CN201112487Y - Fuel Cell Humidifier - Google Patents

Abstract

The fuel cell humidifying device provided by the utility model includes an outer cylinder body, a hollow fiber tube bundle and a driving device. The hollow fiber bundle is located in the outer cylinder body, and the contact between the hollow fiber tube bundle and the outer cylinder body is a dynamic sealing structure. The outer cylinder There are gas inlet pipes and gas outlet pipes at both ends of the body, and the gas inlet pipes and gas outlet pipes communicate with the hollow fiber tubes of the hollow fiber tube bundle; a cavity is formed between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle and the outer cylinder, and the driving device The hollow fiber tube bundle is driven to rotate around the longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder, and the outer cylinder has an air inlet and an air outlet, and the air inlet and the air outlet communicate with the cavity. The fuel cell humidifying device provided by the utility model has simple processing, easy operation and high humidifying efficiency.

Description

Fuel Cell Humidifier

technical field

The utility model relates to the field of fuel cells, in particular to a fuel cell humidifying device.

Background technique

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell is a device that uses hydrogen or purified reformed gas as fuel to electrochemically react with oxygen (or air and other oxidizing gases) to generate electricity. When the proton exchange membrane fuel cell is working, the protons in the battery are conducted through the proton exchange membrane. Specifically, proton transfer is carried out in the form of a hydrated proton, thereby forming an electric current. Therefore, in order to ensure the continuous operation of the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, the proton exchange membrane in the fuel cell must be kept wet. During the operation of the fuel cell, especially the operation of the fuel cell stack, a large amount of heat will be generated, which will easily vaporize the product water generated by the reaction in the cathode area, and the rapid flow of the reaction gas will quickly take away the water, making the fuel The proton membrane in the battery loses moisture, which causes the internal resistance of the fuel cell to increase rapidly, thereby causing the performance of the battery to decline sharply. Therefore, before the reaction gas participates in the reaction, it is necessary to humidify the reaction gas.

There are many humidification methods currently used, and a more commonly used method is to directly add a certain amount of water to the reaction gas entering the fuel cell. Due to the need to supplement water additionally, the operating cost of the fuel cell is increased, and it is inconvenient to use.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the utility model is to provide a fuel cell humidifying device with simple processing, low operating cost, easy operation and high humidifying efficiency to solve the problems of high operating cost and inconvenient use of the existing fuel cell humidifying device.

The fuel cell humidifying device provided by the utility model includes an outer cylinder body, a hollow fiber tube bundle and a driving device. The hollow fiber bundle is located in the outer cylinder body. The contact between the hollow fiber tube bundle and the outer cylinder body is a dynamic sealing structure. The outer cylinder There are gas inlet pipes and gas outlet pipes at both ends of the body, and the gas inlet pipes and gas outlet pipes communicate with the hollow fiber tubes of the hollow fiber tube bundle; a cavity is formed between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle and the outer cylinder, and the driving device The hollow fiber tube bundle is driven to rotate with the longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder as the axis, and the outer cylinder has an air inlet and an air outlet, and the air inlet and the air outlet communicate with the cavity.

The utility model adopts the hollow fiber tube bundle covered with micropores on the tube wall, and the hot and humid tail gas of the fuel cell containing a large amount of water is introduced into the channel in the hollow fiber tube bundle through the gas introduction tube at one end of the hollow fiber tube bundle, and the The dry reaction gas humidified for the fuel cell is introduced from the air inlet of the outer cylinder into the cavity formed between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle and the outer cylinder. Using the principle of concentration difference diffusion, the exhaust gas in the hollow fiber tube bundle The water will permeate into the cavity formed with the outer cylinder through the micropores on the hollow fiber tube wall. Since the permeation is driven by the concentration difference, the permeation speed is relatively slow. The utility model uses a driving device to drive the hollow fiber tube bundle The outer cylinder rotates on the longitudinal axis, and uses the centrifugal force generated by the rotation to quickly throw the water in the hollow fiber tube bundle out of the micropores on the tube wall, and quickly enters the cavity between the outer cylinder and the dry The reaction gas is humidified.

