Fuel cell and vehicle including the same

Abstract

The utility model discloses a fuel cell and a vehicle including the same. The fuel cell according to the embodiment of the utility model comprises a mounting seat; a first battery stack, the first battery stack is mounted at a first position of the mounting seat; and a second battery stack, the second battery stack is mounted at a second position of the mounting seat, wherein the first battery stack and the second battery stack are connected in parallel. The fuel cell according to the embodiment of the utility model can safely achieve high power output.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model relates to the technical field of fuel cells, in particular to a fuel cell and a vehicle comprising the fuel cell. Background Art

[0002] Due to the intermittent, random and volatile nature of most renewable energy sources, the collected renewable energy cannot be directly equated with the energy that can be conveniently used. This is also the reason why serious wind, solar and water abandonment phenomena have occurred. Hydrogen energy has many advantages. First, it has high energy density. The calorific value of hydrogen is about three times that of oil. Second, it is zero-pollution. The only product is water, which can be decomposed again to produce hydrogen, thus achieving a closed loop. As an "electricity alternative", the application scope of hydrogen energy can cover transportation power, industrial production, energy transfer, grid energy storage and allocation and other fields.

[0003] In the existing technology, hydrogen fuel cells are power generation devices that use hydrogen as fuel and directly convert the chemical energy in the fuel into electrical energy through electrochemical reactions. They are also a key node in the field of hydrogen energy. The output power of existing fuel cells is often low and cannot be used in heavy trucks, mining trucks and other fields.

[0004] Therefore, it is hoped that there will be a new fuel cell and a vehicle including the same that can overcome the above problems. Utility Model Content

[0005] In view of the above problems, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell and a vehicle including the same, in particular, a solution for realizing high-power application by connecting multiple single-cell stacks in parallel, thereby safely achieving high-power output.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a fuel cell is provided, comprising:

[0007] Mounting seat;

[0008] A first battery stack, the first battery stack being mounted at a first position of the mounting base; and

[0009] a second battery stack, the second battery stack being mounted at a second position of the mounting base,

[0010] Wherein, the first battery stack and the second battery stack are connected in parallel.

[0011] Optionally, the power of the first battery stack and / or the second battery stack is less than or equal to 250 kilowatts; and / or

[0012] A voltage of the first fuel cell stack and / or the second fuel cell stack is less than or equal to 400 volts.

[0013] Optionally, the fuel cell further comprises a control unit and an output end;

[0014] The control unit is connected to the first battery stack to control the first battery stack to output a first voltage; the control unit is connected to the second battery stack to control the second battery stack to output a second voltage; wherein the control unit controls the voltage value difference between the first voltage and the second voltage to be less than a deviation threshold;

[0015] The first fuel cell stack is connected to the output end to provide the first voltage to the output end; the second fuel cell stack is connected to the output end to provide the second voltage to the output end.

[0016] Optionally, the first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same hydrogen supply device; and / or

[0017] The first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same oxygen supply device; and / or

[0018] The first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same cooling device.

[0019] Optionally, the fuel cell is an air-cooled fuel cell or a liquid-cooled fuel cell.

[0020] Optionally, the first battery stack includes a plurality of first sub-battery stacks connected in parallel; different first sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base; and / or

[0021] The second battery stack includes a plurality of second sub-battery stacks connected in parallel; different second sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base.

[0022] Optionally, the fuel cell further comprises:

[0023] A first heat dissipation unit, the first heat dissipation unit is connected to the first battery stack and is used for dissipating heat of the first battery stack;

[0024] A second heat dissipation unit is connected to the second fuel cell stack and is used for dissipating heat of the second fuel cell stack.

[0025] Optionally, the fuel cell further comprises a first fastener and a second fastener; the first fastener and the second fastener are independent of each other;

[0026] The first battery stack includes a plurality of first single cells stacked in sequence; the first fastener is connected to the plurality of first single cells stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of first single cells;

[0027] The second battery stack includes a plurality of second single cells stacked in sequence; the second fastener is connected to the plurality of second single cells stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of second single cells.

