Patent ID: 6106963
Filing Date: 2000-08-22
Classification: B01D,B03C,B60L,C01B,H01M,Y02E,Y02T

Abstract:
A fuel-cells system comprising a fuel cell which receives a supply of gaseous fuel containing at least hydrogen and a supply of oxidizing gas containing oxygen and generates an electromotive force through an electrochemical reaction of the gaseous fuel and the oxidizing gas,said fuel-cells system comprising an oxidizing gas supply device for feeding the supply of oxidizing gas to said fuel cell,said oxidizing gas supply device comprising:a magnetic field generating unit which generates a magnetic field in a space between magnetic poles,a gaseous mixture supply unit which feeds a supply of a gaseous mixture containing at least oxygen to said space where the magnetic field is generated by said magnetic field generating unit, anda high oxygen-concentration gas production unit which takes a high oxygen-concentration gas from the vicinity of said magnetic poles and feeds the high oxygen-concentration gas to said fuel cell as the supply of oxidizing gas,wherein said oxidizing gas supply device further comprises an oxidizing gas compressing unit which pressurizes the oxidizing gas fed to said fuel cell, wherein said oxidizing gas compressing unit comprises a compressor that compresses the gaseous mixture or the high oxygen-concentration gas and is operated by a turbine driven by a high-pressure gas discharged from a constituent of said fuel-cells system, and wherein said magnetic field generating unit generates a magnetic field in a space of said compressor, said gaseous mixture supply unit supplies the gaseous mixture to said space where the magnetic field is generated in said compressor, and said high oxygen-concentration gas production unit feeds the compressed high oxygen-concentration gas, which is taken out of said compressor, to said fuel cell as the supply of oxidizing gas.