The fuel cell humidifying device provided by the utility model utilizes the moisture in the tail gas generated by the fuel cell self-reaction to humidify the reaction gas entering the fuel cell without additional water, which greatly reduces the operating cost of the fuel cell, and adopts the pro- The hollow fiber tube bundle made of water material is simple to process and easy to operate. Moreover, in the humidifying device provided by the utility model, the permeation speed of water can be controlled by controlling the rotating speed of the driving device, so as to meet different humidifying requirements of the fuel cell, and the humidifying efficiency is high.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural diagram of the longitudinal section of the fuel cell humidifying device provided by the utility model;

Fig. 2 is a structural diagram of the longitudinal section of the dynamic sealing structure of the fuel cell humidifier provided by the utility model.

Fig. 3 is a structural diagram of the longitudinal section of the cover plate in the dynamic sealing structure of the fuel cell humidifier provided by the utility model.

Detailed ways

Below in conjunction with accompanying drawing, the utility model is further described.

As shown in Figure 1, the fuel cell humidifier provided by the utility model includes an outer cylinder body 31, a hollow fiber bundle 40 and a driving device 10, the hollow fiber bundle 40 is located in the outer cylinder body 31, and the hollow fiber bundle 40 is connected to the outer cylinder body. The contact of the cylinder body 31 is a dynamic sealing structure, the two ends of the outer cylinder body 31 have a gas inlet pipe 21 and a gas outlet pipe 24, and the gas inlet pipe 21 and the gas outlet pipe 24 communicate with the hollow fiber tubes of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 A cavity 32 is formed between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 and the outer cylinder 31, the driving device 10 drives the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 to rotate on the longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder 31, and the outer cylinder 31 has an air inlet 25 and the air outlet 22, the air inlet 25 and the air outlet 22 communicate with the cavity 32.

The outer cylinder 31 is made of a material with certain strength and thermal insulation properties, such as stainless steel, engineering plastics or ceramics, and its pipe diameter is adapted to the gas flow required by the corresponding fuel cell. The air inlet 25 of the outer cylinder 31 is used to introduce dry reaction gas supplied to the fuel cell, and the gas outlet 22 is used to guide the humidified reaction gas out of the humidifier, and then supply the fuel cell. The two ends of the hollow fiber bundle 40 form a gas inlet pipe 21 and a gas outlet pipe 24, the gas inlet pipe 21 at one end of the hollow fiber bundle 40 is used to introduce the tail gas generated by the fuel cell reaction, and the gas outlet pipe 24 at the other end is used The remaining tail gas after water separation is discharged from the humidifier; the air inlet 25 and the gas outlet 22 of the outer cylinder 31 communicate with the cavity 32, and the dry reaction gas flows between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 and the outer cylinder. The cavity 32 formed between 31 is humidified and then led out through the air outlet 22. Preferably, the air inlet 25 and the air outlet 22 are located at both ends of the outer cylinder 31, more preferably, the air inlet 25 and the air outlet 22 are located on opposite sides of the outer cylinder 31, so that from The separated moisture in the tail gas can fully mix with the dry gas in the cavity 32 .

The hollow fiber tube bundle 40 includes a plurality of hollow fiber tubes, and the outer walls of each hollow fiber tube are closely attached to each other. Since the amount of water permeation per unit time depends on the gas-liquid contact area, the larger the gas-liquid contact area, the better the humidification effect. Therefore, the utility model adopts a plurality of hollow fiber tubes to form a larger gas-liquid contact area, so that a large amount of water can penetrate into the cavity 32 in a short time to humidify the dry reaction gas. The inner chambers of multiple hollow fiber tubes are connected in parallel to form a plurality of passages for introducing exhaust gas, and the outer walls of each hollow fiber tube are closely attached to each other, so that the outer wall of the outermost hollow fiber tube connects the cavity 32 with the hollow The passage formed by the inner cavity of the fiber tube is isolated to isolate the dry reaction gas and the hot and humid exhaust gas.

The filling density of the hollow fiber tubes is adapted to the gas flow required by the corresponding fuel cell, and can be bundled into a bundle with an appropriate length at about 30-80% to form a hollow fiber tube bundle 40. The bundling method can be arranged in parallel or The weaving method should make the outer walls of each hollow fiber tube closely adhere to each other. The hollow fiber tube is well known to those skilled in the art, and is a tube body processed from a hollow fiber membrane that is full of micropores and has extremely high hydrophilicity and heat resistance, such as an ultrafiltration membrane tube, a reverse membrane tube, etc. Osmotic membrane tubes, fine filter membrane tubes, ion exchange membrane tubes or liquid permeable membrane tubes have a diameter of about 500-2000um and a wall thickness of about 200-600um; the pore diameter of the micropores on the hollow fiber membrane is about It is 200-1400um, and the porosity is about 20-50%.

