Water Electrolyser System

Abstract

The present invention relates to a water electrolyzer system (1) for producing hydrogen, comprising an electrolysis stack (8) for converting water into hydrogen, power electronics (12) for converting alternating current into direct current for powering the electrolysis stack (8), a number of components (56, 64, 72, 80) for media processing of working media fed to and discharged from the electrolysis stack (8), and a control unit (18) for controlling the electrolysis stack (8), the power electronics (12) and the number of components (56, 64, 72, 80) for media processing, wherein at least the electrolysis stack (8), the power electronics (12) and the control unit (18) together form an electrolyzer module (36), and the number of components (56, 64, 72, 80) for media processing and media transport together form a process module (52). The modules (36, 52) are provided with matable portions (32, 40, 48, 84) through which the individual modules (36, 52) can be fluidly and electrically mated to one another.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a water electrolyser system for producing hydrogen. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a hydrogen plant comprising at least one such water electrolyser system. [Background technology]

[0002] The main part of a PEM water electrolyser is the electrolysis stack. Here, the general trend for industrial hydrogen production is towards very high power units with a power of several MW. Besides that, the electrolyser has various supply units, the so-called Balance of Plant (BoP). These units are water pumps, gas and water separators, ion filters, heat exchangers, temperature sensors, pressure sensors, gas sensors, ultrapure water processing units, hydrogen post-treatment and purification units, transformers, rectifiers, control units, cables, tubes and valves. How these components are connected to each other and whether they manage one or several stacks is up to the design freedom and discretion of the manufacturer. Depending on the design principle, different arrangements and pre-assembled units can be advantageous.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses an offshore power plant comprising a number of individual power plants, each of which has its own energy storage device, the power plants being electrically connected to a busbar. The energy storage device comprises an electrolyzer, which can produce hydrogen and oxygen from water, which are stored in a pressure tank. A fuel cell device is arranged in the energy storage device, which can generate electrical energy from the hydrogen.

[0004] From DE 10 200 03 133 A1 a system for energy production and energy management is known, whereby the system comprises a number of solar panels and a number of wind power plants for the production of energy, and the system comprises one or more electrolysers, by means of which hydrogen and oxygen can be produced from water.

[0005] If the electrolyser is built at the customer's premises (e.g. next to a solar field), the costs are particularly affected by the transport to the building site, the assembly costs and the commissioning. In this case, the delivery of the components separately may be preferable for transport, but the assembly and commissioning require high time and personnel costs. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] DE 10055973 A1 [Patent Document 2] German Utility Model Registration No. 202019003849U1 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a water electrolysis cell system which allows a simpler, faster and more cost-effective construction of such a system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] This problem is solved by a water electrolyser system with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments can be read from the dependent claims.

[0009] The present invention provides a water electrolyzer system for producing hydrogen, which comprises at least an electrolysis stack for converting water into hydrogen, power electronics for supplying the electrolysis stack with power, components for media processing and media transport of working media fed into and discharged from the electrolysis stack, and a control unit for controlling the electrolysis stack, the power electronics and the components for media processing and media transport, wherein at least the electrolysis stack, the power electronics and the control unit are formed together as an electrolyzer module and the components for media processing and media transport are formed together as a process module, in which the module is provided with connectable parts, via which the individual modules can be fluidly and electrically connected to one another.

[0010] The electrolysis stack is advantageously a PEM electrolysis stack. Modules are understood in the sense of the present invention to mean structural units which are produced together in a manufacturing plant. Preferably, these modules are produced automatically. After production, the modules are brought, for example by truck or ship, to the location where the hydrogen plant is to be installed or expanded. According to the present invention, the electrolyzer system only comprises the assembly of an electrolysis module, a process module and a control module. Depending on the size of the hydrogen plant, only several of these modules need to be provided. The automatic production in a factory considerably reduces the time and personnel costs for assembling and connecting the individual components and the costs for such a plant.

