Gas distributor for fuel cell

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas distributor for a fuel cell and, more specifically, to a gas distributor for a fuel cell in which the gas distributor decompresses high-pressure gas in two stages and supplies same to the fuel cell, wherein the gas primarily decompressed in the first stage is accommodated in an intermediate-pressure buffer tank and is then decompressed to operating pressure by a two-stage decompression unit, connected to the intermediate-pressure buffer tank, and supplied to the fuel cell, thus making it possible to configure a fuel cell gas supply system while minimizing an increase in volume and weight, even when it is necessary to supply a large volume of gas. Details of the initiative that supported this invention are as follows. [Project Identification No.] 1415186901 [Project No.] 20229400000070 [Department] Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy [Project Management (Specialized) Agency] Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning [Name of Research Initiative] Fostering of technologically innovative small and medium-sized energy companies (R&D) [Name of Research Project] 10 kW air-cooled fuel cell system for improving operating rate of small road sweeper by 50% and development of operation technology [Name of Institution Carrying out Project] TerraLIX Co., Ltd. [Research Period] July 01, 2022 to June 30, 2024.

Description

Gas distributor for fuel cell

[0001] The present invention relates to a gas distributor for a fuel cell, and more particularly, to a gas distributor for a fuel cell that reduces the pressure of high-pressure gas in two stages and supplies it to a fuel cell, while storing the first-stage reduced gas in a medium-pressure buffer tank and then reducing the pressure to a usable pressure by a two-stage reduced pressure unit connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank and supplying it to the fuel cell, thereby enabling the configuration of a fuel cell gas supply system while minimizing increases in volume and weight even when a high-volume gas supply is required.

[0002] In the case of a regulator used in a conventional fuel cell, as in the patent document below (see FIG. 1), the first stage performs a primary pressure reduction on a high-pressure gas (e.g., pressure reduction from a high pressure of 350 to 700 bar to a level of 10 bar), and the second stage is used by reducing the pressure to the actual use pressure. For example, the regulator is designed to be used by adjusting it by turning the control handle from 0 to X bar or by setting a specific use condition (e.g., 1 bar) so that the set pressure is maintained within the flow rate use range.

[0003] However, in cases where a large flow rate is required at a low operating pressure, as shown in Fig. 2, the cross-sectional area of ​​the pipe is increased while controlling the operating flow rate and pressure through a proportional control valve (a), or the capacity of the regulator itself is increased by changing the orifice and pipe design to increase the flow rate at the same pressure (b), or the low-pressure gas produced by the regulator is collected in a buffer tank of a certain volume or more to reinforce the flow rate (c), or a number of two-stage regulators are connected in parallel and used (d).

[0004] However, changing the orifice and piping design requires the same amount of time and cost as new development, increasing the cross-sectional area of ​​the piping or using a low-pressure buffer tank significantly increases the volume and weight, and when employing multiple two-stage regulators, the complexity of the piping and the volume, weight, and price issues make it difficult to apply it except to large-scale facilities such as actual power plants, making it particularly difficult to apply it to small mobility products.

[0005] (Patent Document) Patent Publication No. 10-2141895 (registered on July 31, 2020) "Two-stage pressure reducing electronic regulator for hydrogen"

[0006] The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems.

[0007] The present invention aims to provide a gas distributor for a fuel cell that reduces the pressure of high-pressure gas in two stages and supplies it to a fuel cell, stores the first-decompressed gas in a medium-pressure buffer tank, and then reduces the pressure to a usable pressure by a two-stage depressurization unit connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank and supplies it to the fuel cell, thereby enabling the configuration of a fuel cell gas supply system while minimizing the increase in volume and weight even when a high-volume gas supply is required.

[0008] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell gas distributor that enables the gas distributor to be made compact and lightweight without installing complex piping or additional fixing structures while securing a high flow rate by installing a two-stage pressure reducing unit by directly mounting it on a medium-pressure buffer tank.

[0009] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a gas distributor for a fuel cell that minimizes the difference in flow rate / pressure supplied to each fuel cell by installing a two-stage pressure reducing unit having the same set pressure and flow rate in a medium-pressure buffer tank and connecting it to a plurality of fuel cells, thereby ensuring reliability of gas distribution flow rate.

[0010] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention is implemented by an embodiment having the following configuration.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention is characterized by including a medium-pressure unit that first decompresses and delivers gas supplied at high pressure, a medium-pressure buffer tank that stores the gas decompressed in the medium-pressure unit in a space of a set volume, and a plurality of two-stage depressurization units that are connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank and decompress the gas to the operating pressure of the fuel cell and supply it to the fuel cell.

[0012] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, the intermediate pressure section is characterized by including a high-pressure pipe forming a passage through which high-pressure gas is supplied, a first-stage pressure reducing section for primarily reducing the pressure of the high-pressure gas supplied through the high-pressure pipe, and a intermediate pressure pipe for delivering the gas reduced in pressure by the first-stage pressure reducing section to a intermediate pressure buffer tank.

[0013] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, the two-stage pressure reducing unit is characterized in that it is directly mounted at a certain interval on the intermediate pressure buffer tank.

