Horizontal fuel cell tube system and methods
View Patent ↗In one disclosed embodiment according to the invention, a fuel cell system for generating electrical power comprises: an open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cell; a first fuel injector tube extending from a first fuel plenum chamber through one open end of the fuel cell; and a second fuel injector tube extending from a second fuel plenum chamber through another open end of the fuel cell; wherein the first and second fuel injector tubes form a gap within the fuel cell from which a hydrogen-containing fuel gas may flow towards the open ends of the fuel cell. Further related systems and method are also disclosed.
1. A fuel cell system for generating electrical power, the system comprising:
an open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cell;
a first fuel injector tube extending from a first fuel plenum chamber through one open end of the fuel cell; and
a second fuel injector tube extending from a second fuel plenum chamber through another open end of the fuel cell;
wherein the first and second fuel injector tubes form a gap within the fuel cell from which a hydrogen-containing fuel gas may flow towards the open ends of the fuel cell.
2. A system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fuel plenum chambers contains a pre-reformation catalyst.
3. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the open ends of the fuel cell extend through first and second combustion manifolds bounding first and second combustion zones, and wherein the first fuel injector tube extends through the first combustion zone, and the second fuel injector tube extends through the second combustion zone.
4. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the fuel cell is an anode-supported tubular fuel cell.
5. A system according to claim 1 , wherein a bundle of a plurality of electrically-parallel tubular solid oxide fuel cells is mounted between an opposing pair of fuel plenum chambers, and opposing pairs of first and second fuel injector tubes extend into each fuel cell of the bundle.
6. A system according to claim 5 , wherein a plurality of the bundles of fuel cells are electrically connected in series.
7. A system according to claim 6 , wherein a plurality of adjoining fuel plenum chambers are electrically insulated by partitions.
8. A system according to claim 1 , further comprising a ceramic heating tube.
9. A system according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the fuel plenum chambers comprises at least two oppositely-facing sets of fuel injector tubes.
10. A system according to claim 1 , wherein a fuel inlet for the first fuel plenum chamber enters from an opposite side of the system from a fuel inlet for the second fuel plenum chamber.
11. A system according to claim 1 , further comprising a gas burner positioned to heat an enclosure surrounding a cathode zone of the system.
12. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the fuel cell comprises a plurality of fuel cell segments.
13. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second fuel injector tubes are electrically connected with an anode layer of the fuel cell.
14. A system according to claim 1 , wherein a first combustion manifold forms a seal around the fuel cell.
15. A system according to claim 14 , wherein the first combustion manifold is made of ceramic fiberboard, and wherein the seal is formed by compressing the ceramic fiberboard.
16. A system according to claim 15 , wherein a stack of a plurality of layers of electrically-parallel fuel cell bundles are electrically insulated from each other.
17. A system according to claim 16 , wherein ceramic fiber blanket material electrically insulates the layers.
18. A system according to claim 15 , wherein the first combustion manifold is separated into two combustion zones.
19. A system according to claim 18 , wherein the two combustion zones correspond to electrically insulated halves of the first fuel plenum chamber.
20. A fuel cell system for generating electrical power, the system comprising:
a plurality of open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cells positioned horizontally between a fuel inlet plate and a fuel outlet plate;
wherein the fuel inlet plate and the fuel outlet plate comprise a series of openings for the fuel cells, and each comprise a compressed layer of ceramic fiberboard that forms a seal around each of the fuel cells.
21. A fuel cell system according to claim 20 , further comprising a gas burner positioned to heat an enclosure surrounding a cathode zone of the system.
22. A fuel cell system according to claim 20 , further comprising a fuel pre-treatment module.
23. A fuel cell system according to claim 20 , wherein the fuel inlet plate and fuel outlet plate comprise flanges for modular assembly of the fuel cell system.
24. A fuel cell system for generating electrical power, the system comprising:
a plurality of vertically-stacked fuel cell layers, each layer comprising a plurality of open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cells positioned horizontally between two ceramic fiberboard fuel plenums and placed electrically in parallel;
wherein each layer of the plurality of layers is electrically insulated from neighboring layers.
25. A method of forming a seal around a tubular solid oxide fuel cell, the method comprising:
inserting the fuel cell through at least three seal layers, the seal layers comprising first and second metal plate layers and a ceramic fiberboard layer; and
compressing the ceramic fiberboard layer between the metal plates to form a seal around the fuel cell.
26. A fuel cell system for generating electrical power, the system comprising:
a plurality of open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cells positioned horizontally between a top half and a bottom half of a ceramic manifold;
wherein the ceramic manifold forms a seal around the ends of the fuel cells, and wherein an opening at one end of the ceramic manifold forms an inlet manifold, and an opening at the other end of the ceramic manifold forms an outlet manifold.
27. A fuel cell system according to claim 26 , wherein the ceramic manifold comprises openings for a plurality of bundles of electrically parallel fuel cells.
28. A fuel cell system according to claim 27 , wherein at least two bundles of fuel cells within the ceramic manifold are electrically connected in series.
29. A fuel cell system according to claim 28 , wherein an anode current collection system of the fuel cell system comprises a set of anode wires sandwiched between a pair of bus bars.
30. A fuel cell system according to claim 29 , further comprising at least one ceramic tube surrounding a current collection wire.
31. A fuel cell system for generating electrical power, the system comprising:
a plurality of vertically-stacked fuel cell layers, each layer comprising a plurality of open-ended tubular solid oxide fuel cells positioned horizontally between a ceramic exhaust plenum and a metal fuel input manifold;
wherein the fuel input manifold comprises projections for electrically connecting each fuel cell layer to a next layer above it, and wherein a corrugated current collector for each layer makes a snap fit with the plurality of fuel cells of the layer.
32. A system according to claim 31 , further comprising a heat exchanger positioned to store heat from outgoing air from the system and to warm incoming air.
33. A system according to claim 31 , further comprising at least one heating pipe extending through the exhaust plenum.