KR100653674B1 - An apparatus for controlling humidity of gas for fuel cell and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for controlling the moisture of gas for a fuel cell and its device, are provided to obtain more precise humidity of a fuel cell by preventing the condensation of moisturized fuel gas during movement. The method comprises the steps of (S200) setting the humidity of a fuel cell corresponding to the temperature of the second position adjacent to the entrance of a fuel cell; (S230) setting the first position adjacent to the discharge hole of a fuel gas moisturization part to be higher than that of the second position and reducing the set humidity of the fuel gas into the humidity of the target temperature; (S240) controlling the temperature of the first position to be maintained at the target temperature; (S250) controlling the humidity of the first position to be maintained at the reduced humidity; and (S260) controlling the temperature of the second position to be maintained at the set temperature.

Description

An Apparatus For Controlling Humidity of Gas For Fuel Cell And Method Thereof}

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a gas humidity control device of a fuel cell according to the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a gas humidity control method of a fuel cell according to the present invention.

<Description of the major reference numerals>

10: fuel gas tank 20: flow control unit

30: fuel gas humidifier 40: heater

50: humidity sensor 60: first temperature sensor

70: second temperature sensor 90: control unit

100 fuel cell 110 first temperature control unit

120: second temperature control unit

The present invention relates to a gas humidity control apparatus and method of the fuel cell, and more particularly, to maintain the temperature of the gas discharged from the fuel gas humidification unit to a target temperature higher than the temperature of the fuel cell side to lower the humidity of the fuel gas The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for condensation occurring while a humidified gas is moved to a fuel cell, thereby obtaining an accurate humidity of a fuel gas required in the fuel cell and providing a more accurate humidity sensing rate.

  Recently, due to the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental pollution, many studies have been conducted to develop energy sources that can replace fossil fuels. In particular, efforts are being actively made to develop pollution-free alternative energy that can solve environmental pollution.

In particular, the development of fuel cells using hydrogen as an energy source has attracted much attention. Since hydrogen is easily obtained in the atmosphere and generates large energy by reacting with oxygen, only water is generated as a by-product, which has emerged as the only alternative to solve the problem of energy depletion and environmental pollution.

A fuel cell that uses hydrogen as a fuel is a device that converts hydrogen into electrochemically and directly into electrical energy. When hydrogen fuel is supplied, electrons are separated from hydrogen through a catalyst, and hydrogen ions are transferred through an electrolyte membrane and electrons are transferred through an external conductor. After the movement, water is produced by combining with oxygen in the air supplied as fuel to the opposite side of the electrolyte membrane. In order for hydrogen ions to easily pass through the electrolyte membrane, it is necessary to control the moisture of hydrogen and air to be supplied. Therefore, a humidifier for controlling the humidity of supply hydrogen and air is essential for hydrogen and air supply of the fuel cell. It is.

The humidifier is a bubble type humidifier, and when hydrogen and air are supplied into the distilled water under the distilled water, the supplied hydrogen and air are humidified while rising upward above the distilled water in the form of a bubble. do.

However, in the case of the conventional humidifier, since the humidity of the humidified fuel gas is very high, the gas is condensed while moving from the humidifier to the fuel cell, and water droplets are generated in the connection pipe, and the generated droplet flows into the fuel cell side, so that the actual fuel cell. Since the humidity of the fuel gas flowing into the gas becomes higher than the set humidity, hydrogen gas does not easily pass through the electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell, thereby degrading the performance of the fuel cell.

In addition, when the temperature of the pipe line is excessively increased to eliminate condensation, it is difficult to control the temperature of the fuel cell inlet end.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to maintain the temperature of the fuel gas discharged from the fuel gas humidifier to a target temperature considerably higher than the temperature of the fuel cell side fuel gas is kept in a low humidity state By minimizing the condensation, it is possible to control the humidity of fuel gas more precisely.

