U.S. patent application number 10/407258 was filed with the patent office on 2004-10-07 for fluid balance control system for use in a fuel processor.
Invention is credited to Mirkovic, Vesna R., Nguyen, Kevin H., Wheat, W. Spencer.
Application Number | 20040194827 10/407258 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32990278 |
Filed Date | 2004-10-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040194827 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Nguyen, Kevin H. ; et
al. |
October 7, 2004 |
FLUID BALANCE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR USE IN A FUEL PROCESSOR
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing a balanced fluid supply
through multiple feeds are disclosed. The method comprises
supplying the fluid through a plurality of feeds from a common
fluid accumulator; determining the fluid pressure in a common fluid
accumulator; and controlling the fluid pressure in the common fluid
accumulator responsive to the fluid pressure sensed therein to
maintain the fluid pressure within a predetermined range. The
balanced fluid supply comprises a common fluid accumulator; a
plurality of feeds from the common fluid accumulator; and a control
system capable of controlling the pressure of the fluid supplied
from the common fluid accumulator to the feeds responsive to a
determined pressure of fluid in the common fluid accumulator.
Inventors: |
Nguyen, Kevin H.; (Missouri
City, TX) ; Wheat, W. Spencer; (Missouri City,
TX) ; Mirkovic, Vesna R.; (Pearland, TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ChevronTexaco
Law Department, Intellectual Property Unit
Suite 4040
1111 Bagby Street
Houston
TX
77002-3234
US
|
Family ID: |
32990278 |
Appl. No.: |
10/407258 |
Filed: |
April 4, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
137/485 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01M 8/04425 20130101;
Y10T 137/7761 20150401; G05D 16/208 20130101; Y02E 60/50 20130101;
H01M 8/04776 20130101; Y10T 137/87877 20150401; Y10T 137/0396
20150401; G05D 11/132 20130101; H01M 8/0618 20130101; H01M 8/0668
20130101; H01M 8/04022 20130101; Y10T 137/7758 20150401; H01M
8/0662 20130101; Y10T 137/86051 20150401; H01M 8/04738
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
137/485 |
International
Class: |
G05D 007/00 |
Claims
What is claimed:
1. A method for controlling the pressure in a plurality of feeds in
a fuel processor, comprising: supplying the fluid through a
plurality of feeds from a common fluid accumulator; determining the
fluid pressure in a common fluid accumulator; and controlling the
fluid pressure in the common fluid accumulator responsive to the
fluid pressure sensed therein to maintain the fluid pressure within
a predetermined range.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the fluid pressure in
the common fluid accumulator includes sensing the pressure in the
common fluid accumulator.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the fluid pressure in
the common fluid accumulator includes sensing the pressure in a
feed to the common fluid accumulator.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein supplying fluid includes metering
the flow of fluid from the common fluid accumulator in each of the
feeds.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein supplying fluid includes
providing fluid to the common fluid accumulator.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing fluid to the common
fluid accumulator includes sensing the pressure of fluid provided
to the common fluid accumulator.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein supplying the fluid includes
supplying air.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:
sensing the fluid pressure in each of the feeds; and sensing the
fluid pressure of the fluid supplied to the common fluid
accumulator.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling the fluid pressure in
the common fluid accumulator includes controlling the fluid
pressure in the common fluid accumulator responsive to the sensed
fluid pressure in the feeds or the fluid supplied to the common
fluid accumulator.
10. A balanced fluid supply for a fuel processor, comprising: a
common fluid accumulator; a plurality of feeds from the common
fluid accumulator; and a control system capable of controlling the
pressure of the fluid supplied from the common fluid accumulator to
the feeds responsive to a determined pressure of fluid in the
common fluid accumulator.
11. The fluid supply of claim 10, wherein the fluid pressure in the
common fluid accumulator is determined by sensing the pressure in
the common fluid accumulator.
