in which the electrolyte in the fuel cell 3 is electrolyzed by direct current and stored in the form of hydrogen and oxygen.

In an emergency, when the grid power supply 1 has a power outage, the emergency prime mover 5 is activated and drives the generator 6 to obtain AC output, which is supplied to the AC load 2. However, normally by the time the generator is started, Requires startup time of several tens of seconds.

In the present invention, during the power outage during this startup time, the DC output obtained by electrochemically reacting the hydrogen and oxygen stored by electrolysis is converted into AC by the inverter 7, and power is continuously supplied to the AC load 2. It is configured to supply

2 and 3 are a structural diagram and an operational diagram of a fuel cell according to the present invention. Figure 2 shows the state during charging (at all times). When direct current is passed from the grid power supply l through the rectifier 4 to the electrode 9, the electrolyte 10 inside the battery is converted into hydrogen and oxygen by the action of the catalyst. Decomposed. The hydrogen gas is stored in the hydrogen storage container 11 and the oxygen gas is stored in the oxygen storage container 12 in the form of compressed gas.

Figure 3 shows the operation during power generation (emergency), in which the stored hydrogen and oxygen cause an electrochemical reaction on the electrode 9, turning into water and simultaneously generating DC power, which inverts the inverter 7.
AC power is converted into AC power and supplied to AC load 2.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above with the embodiments, the present invention can be used as a power source for an uninterruptible power supply to electrolyze electrolyte and store hydrogen and oxygen, and in case of emergency (power outage). By using a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell that generates electricity, (1) the device can be made smaller and lighter;

(2) Since there is no self-discharge, energy storage and utilization efficiency is high.

(3) A large amount of instantaneous electric power can be extracted.

We look forward to the effects of this.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an uninterruptible power supply configured using the hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 shows a fuel cell configuration diagram and an operation diagram during charging, and FIG. 3 similarly shows an operation diagram during power generation. Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows a system configuration diagram of a conventional uninterruptible power supply. In the drawing, l... Grid power supply, 2... AC load, 3... Fuel cell, 4... Rectifier, 5... Emergency prime mover, 6... Emergency generator, 7
... Inverter, 8... Fuel cell body, 9... Electrode, 10... Electrolyte, 11... Hydrogen storage container, 12... Oxygen storage container, 13... Storage battery.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells that use an aqueous solution such as sulfuric acid or potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte, when charging with an external power source, the hydrogen gas and oxygen gas generated by electrolysis of the electrolyte can be stored in separate containers. What is claimed is: 1. An uninterruptible power supply device characterized by using a fuel cell having a hydrogen and oxygen storage container configured to generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction of the stored hydrogen and oxygen gases during discharge.