[0011] The modules can then be constructed and expanded according to the modular design principle. In addition, the modular construction reduces transport costs, since fewer operations are required to transport all the individual components to the site by assembling the individual components into a module. In order to ensure good transportability of the electrolyzer module, the electrolysis stack has a power of up to 1 MW. With such a power, its weight does not exceed the limit required for transportability. Preferably, the power of the electrolysis stack is between 500 kW and 1500 kW. On site, it is only necessary to connect several modules via connectable parts, which may be standardized for example. Thus, only electrical wires between these connectable parts are required, which reduces the number of wires. This also reduces the costs of connecting the modules to each other. In an advantageous embodiment, the electrolyzer module or the entire water electrolyzer system is arranged in a shipping container housing.

[0012] In a further advantageous configuration, the power electronics are configured for converting alternating current into direct current, since the electrolysis stack must be supplied with direct current. If the water electrolyzer system is supplied with alternating current, a corresponding conversion is necessary.

[0013] In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the connectable parts are configured as plug and / or flange connections. The use of plug and flange connections has the advantage that the connection does not have to be produced, for example, via laborious welding, which saves on costs for welders. Furthermore, the connection can be produced quickly, for example by tightening screws, which allows a fast and cost-effective connection of several modules.

[0014] In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the modules are connected to one another only by means of prefabricated working medium pipes and current lines, in other words, prefabricated working medium pipes and current lines have already been produced, for example, in an automated production process. They are connected only to connect the connectable parts. Thus, no unnecessary laying of connecting lines is required. This also significantly reduces the manufacturing costs of such a water electrolyzer system and the time required for this.

[0015] Particularly preferably, the current line is embodied as a common current rail which projects into both the electrolyzer modules and into the process modules, since all electrical consumers of the electrolyzer modules and the process modules can be advantageously connected to the current rail, so that current can be supplied exclusively via this current rail.

[0016] In an advantageous embodiment, the process module is combined with several electrolyzer modules. This allows such a water electrolyzer system to be scaled up to a larger plant. Depending on the performance, the individual components for media processing and media transport can then be attached to the process module, i.e. to supply several electrolyzer modules, or to the individual electrolyzer modules themselves, i.e. to supply only one electrolyzer module at any one time. The plant of the water electrolyzer system thus remains variable, especially in terms of its rated power.

[0017] In an advantageous embodiment, the electrolyser module comprises a plurality of electrolysis stacks. This is particularly advantageous if the dimensions of the construction space (e.g. a shipping container) allow correspondingly to arrange a plurality of electrolysis stacks in the electrolyser module. Furthermore, this is advantageous if the plurality of electrolysis stacks can share the control unit of the electrolyser module.

[0018] Preferably, the connectable portion is formed in such a way that the data connection portion and the current connection portion can be connected via a common plug. The plug thus has both contacts for forming the current connection portion and contacts for the data connection portion. Thus, only one plug is needed to ensure the current connection and the data connection. The advantage of the plug is that no tools are needed to prepare the current and data cables for the connection and to connect them. This allows the connection to be made quickly and simply. Advantageously, the plug is formed in such a way that it cannot be exchanged by mistake, so that even a person without a skill in the art can connect the plug correctly to this area.

[0019] In an advantageous further configuration, the process module additionally comprises a pump for circulating water through the electrolysis stack. Arranging the pump in the process module has the advantage that the pump can supply several electrolyzer modules.

[0020] In an alternative advantageous further configuration, the electrolyzer module comprises a pump for circulating water through the electrolysis stack. Arranging the pump in the electrolyzer module instead of in the process module has the advantage that a smaller pump can be used for each electrolyzer module. In addition, in the event of a pump failure, instead of shutting down all electrolyzer modules, only the electrolyzer module in which the pump is located is shut down. This allows the water electrolyzer system to remain operational further, so that redundancy is provided. In the case of a pump, if a defect leads to metal debris being introduced into the electrolysis stack, only this electrolysis stack has to be replaced instead of the entire electrolysis stack.

[0021] In an advantageous embodiment, the modules are formed so that their size is equal to or smaller than that of a shipping container. The size of such shipping containers is determined according to ISO standards. The advantage of such containers is that they can be easily transported by ship, rail or truck. Thus, no heavy lifting and special transport routes are required to transport the modules to the installation site. This significantly reduces the costs and time for transporting the components.