12. The fluid supply of claim 10, wherein the fluid pressure in the
common fluid accumulator is determined by sensing the pressure in a
feed to the common fluid accumulator.
13. The fluid supply of claim 10, further comprising: a fluid
intake; a compressor actuated by the control system to provide
fluid from the fluid intake to the common fluid accumulator
responsive to the pressure sensed in the common fluid
accumulator.
14. The fluid supply of claim 13, further comprising a fluid flow
sensor on the fluid intake.
15. The fluid supply of claim 10, wherein the control system
includes a programmed computing apparatus capable reading a signal
indicating the fluid pressure in the common fluid accumulator and
signaling to maintain the fluid pressure.
16. The fluid supply of claim 10, wherein each feed includes: a
supply line; a flow controller capable of controlling the flow of
fluid from the common fluid accumulator through the respective
supply line; and a sensor measuring the inlet pressure to the
respective flow controller;
17. The fluid supply of claim 16, wherein the control system is
capable of actuating the flow controller in each feed.
18. The fluid supply of claim 16, wherein the control system is
capable of controlling the pressure of the fluid supplied from the
common fluid accumulator responsive to the fluid pressure sensed in
each feed by the sensor.
19. A fuel processor, comprising: an autothermal reformer including
a preferential oxidizer and capable of reforming a process feed
stream; an oxidizer capable of mixing a fuel, a fluid, and a steam
to create the process feed stream and delivering the process feed
stream to the autothermal reformer; a fuel subsystem capable of
delivering the fuel to the oxidizer subsystem; a water subsystem
capable of delivering water to the oxidizer; an air subsystem
capable of employing a closed loop, feedback control technique to
maintain a constant pressure of air supplied to the autothermal
reformer, the preferential oxidizer, and the oxidizer from a common
air accumulator; a thermal subsystem capable of regulating the
operational temperatures of the autothermal reformer and the
oxidizer; and a control system capable of controlling the operation
of the autothermal reformer, the oxidizer, the fuel subsystem, the
water subsystem, the fluid subsystem, and the thermal
subsystem.
20. The fuel processor of claim 19, wherein employing the closed
loop, feedback control technique includes controlling the pressure
of the fluid supplied from the common fluid accumulator to the
feeds responsive to a determined pressure of fluid in the common
fluid accumulator.
21. The fuel processor of claim 20, wherein the air pressure in the
common air accumulator is determined by sensing the pressure in the
common air accumulator.
22. The fuel processor of claim 20, wherein the air pressure in the
common air accumulator is determined by sensing the pressure in a
feed to the common air accumulator.
23. The fuel processor of claim 20, further comprising: a air
intake; a compressor actuated by the control system to provide air
from the air intake to the common air accumulator responsive to the
pressure sensed in the common air accumulator.
24. The fuel processor of claim 23, further comprising a air flow
sensor on the air intake.
25. The fuel processor of claim 20, wherein the control system
includes a programmed computing apparatus capable reading a signal
indicating the air pressure in the common air accumulator and
signaling to maintain the air pressure.
26. The fuel processor of claim 20, wherein each feed includes: a
supply line; a flow controller capable of controlling the flow of
air from the common air accumulator through the respective supply
line; and a sensor measuring the inlet pressure to the respective
flow controller;
27. The fuel processor of claim 26, wherein the control system is
capable of actuating the flow controller in each feed.
28. The fuel processor of claim 26, wherein the control system is
capable of controlling the pressure of the air supplied from the
common air accumulator responsive to the air pressure sensed in
each feed by the sensor.
29. The fuel processor of claim 19, wherein the water subsystem is
capable of employing a closed loop, feedback control technique to
maintain a constant pressure of air supplied to the oxidizer from a
common water accumulator.