[0014] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, the intermediate pressure section is configured to reduce the pressure of gas at a pressure of 350 to 700 atm to a pressure of 10 to 30 atm, and the two-stage pressure reducing section is configured to reduce the pressure of the gas to a pressure of 1 to 1.5 atm.

[0015] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, a plurality of two-stage pressure reducing units are connected to each of a plurality of fuel cells.

[0016] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, a plurality of two-stage pressure reducing sections are characterized in that they are set to the same pressure and flow rate.

[0017] According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention, the pressure reducing unit is characterized in that the number of units connected to the fuel cell is adjusted according to the required flow rate of the fuel cell.

[0018] The present invention can obtain the following effects through the combination and use of the configuration described above and the following examples.

[0019] The present invention has the effect of enabling the configuration of a fuel cell gas supply system while minimizing the increase in volume and weight even when a high-volume gas supply is required by reducing the pressure of high-pressure gas in two stages and supplying it to a fuel cell, while storing the first-stage reduced gas in a medium-pressure buffer tank and then reducing the pressure to a usable pressure by a two-stage reduced pressure unit connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank.

[0020] The present invention has the effect of enabling a gas distributor to be made smaller and lighter without installing complex piping or additional fixing structures while securing a high flow rate by installing a two-stage pressure reducing unit by directly mounting it on a medium-pressure buffer tank.

[0021] The present invention has the effect of ensuring reliability of gas distribution flow by minimizing the flow rate / pressure difference supplied to each fuel cell by installing a two-stage pressure reducing unit having the same set pressure and flow rate in a medium-pressure buffer tank and connecting it to a plurality of fuel cells.

[0022] Figure 1 is a reference diagram showing the configuration of a conventional regulator.

[0023] Figure 2 is a reference diagram showing an example of a conventional method for securing high flow rate.

[0024] Figure 3 is a reference diagram showing an example of the configuration of a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 4 is a perspective view of a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] * Explanation of symbols used in drawings

[0027] 1: Medium pressure section, 11: High pressure pipe, 13: 1st stage pressure reducing section, 15: Medium pressure pipe, 3: Medium pressure butter tank, 5: 2nd stage pressure reducing section

[0028] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. In the following description of the present invention, detailed descriptions of well-known functions or components will be omitted if they are deemed to unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention. Throughout the specification, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, unless specifically stated otherwise, this does not exclude other components but rather means that other components may be included.

[0029]

[0030] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, a gas distributor for a fuel cell according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described. The gas distributor for a fuel cell includes a medium-pressure section (1) that first decompresses and delivers gas supplied at high pressure, a medium-pressure buffer tank (3) that stores the gas decompressed in the medium-pressure section (1) in a space of a set volume, and a plurality of two-stage depressurization sections (5) that are connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank (3) and decompress the gas to the operating pressure of the fuel cell and supply it to the fuel cell.

[0031] Conventional fuel cells use a regulator to supply gases such as oxygen and hydrogen required for power generation using the fuel cell. As shown in Fig. 1, conventional regulators reduce the pressure of high-pressure gas by a two-stage regulator and supply it to the fuel cell.

[0032] However, when a large amount of gas must be supplied at the same pressure, the capacity of the regulator or the cross-sectional area of ​​the pipe was increased as shown in Fig. 2, but there was a problem that the volume and weight increased and time and cost were invested for design changes. In addition, when the depressurized gas was stored in a buffer tank and then supplied to increase the flow rate or when multiple two-stage regulators were connected to supply the gas, there was a problem that the volume and weight of the buffer tank excessively increased and complex piping, weight, and cost were incurred for connecting the two-stage regulators.

[0033] Accordingly, in the present invention, high-pressure gas is first decompressed to store medium-pressure gas in a medium-pressure buffer tank (3), and then a plurality of two-stage decompression units (5) are connected to the medium-pressure buffer tank (3) to decompress the gas to a working pressure and supply it to a fuel cell, thereby reducing the volume of the buffer tank. In addition, by directly mounting the two-stage decompression units (5) to the medium-pressure buffer tank (3), the gas distributor can be made compact and lightweight without separate piping or structures.

[0034] The above-mentioned intermediate pressure unit (1) is configured to first reduce the pressure of high-pressure gas, and can reduce, for example, gas having a pressure of 350 to 700 atmospheres to a pressure of 10 to 30 atmospheres. The intermediate pressure unit (1) may receive the reduced pressure gas from a separate device as shown in Fig. 3(b), but preferably, as shown in Fig. 3(a), it may include a high-pressure pipe (11), a first-stage reduced pressure unit (13), and an intermediate pressure pipe (15) to directly reduce the pressure.

[0035] The above high-pressure pipe (11) is configured to form a passage for receiving high-pressure gas, and can receive high-pressure gas of 350 to 700 atmospheres from a separate storage medium (not shown) for storing high-pressure gas.

[0036] The above first stage pressure reducing unit (13) is configured to be connected to the high pressure pipe (11) and to primarily reduce the pressure of the high pressure gas supplied through the high pressure pipe (11), and for example, can be configured to reduce the pressure to 10 to 30 atmospheres of gas. A general regulator that reduces the pressure of the gas can be applied to the above first stage pressure reducing unit (13), and is connected to the above medium pressure pipe (15) to supply the reduced pressure gas to the medium pressure buffer tank (3).

