Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus – product – and – With pressure equalizing means for liquid immersion operation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-13
2003-09-30
Wyszomierski, George (Department: 1742)
Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and
With pressure equalizing means for liquid immersion operation
C420S900000, C420S402000, C180S065310
Reexamination Certificate
active
06627340
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The instant invention relates generally to system designs and thermal considerations that allow the use of revolutionary new Ovonic hydrogen storage alloys as the fuel supply source for fuel cells. More specifically the instant invention relates to system designs that reduce the relative cost of releasing hydrogen from hydrogen storage alloys by combusting conventional fuels or exploiting other forms of waste heat to provide the heat of desorption for the hydrogen which ultimately powers the fuel cell. The hydrogen storage alloys used to store hydrogen in the systems of the instant invention are capable of storing on the order of 7 weight % hydrogen and are capable of absorbing at least 80% of their maximum capacity in 1.5 minutes and have a cycle life of at least 2000 cycles without loss of capacity or kinetics.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The instant patent application describes system designs and thermal considerations for the economical use of hydrogen storage alloys, useful for a hydrogen-based economy. With the systems described herein, it is realistic to have automobiles which have a 300 mile range on a single fill-up of hydrogen, by burning hydrogen directly and recovering the waste heat to reduce the amount of additional heat require to release the stored hydrogen. The elements and interactive local environments of alloys, which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,491,866 filed Jul. 5, 2000 (the '866 patent, hereby incorporated by reference) provide them with high storage capacity, excellent kinetics and long cycle life. An infrastructure system for such a hydrogen based economy, is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,442, entitled “A Hydrogen-based Ecosystem” filed on Nov. 22, 1999 (the '442 patent), which is hereby incorporated by reference. This infrastructure, in turn, is made possible by hydrogen storage alloys that have surmounted the chemical, physical, electronic and catalytic barriers that have heretofore been considered insoluble. Other hydrogen storage alloys which are useful in such an infrastructure are fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,929 , entitled “High Storage Capacity Alloys Enabling a Hydrogen-based Ecosystem”, filed on Nov. 6, 1999 (“the '929 patent”), which is hereby incorporated by reference. The '929 patent relates to alloys which solve the unanswered problem of having sufficient hydrogen storage capacity with exceptionally fast kinetics to permit the safe and efficient storage of hydrogen to provide fuel for a hydrogen based economy, such as powering internal combustion engine and fuel cell vehicles. In the '929 patent the inventors for the first time disclosed the production of Mg-based alloys having both hydrogen storage capacities higher than about 6 wt. % and extraordinary kinetics. This revolutionary breakthrough was made possible by considering the materials as a system and thereby utilizing chemical modifiers and the principles of disorder and local order, pioneered by Stanford R. Ovshinsky, in such a way as to provide the necessary catalytic local environments, and at the same time designing bulk characteristics for storage and high rate charge/discharge cycling. In other words, these principles allowed for tailoring of the material by controlling the particle and grain size, topology, surface states, catalytic activity, microstructure, and total interactive environments for extraordinary storage capacity. Wherein disorder provides extra degrees of freedom so that atomic engineering can be applied, e.g. new compositions that have compositional, positional, and topological disorder. The function of a site can be altered and controlled by changing it's composition, position, and interaction with adjacent elements. This can be accomplished by using specific elements, modifying the number of sites, using the addition of chemical modifiers and adding/removing elements on an atomic scale to create atomic scale porosity.
The combination of the '442 and the '929 patents solves the twin basic barriers which have held back the ubiquitous use of hydrogen: 1) storage capacity; and 2) infrastructure. With the use of the alloys of the '929 patent, hydrogen can be shipped safely by boats, barges, trains, trucks, etc. when in solid form. The hydrogen infrastructure described in the '442 patent requires careful thermal management and efficient heat utilization throughout the entire system. The instant invention helps to make the necessary heat transfer between the subsystems of the infrastructure simple, efficient, and economical, by reducing the additional outside heat necessary to release the hydrogen without actually burning or combusting the hydrogen itself.
As the world's population expands, and its economy increases, the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are warming the earth causing climate change. The global energy system is moving steadily away from the carbon-rich fuels whose combustion produces the harmful gas. For nearly a century and a half, starting withe the industrial revolution, fuels with high amounts of carbon have progressively been replaced by those containing less. It had been predicted that this evolution will produce a carbon-free energy system by the end of the 21
st
century. The instant invention is a means of combusting small amounts of hydrocarbon fuels to help use a carbon free energy source that will provide vehicles with a 300 mile range. In the near term, hydrogen will be used in fuel cells for cars, trucks and industrial plants, just as it already provides power for orbiting spacecraft. Hydrogen is already the fuel source used in batteries (such as the hydride batteries developed by Ovonic Battery Company which shuttle hydrogen back and forth to generate electricity, and have revolutionized the auto industry), and fuel cells use hydrogen to generate electricity. With the advent of high capacity, fast kinetics solid state storage materials, hydrogen now will provide a general carbon-free fuel to cover all fuel needs.
FIG. 1
, taken from reliable industrial sources, is a graph demonstrating society's move toward a carbon-free environment as a function of time starting with the use of wood in the early 1800s, going simultaneously through the industrial revolution, and ending in about 2010 with the beginning of a “hydrogen” economy. In the 1800s, fuel was primarily wood in which the ratio of hydrogen to carbon was about 0.1. As society switched to the use of coal and oil, the ratio of hydrogen to carbon increased first to 1.3 and then to 2 and more recently to 4. However, the ultimate goal for society is to employ a carbon-free fuel, i.e., the most ubiquitous of elements, pure hydrogen. The problem has been that liquid or gaseous storage cant be safely and economically used. Solid state storage capacity and infrastructure will solve these problems. The inventors of the '929 and the '442 patents have made this possible by inventing a 7% storage material (7% is an un-optimized figure and will be increased along with better kinetics) with exceptional absorption/desorption kinetics, i.e. at least 80% charge in less than 2 minutes and an infrastructure to use these storage alloys. These alloys, following the principles of atomic engineering, allow for the first time, a safe, high capacity means of storing, transporting and delivering pure hydrogen. They allow for shipment of hydrogen in ordinary cargo containers without the strict regulations and restrictions of normal hydrogen transportation.
Hydrogen is the “ultimate fuel.” It is inexhaustible. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe and all matter contains hydrogen. Hydrogen can provide a clean source of energy for our planet and can be produced by various processes which split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be stored and transported in solid state form, therefore being economically and safely used.
While the world's oil reserves are depletable; the supply of hydrogen remains virtually unlimited. Hydrogen, which can be produced
Ovshinsky Stanford R.
Young Rosa T.
Combs Morillo Janelle
Energy Conversion Devices Inc.
Mau II Frederick W.
Schumaker David W.
Siskind Marvin S.
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