[0028] Optionally, the fuel cell is a proton exchange membrane fuel cell;

[0029] The first end of the first fuel cell stack is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the first fuel cell stack is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen;

[0030] The first end of the second fuel cell stack is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the second fuel cell stack is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen.

[0031] According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle comprises:

[0032] Frame; and

[0033] The fuel cell as described above is arranged on the vehicle frame; the fuel cell is used to provide power.

[0034] The fuel cell and the vehicle including the fuel cell provided by the embodiment of the utility model can achieve high-power output by connecting multiple fuel cell stacks in parallel.

[0035] Furthermore, the maximum power and maximum voltage of each battery stack are limited, thereby ensuring the safety of a single battery stack while achieving high power output.

[0036] Furthermore, different battery stacks are fastened using independent fasteners, thus ensuring the stability and earthquake resistance of each battery stack.

[0037] Furthermore, the control unit controls the difference in output voltage values ​​between different fuel cell stacks to be smaller than a deviation threshold, thereby preventing the current output by the fuel cell stack from flowing in reverse and ensuring the overall output performance of the fuel cell.

[0038] Furthermore, the parallel structure of the fuel cell is multi-stage, which can more flexibly balance the output power and the size and performance of a single stack.

[0039] Furthermore, multiple fuel cell stacks share peripheral auxiliary systems such as hydrogen / oxygen supply systems, which can improve the utilization efficiency of the peripheral auxiliary systems, reduce the proportion of parasitic power, and thus increase the output power proportion of the fuel cell.

[0040] Furthermore, by connecting the stacks of several liquid-cooled PEMFC systems in parallel, the total output power of the entire integrated system can be doubled, thereby achieving high-power output to meet the needs of large vehicles, commercial vehicles, power generation facilities, etc. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] The above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent through the following description of the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0042] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a fuel cell device according to an embodiment of the utility model is shown;

[0043] Figure 2 A schematic structural diagram of a fuel cell according to Embodiment 1 of the present utility model is shown;

[0044] Figure 3 A schematic structural diagram of a fuel cell according to the second embodiment of the present utility model is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0045] Various embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In each of the accompanying drawings, the same elements are represented by the same or similar reference numerals. For the sake of clarity, the various parts in the accompanying drawings are not drawn to scale. In addition, some well-known parts may not be shown in the drawings.

[0046] The specific implementation of the utility model is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Many specific details of the utility model are described below, such as the structure, material, size, processing technology and technology of the components, so as to more clearly understand the utility model. However, as those skilled in the art can understand, the utility model can be implemented without following these specific details.

[0047] It should be understood that when describing the structure of a component, when a layer or a region is referred to as being "on" or "over" another layer or another region, it may mean that it is directly on the other layer or another region, or that other layers or regions are included between it and the other layer or another region. Moreover, if the component is turned over, the layer or a region will be "below" or "beneath" another layer or another region.

[0048] Figure 1 FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a fuel cell device according to an embodiment of the present utility model. Figure 1 As shown, the fuel cell according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a mounting base 300 , a first fuel cell stack 100 and a second fuel cell stack 200 .

[0049] Specifically, the mounting base 300 is used for mounting the fuel cell stack and serves as a housing / base of the fuel cell, for example.

[0050] The first fuel cell stack 100 is mounted at a first position of the mounting base 300 .

[0051] The second battery stack 200 is installed at the second position of the mounting base 300. The first battery stack 100 and the second battery stack 200 are connected in parallel. According to the embodiment of the utility model, the number of battery stacks is not limited to two. On the basis of the first battery stack 100 and the second battery stack 200, a third battery stack, a fourth battery stack, etc. can also be connected in parallel.

[0052] In an optional embodiment of the utility model, the fuel cell also includes a control unit 400 and an output terminal 301. The control unit 400 is connected to the first battery stack 100 to control the first battery stack 100 to output a first voltage. The control unit 400 is also connected to the second battery stack 200 to control the second battery stack 200 to output a second voltage. The control unit 400 controls the voltage value difference between the first voltage output by the first battery stack 100 and the second voltage output by the second battery stack 200 to be less than the deviation threshold. Preferably, the control unit 400 controls the voltage values ​​of the first voltage and the second voltage to be the same, that is, each battery stack needs to be converted to the same voltage by DC-DC in the control unit 400. The first battery stack 100 is connected to the output terminal 301 to provide the first voltage to the output terminal 301. The second battery stack 100 is connected to the output terminal 301 to provide the second voltage to the output terminal 301.

