Patent ID: 11933312
Assignee: GARRETT TRANSPORTATION I INC.
Field: Engines, pumps, turbines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  B  H | IPC B  F

Claim 15:
16. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell stack; and
a turbocharger including:
a housing;
a rotating group supported for rotation within the housing, the rotating group including a compressor wheel disposed within a compressor section of the turbocharger, the rotating group including a turbine wheel disposed within a turbine section of the turbocharger, the turbine wheel including a turbine hub and a plurality of turbine blades that project from the turbine hub, the plurality of turbine blades having a blade tip disposed at a first radius, the turbine hub having an outer radial area disposed at the first radius, the turbine wheel including a bleed pressure member with a bleed pressure surface, the bleed pressure member radially extending from the outer radial area of the turbine hub and terminating at a second radius that is greater than the first radius, the bleed pressure member including the bleed pressure surface between the first radius and the second radius, the turbine wheel and the housing cooperating to define a turbine forward space and a turbine back space, the plurality of turbine blades supported for rotation within the turbine forward space, the compressor wheel and the housing cooperating to define a compressor forward space and a compressor back space, the compressor wheel including a plurality of compressor blades supported for movement within the compressor forward space;
an electric motor that is operatively connected to the rotating group and that is configured for drivingly rotating the rotating group, the electric motor housed within a motor cavity in the housing; and
a bleed passage that extends at least partly through the housing to fluidly connect the compressor section to the turbine section, the bleed passage including a bleed inlet that is fluidly connected to the compressor back space to receive a bleed flow of fluid therefrom, the bleed passage including a bleed outlet to the turbine back space;

the bleed passage including a segment that extends through the housing and outside the motor cavity to fluidly connect the bleed inlet and the bleed outlet;
the turbocharger operatively connected to the fuel cell stack with the compressor section configured to supply a compressed airstream to the fuel cell stack and the turbine section configured to receive an exhaust stream from the fuel cell stack;
the bleed passage configured to direct the bleed flow in a downstream direction from the bleed inlet, through the segment, and to the bleed outlet to supply a thrust counterbalance load to the bleed pressure surface.