According to an aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object, setting the humidity of the fuel gas corresponding to the temperature at the second position near the fuel cell inlet, the temperature at the first position near the fuel gas humidifier outlet Setting the target temperature higher than the temperature of the second position and converting the humidity of the set fuel gas into the humidity at the target temperature, controlling to maintain the temperature of the first position at the target temperature, the And controlling the humidity of the first position to maintain the converted humidity and controlling the temperature of the second position to maintain the set temperature. .

Here, the target temperature of the first position is preferably 10 ~ 30 ℃ higher than the set temperature of the second position.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the fuel gas humidifying unit for humidifying the fuel gas to maintain the humidity of the fuel gas at a desired humidity, the flow rate adjusting unit for adjusting the flow rate of the fuel gas flowing into the fuel gas humidifying unit, fuel cell A second temperature sensor for detecting a temperature at a second position near the inlet, a first temperature sensor for detecting a temperature at a first position near the outlet of the fuel gas humidifying part, a humidity sensor for detecting humidity at the first position, and the first temperature sensor A first temperature controller for raising or lowering the temperature near the first position, a second temperature controller for raising or lowering the temperature near the second position, and a second position at which the temperature of the first position is detected from the second temperature sensor The first and second temperature control unit is controlled to maintain a target temperature higher than a predetermined temperature of at least one of the temperature, and the humidity at the second position is controlled to the first position. In terms of humidity, which corresponds to the target temperature of the gas up to the humidity control apparatus of a fuel cell, it characterized in that it comprises a control unit for controlling the flow control unit is provided to maintain the humidity of the first position in terms of the moisture.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a gas humidity control device of a fuel cell according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the gas humidity control apparatus for a fuel cell according to the present invention includes a humidity sensor 50, first and second temperature sensors 60 and 70, and first and second temperature controllers 110 and 120. ) And the control unit 90.

In front of the gas humidity control device, the fuel gas tank 10 for supplying fuel gas such as hydrogen, the flow rate adjusting unit 20 for adjusting the flow rate of the fuel gas flowing from the fuel gas tank 10, and the fuel gas tank 10. Heater 40 to increase the humidity of the fuel gas by heating the water contained in the fuel gas humidifying unit 30 and the fuel gas humidifying unit 30 to maintain the desired humidity by humidifying the fuel gas in the dry state introduced from Is positioned, and a fuel cell 100 for generating electrical energy using a humidified fuel gas is located at the rear of the gas humidity control device.

The humidity sensor 50 is for measuring the humidity of the fuel gas at the first position.

The first temperature sensor 60 is installed at the first position P1 near the outlet of the fuel gas humidifying unit 30 to detect the temperature of the fuel gas humidified by the fuel gas humidifying unit 30, and the second temperature sensor ( 70 detects the temperature of the second position P2 near the inlet of the fuel cell 100 so that the temperature of the second position P2 is maintained at the same temperature as that of the fuel cell 100.

The first temperature controller 110 increases or decreases the temperature of the vicinity of the first position P1 (A stage) according to the control signal of the controller 90, and the second temperature controller 120 controls the controller 90. The temperature of the second position P2 in the vicinity of the second stage P2 is increased or decreased according to the signal. As the first and second temperature controllers 110 and 120, a heater using a heating wire may be used.

The controller 90 maintains the first and second temperatures such that the temperature of the first position P1 is maintained at a target temperature about 10 to 30 ° C. higher than the temperature of the second position P1 detected from the second temperature sensor 60. Humidity in which the humidity of the second position P2 is converted by controlling the temperature controllers 110 and 120, and converting the humidity at the first position P1 to a humidity corresponding to the target temperature at the second position P2. To control the flow rate control unit 20 to maintain.