[0053] Optionally, the (output) power of the first battery stack 100 is less than or equal to 250 kilowatts, and the (output) voltage is less than or equal to 400 volts. The (output) power of the second battery stack 200 is less than or equal to 250 kilowatts, and the (output) voltage is less than or equal to 400 volts. Of course, the power and voltage of the battery stack can also be set according to actual needs.

[0054] Optionally, the first battery stack 100 includes a plurality of first sub-battery stacks connected in parallel. Different first sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base 300. The second battery stack 200 includes a plurality of second sub-battery stacks connected in parallel. Different second sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base 300.

[0055] Furthermore, the utility model inventor found that in order to meet the needs of large vehicles, commercial vehicles, power generation facilities, etc., fuel cells will inevitably develop in the direction of high power in the future. The existing proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack is composed of multiple single cells stacked in series. Then, due to limitations such as material technology, the size of the bipolar plate is limited, and the current passing through the single cell is also limited. Therefore, in order to obtain higher power output, more single cells need to be stacked in series. But the reality is that the number of single cells that can be stacked in a single cell stack that can operate effectively and safely is limited by many factors. The main challenges are the uniformity of reactant distribution and the uniformity of the force on the single cell, which will cause the consistency of the single cell to deteriorate, which is a big problem for the operation of the stack. The severity will destroy the single cell and then the entire stack cannot operate normally. In the actual production process, due to the limitation of process precision, the thickness of the main components of the fuel cell stack, such as the bipolar plate, gas diffusion layer and other components, cannot be guaranteed to be completely consistent, and can only be controlled within a certain range, and the gas diffusion layer will also be compressed due to force, resulting in changes in thickness. The slight size differences of single-cell batteries will accumulate to the overall level. The more the number of fuel cell stacks, the greater the impact of component differences on the overall structure, leading to a series of problems such as uneven force and poor air tightness. The stack is generally fastened with bolts, and the tightening force needs to be controlled within a certain range. However, under the same tightening pressure conditions, the more single-cell cells in the fuel cell stack, the greater the probability that the fuel cell will loosen and deteriorate in sealing under vibration (such as car driving conditions). Another is the heat dissipation problem of the stack itself. A fuel cell is a chemical device that directly converts the chemical energy of the fuel into electrical energy. It is indeed not limited by the Carnot cycle effect, and the energy conversion efficiency is indeed higher than that of a traditional internal combustion engine. However, due to various factors, the actual energy conversion efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells in actual operation is mostly in the range of 45% to 60%, which means that about half of the energy will be dissipated as heat. A single cell stack has hundreds of single-cell cells stacked and pressed together, and heat dissipation is a big challenge. If the heat dissipation is not good, the membrane electrode will be damaged in severe cases, and the fuel cell will not work properly. In addition, the thermal stability of the proton exchange membrane material itself at high temperatures, the corrosion and thermal expansion of the battery metal parts may all lead to serious problems. In addition, the more single-cell battery cells are stacked in series, the higher the total voltage of the battery stack will be, and excessive voltage will also cause problems for insulation safety.

[0056] In short, to increase the power of a single fuel cell stack, it is not enough to simply increase the number of stacked cells. As the number of stacked cells increases, the difficulty of stacking increases significantly, involving technical advances in assembly process, material performance, stack structure design, etc. Therefore, simply increasing the number of stacked cells to achieve stack power improvement is not realistic after reaching a certain level. The above problems also need to be solved urgently.

[0057] Figure 2 FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a fuel cell according to Embodiment 1 of the present utility model. Figure 2 As shown, the fuel cell according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a first fuel cell stack 100, a second fuel cell stack 200, a control unit 400, a cooling device 500, a filter, an air supply system, a hydrogen supply system and a high-pressure hydrogen tank.