30. The fuel processor of claim 19, wherein the fuel subsystem is
capable of employing a closed loop, feedback control technique to
maintain a constant pressure of fuel supplied to the oxidizer from
a common fuel accumulator.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention pertains to fluid supplies for fuel
processors, and, more particularly, to a fluid balance control
system for use in a fuel processor.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] Fuel cell technology is an alternative energy source for
more conventional energy sources employing the combustion of fossil
fuels. A fuel cell typically produces electricity, water, and heat
from a fuel and oxygen. More particularly, fuel cells provide
electricity from chemical oxidation-reduction reactions and possess
significant advantages over other forms of power generation in
terms of cleanliness and efficiency. Typically, fuel cells employ
hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen as the oxidizing agent. The power
generation is proportional to the consumption rate of the
reactants.
[0005] A significant disadvantage which inhibits the wider use of
fuel cells is the lack of a widespread hydrogen infrastructure.
Hydrogen has a relatively low volumetric energy density and is more
difficult to store and transport than the hydrocarbon fuels
currently used in most power generation systems. One way to
overcome this difficulty is the use of "fuel processors" or
"reformers" to convert the hydrocarbons to a hydrogen rich gas
stream, commonly referred to as "reformate", which can be used as a
feed for fuel cells. Hydrocarbon-based fuels, such as natural gas,
LPG, gasoline, and diesel, require conversion processes to be used
as fuel sources for most fuel cells. Current art uses multi-step
processes combining an initial conversion process with several
clean-up processes. The initial process is most often steam
reforming ("SR"), autothermal reforming ("ATR"), catalytic partial
oxidation ("CPOX"), or non-catalytic partial oxidation ("POX"). The
clean-up processes are usually comprised of a combination of
desulfurization, high temperature water-gas shift, low temperature
water-gas shift, selective CO oxidation, or selective CO
methanation. Alternative processes include hydrogen selective
membrane reactors and filters.
[0006] Thus, many types of fuels can be used; some of them hybrids
with fossil fuels, but the ideal fuel is hydrogen. If the fuel is,
for instance, hydrogen, then the combustion is very clean and, as a
practical matter, only the water is left after the dissipation
and/or consumption of the heat and the consumption of the
electricity. Most readily available fuels (e.g., natural gas,
propane and gasoline) and even the less common ones (e.g., methanol
and ethanol) include hydrogen in their molecular structure. Some
fuel cell implementations therefore employ a "fuel processor" that
processes a particular fuel to produce a reformate stream used to
fuel the fuel cell.
[0007] The handling of fluids is consequently an important
component of fuel processor design. Typically, for instance,
several aspects of the fuel processor's operation require a supply
of air. Fuel processors therefore frequently have an air supply
that feeds air to the parts of the fuel processor needing air. In a
typical single-source air supply system, air coming off of a
compression device (blower or compressor) is split up to deliver
fractions of the supply to various sub-units within the fuel
processor. Each air line branching off to each sub-unit is metered
and monitored by a flow controller and flow meter or a combination
of both in one unit. However, in this configuration, the upstream
pressure of the flow controllers (downstream pressure of the
compression device) fluctuates when the controllers are opening and
closing. As a result, the flows fluctuate, causing an undesirable
imbalance in air to fuel ratio. The imbalance causes inconsistency
in air flows to the various downstream sub-units, potentially
causing upset conditions. Some approaches try to remedy this effect
by providing independent air sources for each of the sub-units.
However, this leads to more costly components, complicated control
schemes, and increased potential breakdown of additional
components. Still others have used orifice plates to meter flow to
various units. This tends to make the design complicated as orifice
plates have to be adjusted once the air demands change. Similar
problems are encountered with the handling of other fluids.