As shown in Figure 2, the device also includes a transmission shaft 20 and a sealing ring 23, and the inside of both ends of the outer cylinder 31 has a depression 27 corresponding to the position of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40, and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 is rotatably embedded in the In the above-mentioned depression 27, a sealing ring 23 is provided between the depression 27 and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40; the transmission shaft 20 is fixed in the hollow fiber tube bundle 40, and passes through the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 to extend out of the outer cylinder 31, and is connected with the driving device 10 The output shaft 28 is connected.

The transmission shaft 20 coincides with the longitudinal axis of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 and is connected to the hollow fiber tube bundle 40. The transmission shaft 20 and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 are connected in a bundled manner to ensure that the transmission shaft 20 drives the connected hollow fiber tube bundle 40 when it rotates. Synchronized rotation. The transmission shaft 20 is also made of materials with certain strength and thermal insulation properties, such as stainless steel. The driving device 10 is located outside the outer cylinder 31 , and its output shaft 28 is fixedly connected with the transmission shaft 20 to form a rigid fixed structure.

The drive device 10 can be powered by an external power supply or directly by a fuel cell, and its rotation speed can be controlled by adjusting voltage or current, and the rotation speed is preferably 500-2500 rpm. The drive device 10 is any device that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy, such as a DC motor or an AC motor, that can be powered by a battery or a power source to rotate its output shaft.

In order to make the outer cylinder body 31 and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 sealed and isolated when the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 is driven by the driving device 10 to rotate with the longitudinal axis of the outer cylinder body 31 as the axis, the contact between the two ends of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 and the outer cylinder body 31 It is a dynamic sealing structure. The dynamic sealing structure has a depression 27 on the inner side of both ends of the outer cylinder 31 corresponding to the hollow fiber tube bundle 40. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer diameter of the depression 27 is larger than the outer diameter of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 , generally slightly larger than the outer diameter of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 . A sealing ring is provided between the depression 27 and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40, and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 is rotatably embedded in the depression 27, so that the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 can rotate in the outer cylinder 31 and prevent gas leakage. The cover plate 11 and the cover plate 12 are also made of materials with certain strength and thermal insulation properties, such as stainless steel.

In order to reduce wear and tear caused by the rotation of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 in the outer cylinder 31, the fuel cell humidifier may also include two cover plates 11, the transmission shaft 20 passes through the hollow fiber tube bundle 40, and the two ends are respectively It is fixedly connected with a cover plate 11, and one end thereof extends out of the outer cylinder 31 through a cover plate 11, and is connected with the output shaft 28 of the driving device 10; the cover plate 11 includes a hole 12, and the gas introduction pipe 21 The gas outlet pipe 24 communicates with the hollow fiber tubes of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 through the hole 12 , and the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 is rotatably embedded in the recess 27 through the cover plate 11 .

The number of holes 12 may be one or more, which are evenly or unevenly distributed on the cover plate 11 .

Since an important use of fuel cells is as a power plant for automobiles, the reaction gas comes from the atmosphere. In order to make the relatively clean reaction gas enter the fuel cell for electrochemical reaction to improve the performance of the fuel cell, the reaction gas can be filtered before entering the fuel cell. Therefore, described humidifying device can also comprise air filter 26, and described air filter 26 is connected with the air inlet 25 of outer cylindrical body 31, is used for dust, impurity and moisture in the air are filtered out, makes relatively The clean dry gas enters the humidifying device through the air inlet 25 for humidification.

The air filter 26 is any air filter that can filter out dust, impurities and moisture in the air, such as an activated carbon alumina air filter.