[0058] The filter is connected to a first end of the air supply system, and a second end of the air supply system is connected to a first end of the first fuel cell stack 100 (second fuel cell stack 200 ). Air (oxygen) is sequentially supplied to the first fuel cell stack 100 via the filter and the air supply system.

[0059] The high-pressure hydrogen tank is connected to a first end of the hydrogen supply system, and a second end of the hydrogen supply system is connected to a second end of the first fuel cell stack 100 (second fuel cell stack 200 ). The hydrogen in the high-pressure hydrogen tank is provided to the first fuel cell stack 100 via the hydrogen supply system.

[0060] Specifically, the fuel cell according to the first embodiment of the utility model is an air-cooled fuel cell or a liquid-cooled fuel cell. A liquid-cooled fuel cell uses liquid as a coolant, and the coolant is usually deionized water or a mixture of water and ethylene glycol, referred to as "liquid cooling" or "water cooling". An air-cooled fuel cell uses air as a coolant, referred to as "air cooling" or "air cooling". Taking a water-cooled PEMFC stack as an example, the fuel cell mainly includes a stack, a hydrogen supply system with a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank and a hydrogen circulation pump or a hydrogen ejector as main components, an air supply system with an air compressor as the main component, a cooling device 500, and an (energy) control unit 400. The core of the system is a stack (a first stack 100, a second stack 200), which is composed of a plurality of single cells stacked in series, specifically, the bipolar plates and the membrane electrodes are alternately stacked, and seals are embedded between each single cell, and the front and rear end plates are pressed and fastened with screws to form a fuel cell stack. When the fuel cell stack is working, hydrogen and air (the reactant is oxygen) are introduced from the inlet respectively, distributed to the bipolar plates of each single cell through the main gas channel of the fuel cell stack, and evenly distributed to the electrodes through the bipolar plate guide. They come into contact with the catalyst for electrochemical reaction to generate electricity. The water generated by the reaction and the unreacted gas are discharged through the bipolar plate guide, and the excess heat generated by the reaction is carried away by the coolant.

[0061] Optionally, the cooling device 500 of the fuel cell includes a first heat dissipation unit and a second heat dissipation unit. The first heat dissipation unit is connected to the first fuel cell stack 100 for dissipating heat for the first fuel cell stack 100. The second heat dissipation unit is connected to the second fuel cell stack 200 for dissipating heat for the second fuel cell stack 200.

[0062] Optionally, the fuel cell further includes a first fastener and a second fastener. The first fastener and the second fastener are independent of each other (not directly connected). The first fuel cell stack 100 includes a plurality of first cells stacked in sequence. The first fastener is connected to the plurality of first cells stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of first cells. The second fuel cell stack 200 includes a plurality of second cells stacked in sequence. The second fastener is connected to the plurality of second cells stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of second cells.

[0063] The fuel cell described above achieves power enhancement by connecting in parallel, without having to continuously increase the number of stacked single-cell layers; and each stack is equipped with a separate heat dissipation unit, taking into account both high-power output and heat dissipation.

[0064] Figure 3 The schematic diagram of the structure of the fuel cell according to the second embodiment of the utility model is shown. Different from the technical solution of connecting multiple independent system stack circuits in parallel to achieve high power output as shown in the first embodiment of the utility model, the solution of the second embodiment of the utility model connects multiple single stack circuits of the common auxiliary system in parallel to achieve high power output.

[0065] Specifically, the first battery stack 100 and the second battery stack 200 are respectively connected to the same hydrogen supply device (system). The first battery stack 100 and the second battery stack 200 are respectively connected to the same oxygen supply device (air supply system). The first battery stack 100 and the second battery stack 200 are respectively connected to the same cooling device 500.

[0066] Optionally, the fuel cell is a proton exchange membrane fuel cell. The first end of the first stack 100 is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the first stack 100 is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen. The first end of the second stack 200 is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the second stack 200 is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen.