[0008] The present invention is directed to resolving, or at least
reducing, one or all of the problems mentioned above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] A method and apparatus for providing a balanced fluid supply
through multiple feeds are disclosed. The method comprises
supplying the fluid through a plurality of feeds from a common
fluid accumulator; determining the fluid pressure in a common fluid
accumulator; and controlling the fluid pressure in the common fluid
accumulator responsive to the fluid pressure sensed therein to
maintain the fluid pressure within a predetermined range. The
balanced fluid supply comprises a common fluid accumulator; a
plurality of feeds from the common fluid accumulator; and a control
system capable of controlling the pressure of the fluid supplied
from the common fluid accumulator to the feeds responsive to a
determined pressure of fluid in the common fluid accumulator.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The invention may be understood by reference to the
following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings, in which like reference numerals identify like elements,
and in which:
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates one particular embodiment of a fuel
processor assembled and operated in accordance with the present
invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 details the air subsystem of the fuel processor in
FIG. 1; and
[0013] FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B conceptually illustrate a computing
apparatus as may be used in the implementation of one particular
embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications
and alternative forms, the drawings illustrate specific embodiments
herein described in detail by way of example. It should be
understood, however, that the description herein of specific
embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the
particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is
to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling
within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the
appended claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described
below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual
implementation are described in this specification. It will of
course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual
embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made
to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with
system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary
from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be
appreciated that such a development effort, even if complex and
time-consuming, would be a routine undertaking for those of
ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this
disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of an apparatus 100
assembled and operated in accordance with the present invention.
The apparatus 100 comprises a fuel processor 101, a fuel cell 103,
and a control system 107. The fuel cell 103 is preferably a Proton
Exchange Membrane ("PEM") fuel cell, but other types of fuel cells
may be used. The invention is not limited by the implementation of
the fuel cell 103. More particularly, in the illustrated
embodiment, the fuel processor 100 comprises several modular
physical subsystems, namely:
[0017] an autothermal reformer ("ATR") 102 that performs the
oxidation-reduction reaction that reforms the fuel input to the
fuel processor 100 into a gas for a fuel cell 103, and which
employs a preferential oxidizer 105 to that end;
[0018] an oxidizer 104, which is an anode tailgas oxidizer ("ATO")
in the illustrated embodiment, that mixes steam, fuel, and air to
create a fuel mixture delivered as a reformate to the ATR 102;
[0019] a fuel subsystem 106, that delivers an input fuel (natural
gas, in the illustrated embodiment) to the oxidizer 104 for mixing
into the reformate delivered to the ATR 102;
[0020] a water subsystem 108, that delivers water to the oxidizer
104 for mixing into the reformate delivered to the ATR 102;
[0021] an air subsystem employing a closed loop, feedback control
technique to maintain a constant pressure of air supplied to the
ATR 102, the preferential oxidizer 105, and the oxidizer 104 from a
common air source;
[0022] a thermal subsystem 112, that regulates the operational
temperatures of the ATR 102 and the oxidizer 104; and
[0023] a control system 107 capable of controlling the operation of
the ATR 102, the oxidizer 104, the fuel subsystem 106, the water
subsystem 108, the air subsystem 110, and the thermal subsystem
112.
[0024] Particular implementations of the air subsystem 110 are
illustrated in FIG. 2.
[0025] FIG. 2 depicts one particular implementation of the air
subsystem 110. A compressor 200, including a motor 202, receives
filtered air from the ambient atmosphere via an air intake 204, a
filter 206, and a flow meter 208a and compresses it into an
accumulator 210. The air from the accumulator 210 is then
distributed through two feeds ATO, ATR over the lines 212, 214,
including the flow meters 208b, 208c and control valves 216, 218a
to the oxidizer 104 and the ATR 102. The air from the accumulator
210 is also distributed through a feed PrOx over the line 220
including a flow meter 208d and a control valve 218b to the
preferential oxidizer 105. Since the accumulator 210 supplies air
to each of the feeds ATO, ATR, and PrOx, the air subsystem 110
provides a common air source for these three feeds.
[0026] Each of the flow meters 208a-208d includes a respective
instrumentation sensor 222a-222d through which it measures the flow
of air therethrough. Note that some embodiments may omit the
instrumentation sensors 222a-222d. The accumulator 210 includes a
pressure sensor 224. Each of the motor 202, control valve 216,
control valves 218a-218b includes a respective actuator 226a-226d.