As shown in Figure 1, the fuel cell undergoes a chemical reaction to generate hot and humid exhaust gas containing a large amount of water. After being discharged, it enters the humidifier through the gas introduction tube 21 at one end of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40, and thus enters the inner cavity of multiple hollow fiber tubes. In the multiple tail gas passages formed; the reaction gas supplied to the fuel cell is first filtered through the air filter 26 at the air inlet 25 of the outer cylinder 31 to remove dust, impurities and moisture in the reaction gas, and then clean The dry reaction gas is introduced into the cavity 32 formed between the outer wall of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 and the outer cylinder 31 through the air inlet 25; using the principle of concentration difference diffusion, the moisture in the tail gas in the hollow fiber tube inner cavity will be Through the micropores of the hollow fiber tube wall, it penetrates outwards, and then enters the dry gas in the cavity 32. The driving device 10 drives the rotating shaft 20 to rotate, and then drives the hollow fiber tube bundles 40 to rotate synchronously. Moisture in the micropores of the hollow fiber tube wall is quickly thrown into the dry gas in the cavity 32, so that the separated water and dry gas are mixed into a wet reaction gas containing a large amount of water, thereby realizing Humidification of reactant gases for fuel cells. The humidified gas is exported through the gas outlet 22 of the outer cylinder to be supplied to the fuel cell for electrochemical reaction. At the same time, the remaining tail gas in the inner cavity of the hollow fiber tube after water and gas separation is discharged from the humidifier through the gas outlet pipe 24 at the other end of the hollow fiber tube bundle 40 .

Claims (10)

1. fuel battery humidification device, it is characterized in that, this device comprises outer cylinder body (31), doughnut tube bank (40) and drive unit (10), described hollow fiber bundle (40) is positioned at outer cylinder body (31), doughnut tube bank (40) is a movable sealing structure with contacting of outer cylinder body (31), the two ends of described outer cylinder body (31) have gas introduction tube (21) and gas eduction tube (24), and gas introduction tube (21) and gas eduction tube (24) communicate with the hollow fiber conduit of doughnut tube bank (40); Form cavity (32) between the outer wall of doughnut tube bank (40) and the outer cylinder body (31), described drive unit (10) driving doughnut tube bank (40) serves as the axle rotation with the longitudinal axis of outer cylinder body (31), described outer cylinder body (31) has air inlet (25) and gas outlet (22), and described air inlet (25) and gas outlet (22) communicate with cavity (32).

2. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 1 is characterized in that, described doughnut tube bank (40) comprises many hollow fiber conduits, and the outer wall of each root hollow fiber conduit closely pastes each other mutually.

3. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 2 is characterized in that, described hollow fiber conduit is ultrafiltration membrane pipe, reverse osmosis membrane pipe, smart filter membrane pipe, amberplex pipe or the saturating filmed passing tube of liquid.

4. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 1, it is characterized in that, described device also comprises power transmission shaft (20) and sealing ring (23), the inboard, two ends of described outer cylinder body (31) has depression (27) corresponding to the position of doughnut tube bank (40), doughnut tube bank (40) embeds in the described depression (27) rotationally, is provided with sealing ring (23) between described depression (27) and the doughnut tube bank (40); Power transmission shaft (20) is fixed in the doughnut tube bank (40), and passes doughnut tube bank (40) and stretch out outer cylinder body (31), is connected with the output shaft (28) of drive unit (10).

5. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 4, it is characterized in that, described device also comprises two cover plates (11), described power transmission shaft (20) passes doughnut tube bank (40), fixedly connected with a cover plate (11) respectively in two ends, and an end wherein passes a cover plate (11) and stretches out outer cylinder body (31), is connected with the output shaft (28) of drive unit (10); Comprise hole (12) on the described cover plate (11), described gas introduction tube (21) and gas eduction tube (24) communicate by hole (12) hollow fiber conduit with doughnut tube bank (40), and described doughnut tube bank (40) embeds in the described depression (27) rotationally by cover plate (11).

6. according to claim 4 or 5 described fuel battery humidification devices, it is characterized in that described power transmission shaft (20) overlaps with the longitudinal axis of doughnut tube bank (40).

7. according to claim 4 or 5 described fuel battery humidification devices, it is characterized in that the external diameter of described depression (27) is greater than the external diameter of doughnut tube bank (40).

8. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 1 is characterized in that, described air inlet (25) and gas outlet (22) are positioned at the two ends of outer cylinder body (31).

9. fuel battery humidification device according to claim 8 is characterized in that, described air inlet (25) and gas outlet (22) are positioned at the two ends heteropleural of outer cylinder body (31).

10. according to claim 1,4 or 5 described fuel battery humidification devices, it is characterized in that described device also comprises air cleaner (26), this air cleaner (26) is connected with air inlet (25).

Images