[0067] The fuel cell described in Example 1 and Example 2 of the utility model only schematically shows the scheme of two unit systems and two stacks. In fact, multiple systems or multiple stacks can be connected in parallel to form an integrated system. In addition, the first stack 100 and the second stack 200 in parallel shown in Example 1 and Example 2 of the utility model can be further connected in parallel to form a higher-level integrated system. Taking the water-cooled PEMFC as an example, the output power of an ordinary water-cooled PEMFC system usually does not exceed one hundred kilowatts. According to the scheme described in this application, several systems or several stacks are connected in parallel, which can reach more than 500 kilowatts or even megawatts of power, and can be used as a single power output to drive heavy trucks or mining trucks, other heavy-duty vehicles, or for power generation and other application scenarios. Of course, the scheme of this application is not only applicable to heavy vehicles, power generation and other scenarios, but can also be applied to any other scenarios.

[0068] According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle is provided. The vehicle comprises a frame and a fuel cell as described above. The fuel cell is arranged on the frame and is used to provide power (for driving the vehicle).

[0069] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the statement "comprise a ..." do not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0070] The embodiments of the present invention are described above, and these embodiments do not describe all the details in detail, nor do they limit the present invention to the specific embodiments described. Obviously, many modifications and changes can be made based on the above description. This specification selects and specifically describes these embodiments in order to better explain the principles and practical applications of the present invention, so that those skilled in the art can make good use of the present invention and the modifications based on the present invention. The present invention is limited only by the claims and their full scope and equivalents.

Claims

1. A fuel cell, characterized in that: include: Mounting seat; a first battery stack, the first battery stack being mounted at a first position of the mounting base; as well as a second battery stack, the second battery stack being mounted at a second position of the mounting base, Wherein, the first battery stack and the second battery stack are connected in parallel.

2. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The power of the first fuel cell stack and / or the second fuel cell stack is less than or equal to 250 kilowatts; and / or A voltage of the first fuel cell stack and / or the second fuel cell stack is less than or equal to 400 volts.

3. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The fuel cell also includes a control unit and an output end; The control unit is connected to the first battery stack to control the first battery stack to output a first voltage; the control unit is connected to the second battery stack to control the second battery stack to output a second voltage; wherein the control unit controls the voltage value difference between the first voltage and the second voltage to be less than a deviation threshold; The first fuel cell stack is connected to the output end to provide the first voltage to the output end; the second fuel cell stack is connected to the output end to provide the second voltage to the output end.

4. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same hydrogen supply device; and / or The first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same oxygen supply device; and / or The first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are respectively connected to the same cooling device.

5. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The fuel cell is an air-cooled fuel cell or a liquid-cooled fuel cell.

6. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The first battery stack includes a plurality of first sub-battery stacks connected in parallel; different first sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base; and / or The second battery stack includes a plurality of second sub-battery stacks connected in parallel; different second sub-battery stacks are installed at different positions of the mounting base.

7. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The fuel cell further comprises: A first heat dissipation unit, the first heat dissipation unit is connected to the first battery stack and is used for dissipating heat of the first battery stack; A second heat dissipation unit is connected to the second fuel cell stack and is used for dissipating heat of the second fuel cell stack.

8. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein The fuel cell further comprises a first fastener and a second fastener; the first fastener and the second fastener are independent of each other; The first battery stack includes a plurality of first single cells stacked in sequence; The first fastener is connected to the plurality of first single cells stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of first single cells; The second battery stack includes a plurality of second single cells stacked in sequence; The second fastener is connected to the plurality of second unit batteries stacked in sequence to fasten the plurality of second unit batteries.

9. The fuel cell according to claim 1, wherein: The fuel cell is a proton exchange membrane fuel cell; The first end of the first fuel cell stack is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the first fuel cell stack is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen; The first end of the second fuel cell stack is connected to a hydrogen supply device to receive hydrogen, and the second end of the second fuel cell stack is connected to an oxygen supply device to receive oxygen.

10. A vehicle, characterized in that: include: Frame; as well as The fuel cell according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the fuel cell is disposed on the vehicle frame; and the fuel cell is used to provide power.

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