The line 228 between the compressor 200 and the accumulator 210
includes, in the illustrated embodiment, a diagnostic sensor 230
for measuring the temperature of the air in the line 228. The
instrumentation sensors 222a-222d, pressure sensor 224, and
actuators 226a-226d are utilized to control the operation of the
air subsystem 110 in a manner described more fully below.
[0027] The apparatus 100 also includes the control system 107. One
particular implementation 300 of the control system 107, first
shown in FIG. 1, is illustrated in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. Note that,
in some embodiments, the control system may be implemented on a
computing system comprising a number of computers such as the
control system 107, each of which may control some designated facet
of the operation of the fuel processor 101. However, in the
illustrated embodiment, the computing apparatus 300 controls all
aspects of the fuel processor 101 operation not under manual
control. The computing apparatus 300 is rack-mounted, but need not
be rack-mounted in all embodiments. Indeed, this aspect of any
given implementations is not material to the practice of the
invention. The computing apparatus 300 may be implemented as a
desktop personal computer, a workstation, a notebook or laptop
computer, an embedded processor, or the like.
[0028] The computing apparatus 300 illustrated in FIG. 3A and FIG.
3B includes a processor 305 communicating with storage 310 over a
bus system 315. The storage 310 may include a hard disk and/or
random access memory ("RAM") and/or removable storage such as a
floppy magnetic disk 317 and an optical disk 320. The storage 310
is encoded with a data structure 325 storing the data set acquired
as discussed above, an operating system 330, user interface
software 335, and an application 365. The user interface software
335, in conjunction with a display 340, implements a user interface
345. The user interface 345 may include peripheral I/O devices such
as a key pad or keyboard 350, a mouse 355, or a joystick 360. The
processor 305 runs under the control of the operating system 330,
which may be practically any operating system known to the art. The
application 365 is invoked by the operating system 330 upon power
up, reset, or both, depending on the implementation of the
operating system 330.
[0029] The present invention employs a closed-loop control for the
compressor 200 (or, in some embodiments, an air blower) with
feedback from the pressure sensor 224 inside the accumulator 210 to
maintain a fixed pressure feed to the ATR 102, the preferential
oxidizer 103, and the oxidizer 104. Each individual air supply line
212, 214, and 220 is controlled and monitored by a flow controller
(i.e., the control valves 216, 218a-218b) and a flow meter
208b-208d. Inlet pressure to each of these flow controllers 216,
218a-218b is maintained constant, therefore, fluctuations in the
flow rates are eliminated. This method enables the ability to
quickly meet air flow requests to the process units without
cross-interfering and negatively affecting the other process
units.
[0030] More particularly, the application 365 (shown in FIG. 3B)
residing in the storage 310 is a software implemented control
system. The application 310 reads the signal generated by the
pressure sensor 224 indicating the pressure in the accumulator 210.
In some embodiments, the application 310 may also read the signals
generated by the instrumentation sensors 222a-222d indicating the
pressure in the supply lines 212, 214, and 220, respectively,
although this pressure should be the same as that in the
accumulator 210. Some alternative embodiments may also read the
signal generated by the instrumentation sensor pressure sensor 224a
on the air intake 204.
[0031] The application 310 signals the actuators 226a-226a to open
and close the control valves 216, 218a-218b to provide air in the
desired volumes and pressures to the oxidizer 104, ATR 102, and
preferential oxidizer 105, respectively. As will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure, the
desired pressures and volumes will be a function of the operational
characteristics of the oxidizer 104, ATR 102, and preferential
oxidizer 105. Thus, the precise values will be implementation
specific, and are not germane to the practice of the invention.
Similarly, although a single pressure may be preferred for each of
the oxidizer 104, ATR 102, and preferential oxidizer 105,
specifications for pressures are typically pressure ranges. Thus,
the object is not so much to achieve a particular pressure, but to
maintain the pressure on the inlets to the control valves 216,
218a-218b within a specified range.
