State of charge indicator and methods related thereto
View Patent ↗Embodiments of the invention relate a charge indicator for determining the mass of a fluid contained within a fluid enclosure, wherein the charge indicator responds to a deformation of a solid component in contact with the fluid and wherein the deformation is a function of the mass of fluid contained within the fluid enclosure.
1. A method of determining the mass of fluid contained within a fluid enclosure, the method comprising:
measuring deformation of a solid component, wherein the solid component is contained within the enclosure and in contact with the fluid within the enclosure, and wherein the deformation is a function of the mass of a fluid contained within the enclosure; and
determining the mass of the fluid contained within the enclosure using the measured deformation.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid component is a composite hydrogen storage material that includes active material particles mixed with a binder.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein environmental temperature changes introduce less than a 1% error in determining the mass of fluid contained within the enclosure.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein environmental humidity changes introduce less than a 1% error in determining the mass of fluid contained within the fluid enclosure.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein environmental barometric pressure changes introduce less than about a 1% error in determining the mass of fluid contained within the fluid enclosure.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deformation includes a change in physical dimensions of the solid component.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the deformation is about a 1% deformation.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the deformation is about a 1% deformation to about a 3% deformation.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the deformation is about a 3% deformation to about a 10% deformation.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises a gas.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fluid includes hydrogen.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure includes a composite hydrogen storage material and settling in the composite hydrogen storage material introduces less than a 1% error in determining the mass of fluid contained within the enclosure.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid component includes a metal hydride.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the metal hydride includes type AB, AB 2 , A 2 B, AB 5 , BCC metal hydrides or combinations thereof.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid component includes LaNi 5 , FeTi, or MmNi 5 , wherein Mm refers to a mixture of lanthanides.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid component includes clathrates, silicas, aluminas, zeolites, graphite, activated carbons, nano-structured carbons, micro-ceramics, nano-ceramics, boron nitride nanotubes, palladium-containing materials or combinations thereof.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enclosure is a flexible fluid enclosure and is conformably coupled to a composite hydrogen storage material.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the fluid is contained within a second fluid enclosure.
19. The method of claim 1 , further including indicating the mass of fluid with a charge indicator.
20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the charge indicator includes a transducer.
21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the charge indicator includes a lever indicator.
22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the charge indicator includes a visible window to view the deformation of a component.
23. The method of claim 19 , wherein indicating the mass of fluid includes a color change.
24. The method of claim 19 , wherein the charge indicator includes an optical interference pattern.
25. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fluid enclosure containing a fluid;
a solid component contained within the enclosure and in contact with the fluid contained within the fluid enclosure;
a charge indicator, in contact with at least one of the fluid enclosure and the solid component; and
a fuel cell in fluid communication with the fluid enclosure;
wherein the charge indicator is configured to measure deformation of the solid component and wherein the deformation is a function of the mass of the fluid contained within the fluid enclosure.
26. The fuel cell system of claim 25 , wherein the solid component is a composite hydrogen storage material that includes active material particles mixed with a binder.
27. The fuel cell system of claim 26 , wherein the solid component includes a metal hydride.
28. The fuel cell system of claim 25 , wherein the fluid includes hydrogen.
29. The fuel cell system of claim 25 , wherein the fluid enclosure is a flexible fluid enclosure and is conformably coupled to a composite hydrogen storage material.
30. The fuel cell system of claim 25 , wherein the charge indicator is configured to indicate the mass of fluid contained within the fluid enclosure.