Hydrogen gas generator

Abstract

Disclosed is a self-regulating hydrogen gas generator for a hydrogen fuel cell. The self-regulating hydrogen gas generator includes a fuel tank, defining an inner space having a designated volume, provided with a hydrogen outlet communicating the inner space, a fuel solution, containing a hydrogen storing material, stored in the fuel tank, and a catalyst contacting the fuel solution for generating hydrogen gas, wherein the catalyst fills a catalytic reactor, provided with a closed portion for interrupting the contact between the catalyst and the fuel solution, and an opened portion contacting the fuel solution, so that the generation and interruption of hydrogen gas are actively regulated based on the increase and decrease of the pressure of the fuel tank.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a self-regulating hydrogen gas generator, and more particularly to a hydrogen gas generator for actively regulating the generation of hydrogen gas due to variation in pressure of a fuel tank based on the amount of hydrogen gas generated in the fuel tank regardless of any external force. BACKGROUND ART [0002] Recently, industrial development has improved quality of life, but the rapid increase of energy demand causes serious problems such as environmental pollution and exhaustion of fossil fuels. [0003] All the countries of the world put forth great effort into the development of alternative energy sources to protect against possible exhaustion of fossil fuels, including petroleum. Particularly, the conventional use of fossil fuels causes serious environmental (air) pollution, thereby accelerating global warming and the destruction of environment. It is known that the main factors contaminating the atmosphere are nitric oxides, ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a self-regulating hydrogen gas generator, which is actively self-operated at an initial stage without an external energy source, and generates and supplies hydrogen gas serving as an energy source, thereby allowing the hydrogen gas to be used as clean alternative energy, preventing environmental pollution and increasing the utility of the hydrogen gas.

[0013] It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-regulating hydrogen gas generator, which has a simple structure and a minimal volume, thereby commercially applying hydrogen gas to apparatuses, systems and mobile equipment using hydrogen as fuel.

[0014] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a self-regulating hydrogen gas generator, in which a catalyst-fixing member, provided with a catalyst attached thereto, contacting a fuel solution to generate hydrogen gas has various shapes for generating a large amount of hydrogen gas, and a fixed fuel tank, mobile and portable equipment has a structure such that hydrogen gas generated in the fuel tank is efficiently exhausted and passes through a gas-liquid separating film, thus having an improved performance.

[0017] Further, preferably, the fuel tank may include gas-liquid separating means for separating the generated hydrogen gas from the fuel solution in a liquid state and exhausting the separated hydrogen gas to the outside. More preferably, the gas-liquid separating means may be a gas-liquid separating film having various shapes fixedly installed in the fuel tank so that a designated space between the inner hole of the outlet and the fuel solution is defined to easily exhaust the hydrogen gas through the outlet.

Problems solved by technology

Recently, industrial development has improved quality of life, but the rapid increase of energy demand causes serious problems such as environmental pollution and exhaustion of fossil fuels.

Particularly, the conventional use of fossil fuels causes serious environmental (air) pollution, thereby accelerating global warming and the destruction of environment.

These exhaust gases destroy the ozone layer, thereby causing various natural hazards, such as the direct transmission of harmful rays of the sun to the surface of the earth and the generation of climatic change, the destruction of the ecosystem, and various diseases.

However, in order to use hydrogen as an energy resource, technical problems caused by the generation of hydrogen and the safe storage and carriage of the generated hydrogen must be solved.

In order to obtain an energy density suitable for mobile equipment, several hundreds of atmospheres must be applied to the hydrogen, thus increasing energy consumption and requiring a safe storage method for the super high-pressure hydrogen.

The solid hydrogen storage method is advantageous in that it is usable at room-temperature and low-pressure and is excellent in terms of safety and reduces energy loss, but is disadvantageous in that it has a low energy density per unit weight due to the high density of a hydrogen storing material.

In case that the conventional solid hydrogen storage method is applied to the above hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle has a travel range half of that of a vehicle using gasoline as its fuel source, thus causing a difficulty in commercially using the conventional solid hydrogen storage method.

Thus, the use of the system is restricted.

In order to solve the above-described problems and since an embodiment for increasing a contact area between a fuel solution and a catalyst attached to a catalyst-fixing portion is insufficient, the development of various embodiments is required.

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