Fuel cell and associated fuel cell system
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- FR · FR
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- SYMBIO FRANCE
- Filing Date
- 2024-12-20
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-26
Smart Images
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Abstract
Claims
Demands
1. Fuel cell (10), comprising: • a sealed casing (18); • a stack (17), entirely contained within the sealed casing (18) and comprising electrochemical cells (19) stacked along a stacking direction (X18), an interstitial volume (VI8) being delimited within the sealed casing (18), between the sealed casing (18) and the stack (17); • a ventilation air inlet opening (71), opening into the interstitial volume (VI8); • a ventilation air exhaust opening (72), opening into the interstitial volume (VI8), so that a ventilation airflow admitted into the interstitial volume (V18) via the ventilation air inlet opening (71) is exhausted out of the interstitial volume (VI8), in whole or in part, through the ventilation air exhaust opening (72);and • a concentration sensor (81), a measurement of which provides information on a hydrogen concentration in the interstitial volume (VI8); in which: • to open into the interstitial volume (VI8), the ventilation air inlet opening (71) and the ventilation air outlet opening (72) pass through the same first wall (18A) belonging to the sealed housing (18), the first wall (18A) being rectangular, being perpendicular to a principal direction (Z 18) and delimiting the interstitial volume (VI8); and • the concentration sensor (81) is carried by the first wall.
2. Fuel cell (10) according to claim 1, wherein the first wall (18A) is parallel to the stacking direction (X18).
3. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first wall (18A) comprises a first primary corner (61) and a second primary corner (63), which are diagonally opposite, the ventilation air inlet opening (71) being arranged at the first primary corner (61) and the ventilation air outlet opening (72) being arranged at the second primary corner (63).
4. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ventilation air inlet opening (71) is oriented obliquely with respect to the main direction (Z18).
5. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the ventilation air outlet opening (72) is oriented parallel to the main direction (Z18).
6. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: • the first wall (18A) comprises a first secondary corner (62) and a second secondary corner (64); • the concentration sensor (81) is a first concentration sensor, arranged at the first secondary corner (62); and • the fuel cell (10) comprises a second concentration sensor (82), which is carried by the first wall (18A) at the second secondary corner (64) and a measurement of which provides information on the hydrogen concentration in the interstitial volume (VI8).
7. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: • the fuel cell (10) includes a condensate drain opening (73), opening into the interstitial volume (VI8) through the sealed casing (18), so that the ventilation airflow admitted into the interstitial volume (V18) via the ventilation air inlet opening (71) is discharged out of the interstitial volume (V18), partly through the ventilation air outlet opening (72) and partly through the condensate drain opening (73); and • the first wall (18A) is disposed opposite the condensate drain opening (73) along the main direction (ZI8).
8. Fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealed casing (18) is parallelepiped in shape, the first wall (18A) constituting a face of the parallelepiped shape.
9. Fuel cell system (1), comprising: • the fuel cell (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, the stack (17) comprising a cathode inlet (13) and the sealed casing (18) comprising a second wall (18E) perpendicular to the stacking direction (X18) and adjacent to the first wall (18E); • a ventilation supply line (41), connected to the ventilation air inlet opening (71) for supplying the ventilation air inlet opening (71) with ventilation air; and • a cathode supply line (31), connected to the cathode inlet (13) through the second wall (18E), for supplying the stack (17) with cathode air.
10. Fuel cell system (10) according to claim 9, wherein an area of a minimum passage cross-section of the ventilation feed line (41) is between 0.1 and 0.5 times an area of a minimum passage cross-section of the cathode feed line (31).
11. Fuel cell system (1) according to any one of claims 9 or 10, wherein the fuel cell system (1) comprises a compressor (31.1), supplying compressed air to form the vent air from the vent supply line (41) and the cathode air from the cathode supply line (31).
12. Fuel cell system (1) according to claim 11, comprising an intercooler (31.2) connected to the compressor (31.1) to be supplied with compressed air by the compressor (31.1), the ventilation supply line (41) being connected to the intercooler (31.2) to be supplied with ventilation air by the intercooler (31.2), the cathode supply line (41) being connected to the intercooler
13.
14. intermediate (31.2) to be supplied with cathodic air by the intermediate cooler (31.2). Fuel cell system (1) according to claim 12, wherein: • The fuel cell system (1) includes a humidifier (33), fitted to the cathode feed line (31), being connected to the intercooler (31.2) via the cathode feed line (31) to be supplied with cathode air by the intercooler (31.2) and being connected to the cathode inlet (13) via the cathode feed line (31) so that the cathode air supplied to the cathode inlet (13) by the cathode feed line (31) has passed through the humidifier (33); and • The ventilation air inlet opening (71) is connected to the intercooler (31.2) via the ventilation supply line (41) upstream of the humidifier (33), to be supplied with ventilation air by the intercooler (31.2). Vehicle, comprising the fuel cell system (1) according to any one of claims 9 to 13.