[0022] In a further advantageous embodiment, both the electrolyzer module and the control unit have a common connectability to the process module, where common connectability is understood to mean that the connections of the control unit and the connections of the electrolyzer module are directly juxtaposed to one another. The process module therefore only needs to be connected to the common connectability. This further simplifies the connection of the modules, so that only current and process lines need to be provided between the common connectability and the process module.

[0023] In this case, the common connectable portion is advantageously arranged in such a way that, when positioning a plurality of modules, the distance between the common connectable portion and the connectable portion provided on the process module is minimal or directly opposed to each other.

[0024] According to an expedient embodiment, the electrolytic cell modules form a common connectability to the process module. The electrolytic cell modules are therefore arranged in a common housing. In the housing, the process lines and the data lines of the electrolytic cell modules are connected to one another to provide, in the housing, a single connectability to the process module, which is common to all electrolytic cell modules. The connection of the electrolytic cell modules to one another is preferably automated and is carried out in the course of the manufacture of these modules. This reduces the production costs of connecting the electrolytic cell modules to one another, since the modules do not have to be produced on site. Thus, only the connection between the common connectability and the process module has to be manufactured.

[0025] In addition, a hydrogen plant is presented which comprises at least one such water electrolyser system, which provides substantially the above-mentioned advantages, namely that it can be built quickly, economically and simply, and that the modular construction ensures easy scalability of the hydrogen plant, in particular of its rated power.

[0026] Embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and are explained in more detail in the following description. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a water electrolyzer system according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates a water electrolyzer system according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] In Fig. 1, a water electrolyser system 1 according to an embodiment of the invention is shown. The water electrolyser system 1 according to this embodiment comprises two electrolysis modules 4, each with an electrolysis stack 8 (only one electrolysis module is shown) for converting water into hydrogen. In addition, power electronics 12 are arranged in the electrolysis modules 4, by means of which a supplied alternating current is advantageously converted into a direct current. Furthermore, a pump 16 is arranged in the electrolysis module 4, which enables water or a working medium to be circulated through the electrolysis stack 8.

[0029] The water electrolyser system 1 further comprises a control unit 18 arranged in a controller 20. The control unit 18 is thereby connected to the electrolysis module 4 via a control data line 24 for controlling the electrolysis stack 8, the power electronics 12 and the pump 16. The control data line 24 is connected together with a current line 28 to a common first electrolysis module connectable part 32. Both lines 24, 28 can thereby be connected via a common plug to the first electrolysis module connectable part 32 which is formed as a female connector.

[0030] In this embodiment, both electrolysis modules 4 and the control unit 18 are accommodated in a common electrolysis cell module 36, which is advantageously arranged in a housing, for example in a cargo container. A second electrolysis module connectable part 40 is arranged in the electrolysis module 4, via which a number of working medium pipes 44 of the electrolysis module 4 are connected to a common housing connectable part 48, to which the control data line 24 of the control unit 18 is likewise connected.

[0031] The water electrolyser system 1 further comprises a process module 52 with various components for processing and conditioning the working medium. In the embodiment shown, the process module 52 comprises a heat exchanger 56 by means of which the cooling water for the power electronics 12 and the water for the electrolysis stack 8 are cooled. For this purpose, the heat exchanger 56 is coupled to a cooling water connection 60. In the process module 52, in addition, a cathode gas-water separator 64 is arranged, in which the hydrogen coming from the cathode is separated from the cathode working medium and guided to a hydrogen connection 68.

[0032] Furthermore, an anode gas / water separator 72 is arranged in the process module 52, in which oxygen is separated from the anode working medium and conducted to an oxygen connection 76. In an ion exchanger 80, the working medium is deionized for use in the electrolysis stack 8.

[0033] The process module 52 has a common process module matable portion 84 to which multiple components of the process module 52 are coupled. The housing matable portion 48 is coupled to the process module matable portion 84 via bond lines 88.

[0034] In a preferred embodiment, the current line 28 is implemented as a common current rail, to which both electrolysis modules 4, the control module 20 and the process module 52 have electrical connections.