Referring to FIG. 1, the operation of the humidity control apparatus of the present invention includes a pipe line including an A stage including a first position P1 on the fuel gas humidifying unit side and a second position P2 on the fuel cell side. It consists of two stages of stage B and operates the temperature of stage A at 10 ℃ higher than the temperature of stage B and increases the temperature at the same amount of water vapor so as to lower the humidity to prevent condensation of steam. Cooling or heating the fuel gas and water vapor in accordance with the temperature of the fuel cell 100 enables accurate humidity control of the fuel gas.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of performing a gas humidity control method of a fuel cell according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, first, after the temperature of the second position P2 near the inlet of the fuel cell 100 is set to the temperature of the fuel cell 100 (S200), the humidity of the fuel gas is set at the set temperature (S210). ).

When the temperature at the second position P2 and the humidity of the fuel gas are set, the temperature at the first position P1 near the fuel gas humidifying part outlet is set to a target temperature 10 to 30 ° C. higher than the temperature at the second position P2. It is set (S220), the humidity of the set fuel gas is converted to the humidity at the target temperature (S230).

When the target temperature and humidity of the first position P1 are calculated, the controller 90 maintains the temperature of the first position P1 at the target temperature based on the temperature detection signal received by the first temperature sensor 60. The first temperature control unit 110 is controlled (S240).

Next, the controller 90 controls the flow controller 20 so that the humidity of the first position P1 maintains the converted humidity based on the humidity detection signal received from the humidity sensor 50 (S250). That is, the controller 90 may control the flow rate controller 20 to adjust the flow rate of the fuel gas flowing into the fuel gas humidifier 30 to obtain the desired humidity in the state maintained at the target temperature.

Finally, the controller 90 controls the second temperature controller 120 to maintain the temperature of the second position P2 at the set temperature based on the temperature detection signal received from the second temperature sensor 70 (S260). ).

In the above embodiment, but limited to the method of controlling the humidity of the fuel cell, the present invention is not limited to this, it is obvious that the present invention can be applied to all the various humidity control devices that require precise humidity control.

According to the present invention as described above, by keeping the temperature of the gas discharged from the fuel gas humidifying unit to a target temperature higher than the temperature of the fuel cell side to lower the humidity of the fuel gas condensation is carried out while the humidified gas is moved to the fuel cell Since it is not generated, it is possible to obtain the exact humidity of the fuel gas required in the fuel cell and to provide a more accurate humidity sensing rate.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the above-mentioned preferred embodiments, it is possible to make various modifications or variations without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the appended claims will cover such modifications and variations as fall within the spirit of the invention.

Claims (3)

Setting a humidity of the fuel gas corresponding to a temperature at a second location near the fuel cell inlet; Setting a temperature at a first position near a fuel gas humidifier outlet to a target temperature higher than a temperature at the second position and converting the humidity of the set fuel gas into a humidity at the target temperature; Controlling the temperature at the first position to maintain the target temperature; Controlling the humidity of the first location to maintain the converted humidity; And And controlling the temperature at the second position to maintain the set temperature. The method of claim 1, The target temperature of the first position is a gas humidity control method of the fuel cell, characterized in that 10 ~ 30 ℃ higher than the set temperature of the second position. A fuel gas humidifying unit which humidifies the fuel gas and maintains the humidity of the fuel gas at a desired humidity; A flow rate controller for controlling a flow rate of the fuel gas introduced into the fuel gas humidifier; A second temperature sensor detecting a temperature at a second position near the fuel cell inlet; A first temperature sensor detecting a temperature at a first position near the fuel gas humidifying part discharge port; A humidity sensor for detecting humidity at the first position; A first temperature controller for raising or lowering the temperature near the first position; A second temperature controller configured to increase or decrease the temperature near the second position; And The first and second temperature controllers are controlled such that the temperature at the first position is maintained at a target temperature higher than a temperature higher than the temperature at the second position detected by the second temperature sensor, and the humidity at the second position is controlled. And a controller for controlling the flow rate controller to maintain the humidity at the first position in terms of the humidity corresponding to the target temperature at the first position.

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