[0037] The above-mentioned medium-pressure pipe (15) is configured to form a passage through which gas depressurized by the first-stage depressurization unit (13) is supplied to the medium-pressure buffer tank (3), and is formed between the first-stage depressurization unit (13) and the medium-pressure buffer tank (3).

[0038] The above-mentioned intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) is connected to the intermediate pressure pipe (15) and is configured to receive gas that has been primarily depressurized in the intermediate pressure section (1), and its size can be determined according to the flow rate required by the fuel cell. A plurality of two-stage depressurization sections (5) are connected to the intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) so that the depressurized gas can be supplied to a plurality of fuel cells. Therefore, the intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) is formed between the first-stage depressurization section (13) and the second-stage depressurization section (5) to secure the flow rate, and the intermediate pressure gas stored in the intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) is depressurized to the operating pressure of the fuel cell by each of the two-stage depressurization sections (5) and supplied, thereby reducing the volume of the buffer tank by a ratio of (secondary depressurization pressure / first depressurization pressure) compared to the case where the gas that has completed all two-stage depressurization is received and supplied in the buffer tank. For example, in the case where high-pressure gas is decompressed to 10 atm in the first-stage decompression unit (13) and then decompressed to 1 atm in the second-stage decompression unit (5), the size of the medium-pressure buffer tank (3) can be reduced to 1 / 10 compared to installing a buffer tank at the rear end of the second-stage decompression unit (5). In particular, since the second-stage decompression unit (5) is formed to be directly connected and mounted to the medium-pressure buffer tank (3), it is possible to configure a gas distributor while minimizing the added volume and weight without any separate piping or additional structures.

[0039] The above-mentioned two-stage pressure reducing unit (5) is configured to reduce the pressure of the gas that has been primarily reduced by being connected to the intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) to the operating pressure of the fuel cell, and a regulator that generally reduces the pressure of the gas can be applied. For example, the above-mentioned two-stage pressure reducing unit (5) can reduce the pressure of the gas to 1 to 1.5 atm according to the operating pressure of the fuel cell when the gas at 350 to 700 atm is reduced to 10 to 30 atm in the above-mentioned one-stage pressure reducing unit (13). In particular, the above-mentioned two-stage pressure reducing unit (5) can be directly mounted and installed on the intermediate pressure buffer tank (3) as shown in Fig. 4, thereby eliminating the need for separate pipes or structures. The above-mentioned two-stage pressure reducing units (5) can be formed in multiple units and connected to multiple fuel cells, and can supply a constant flow rate of gas to each of the multiple fuel cells. At this time, the two-stage decompression unit (5) can decompress the gas to the same pressure and supply the gas at a constant flow rate to accurately distribute the gas flow rate and supply it to the fuel cell, thereby ensuring reliability in the gas flow rate distribution. In addition, the two-stage decompression unit (5) can be connected to a plurality of fuel cells, and in some cases, a plurality of two-stage decompression units (5) can be connected to one fuel cell according to the flow rate of the gas required by the fuel cell. Therefore, it is possible to supply a gas at a constant pressure to a specific fuel cell while increasing the flow rate, and the supply of this gas can be accurately performed with a simple configuration.

[0040]

[0041] In the above, the applicant has described various embodiments of the present invention, but such embodiments are only examples of implementing the technical idea of ​​the present invention, and any change or modification that implements the technical idea of ​​the present invention should be interpreted as falling within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A medium-pressure section that first reduces the pressure of gas supplied at high pressure and delivers it, A pressure buffer tank that stores the gas depressurized in the above pressure section in a space of a set volume, A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized in that it includes a plurality of two-stage pressure reducing units that are connected to a high-pressure butter tank and reduce the pressure to the operating pressure of the fuel cell and supply it to the fuel cell.

2. In the first paragraph, the pressure part A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized by including a high-pressure pipe forming a passage through which high-pressure gas is supplied, a first-stage decompression unit for primarily decompressing the high-pressure gas supplied through the high-pressure pipe, and a medium-pressure pipe for delivering the gas decompressed by the first-stage decompression unit to a medium-pressure buffer tank.

3. In the first paragraph, the two-stage pressure reducing unit A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized in that it is directly mounted at regular intervals on the above-mentioned medium-pressure buffer tank.

4. In the second paragraph, the pressure part Reduce the pressure of gas at 350 to 700 atmospheres to 10 to 30 atmospheres, A fuel cell gas distributor characterized in that the above two-stage pressure reducing unit reduces the pressure of gas to 1 to 1.5 atm.

5. In paragraph 1, a plurality of two-stage pressure reducing units A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized in that it is connected to each of a plurality of fuel cells.

6. In paragraph 5, a plurality of two-stage pressure reducing units A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized in that it is set to the same pressure and flow rate.

7. In the 6th paragraph, the pressure reducing unit A gas distributor for a fuel cell, characterized in that the number of gas distributors connected to a fuel cell is adjusted according to the required flow rate of the fuel cell.

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