[0035] 2 shows another water electrolyzer system 1 according to another embodiment of the invention. The water electrolyzer system 1 comprises two electrolysis modules 4 each with an electrolysis stack 8 and power electronics 12, whereby the power electronics 12 preferably each comprise a power switch and / or a transformer. The two electrolysis modules 4 together with the control unit 18 form an electrolyzer module 36. The water electrolyzer system 1 further comprises a process module 52, in which the pump 16, the heat exchanger 56, the cathode gas / water separator 64, the anode gas / water separator 72 and the ion exchanger 80 are arranged.

[0036] Between the electrolyser module 36 and the process module 52 a working medium line 44 is arranged, via which the media conduction (in particular water and hydrogen) between the two modules 36, 52 takes place.

[0037] In an advantageous embodiment, the water electrolyzer system 1 further comprises a current rail formed as a common current line 28, which projects both into the electrolyzer module 36 and into the process module 52. Electrical consumers, such as, for example, the electrolysis stack 8, the pump 16, the control unit 18, have electrical connections to the current rail 28. [Explanation of symbols]

[0038] 1. Water electrolysis system 8 Electrolytic Stack 12. Power Electronics 16 Pump 18 Control Unit 28 Current Line 32 First electrolytic module - connectable part 36 Electrolyser Module 40 Second electrolytic module - connectable part 44 Working medium pipe 48 Housing and Connectability Section 52 Process Module 56 Heat exchanger 64 Cathode gas / water separator 72 Anode gas / water separator 80 Ion Exchanger 84 Process Modules - Connectivity

Claims

1. at least, - an electrolysis stack (8) for converting water into hydrogen; - power electronics (12) for powering said electrolysis stack (8); - several components (16, 56, 64, 72, 80) for media processing and media transport of the working media fed to and discharged from said electrolysis stack (8); a control unit (18) for controlling the electrolytic stack (8), the power electronics (12) and a number of components for media processing and media transport (16, 56, 64, 72, 80); A water electrolyser system (1) for producing hydrogen, comprising:

1. A water electrolysis cell system (1), characterized in that at least the electrolysis stack (8), the power electronics (12) and the control unit (18) are collectively formed as an electrolysis cell module (36), and a plurality of components (16, 56, 64, 72, 80) for media processing and media transport are collectively formed as a process module (52), and the modules (36, 52) are provided with connectable parts (32, 40, 48, 84) via which the individual modules (36, 52) can be fluidly and electrically connected to one another.

2. 2. The water electrolyser system (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the power electronics (12) are configured for converting alternating current to direct current.

3. 2. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the connectable parts (32, 40, 48, 84) are designed as plug connections and / or flange connections.

4. 4. A water electrolyzer system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the modules (36, 52) are connected to each other only by means of prefabricated working medium tubes and current wires (28).

5. 5. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the current lines (28) are embodied as a common current rail projecting both into the electrolyzer module (36) and into the process module (52).

6. 6. The water electrolyser system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the electrolyser module (36) comprises a plurality of electrolysis stacks (8).

7. 7. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the process module (52) is connected to one or more electrolyzer modules (36) by means of working medium pipes (44).

8. 8. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the connectable parts (32, 40, 48, 84) are formed in such a way that the data connection parts and the current connection parts are connectable via a common plug.

9. 9. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the connectable parts (32, 40, 48, 84) are designed in such a way that all working media can be connected via a common plug.

10. 10. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the process module (52) comprises a pump (16) for circulating water through at least one of the electrolysis stacks (8).

11. 10. The water electrolyzer system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the electrolyzer module (36) comprises a pump (16) for circulating water through at least one of the electrolysis stacks (8).

12. 12. A water electrolyser system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the modules (36, 52) are formed such that their size is equal to or smaller than that of a shipping container.

13. 13. A water electrolyzer system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the electrolysis stack (8), the power electronics (12) and the control unit (18) together have a common connectability (48) to the process module (52).

14. 14. A water electrolyser system (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a plurality of electrolysis stacks (8) form a common connectability (48) to the process module (52).

15. A hydrogen plant comprising at least one water electrolyser system (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

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