[0032] The application 310 also signals the actuator 226d to cycle
the motor 202 coupled to the compressor 202 to maintain the proper
pressure in the accumulator 210 as measured by the pressure sensor
224 and in the supply lines 212, 214, and 220. In the illustrated
embodiment, this determination is made by sensing the pressure in
the accumulator 210, as described above. However, in some
alternative embodiments, the determination may be made by sensing
the pressure in anywhere between the compressor 220 and the
accumulator 210, i.e., anywhere in the line 228 feeding the
accumulator 220. If the sensed pressure in the accumulator 210
drops below a predetermined level, or, more precisely, outside
specified range of pressure, then the application 310 actuates the
motor 202 to raise the pressure in the accumulator 210.
[0033] Thus, in operation, the application 310 is aware of the
desired pressure in the accumulator 210 and the volumes of air to
be delivered over the supply lines 212, 214, and 220 to the ATR
102, the preferential oxidizer 103, and the oxidizer 104. This
information may be, for instance, retrieved from the data structure
325 (shown in FIG. 3B). Through the instrumentation sensors
222b-222d, the application 310 monitors the air flow in the supply
lines 212, 214, and 220. Supplying air to the ATR 102, oxidizer 104
and PrOx 105 leads to a drop in pressure inside the accumulator
210. The pressure sensor 224 detects the pressure fluctuation and
sends an output signal to the application 310. When the application
310 detects a signal from pressure sensor 224 and determines that
the pressure in the accumulator 210 has deviated from the desired
pressure set point, the application 310 signals the actuator 226d
to increase the speed to the motor 202. This ramps up the air flow
to the accumulator 210. This maintains the pressure in the
accumulator 210 at the desired pressure set point. As the pressure
in the accumulator 210 is maintained at the desired set point, the
pressure on the inlets to the control valves 216, 218a-218b is
maintained steady, regardless of the air flow rates in lines 212,
214, and 220.
[0034] The air supply by the compressor 200 through the accumulator
210 is therefore controlled in a closed-loop fashion using feedback
from the instrumentations pressure sensor pressure sensor 224. The
air supply subsystem 110 employs this closed-loop, feedback control
to maintain a constant pressure to control valves 216, 218a-218b.
Consequently, pressure drop across the orifices of the control
valves 216, 218a-218b is also maintained constant. As previously
mentioned, the accumulator 210 receives air from the compressor 200
via the line 228 and supplies air to each of the feeds ATO, ATR,
and PrOx.
[0035] In this sense, the accumulator 210 acts as an air manifold.
However, whereas a manifold has zero dead volume, the accumulator
210 is designed to have enough dead volume to handle pressure
fluctuations and to allow time for the signal, sent by pressure
sensor pressure sensor 224, to be received by the actuator 226d and
for the closed-loop, feedback control to take place, when a
fluctuation in pressure takes place inside the accumulator 210.
Pressure fluctuations are more gradual and will not greatly affect
flows in lines 212, 214, and 220.
[0036] Note that the illustrated embodiment handles air, a
particular, gaseous fluid. The invention may also be applied to
other types of fluids, such as water or fuel for the fuel
processor. The differences in the nature of the fluids may permit
or necessitate differences in implementation. For instance, to
handle a liquid (e.g., water), the compressor 200 in FIG. 2 can be
replaced by a pump. Thus, the compressor 200 is but one example of
a fluid moving device that may be used to implement various
alternative embodiments depending upon the fluid being handled.
Other modifications and/or substitutions to the illustrated
embodiment may also be desired to accommodate application of the
invention to other fluids.
[0037] This concludes the detailed description. The particular
embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention
may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners
apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the
teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the
details of construction or design herein shown, other than as
described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the
particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified
and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit
of the invention. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as
set forth in the claims below.
* * * * *