Source: https://patents.justia.com/patent/10199671
Timestamp: 2019-05-24 15:05:29
Document Index: 19034879

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'Application No. 11177895', 'Application No. 11', 'Application No. 11']

US Patent for Apparatus for cleaning catalyst of a power cell Patent (Patent # 10,199,671 issued February 5, 2019) - Justia Patents Search
Justia Patents CurrentUS Patent for Apparatus for cleaning catalyst of a power cell Patent (Patent # 10,199,671)
Oct 12, 2017 - Encite LLC
This application is a Divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/609,939 filed Jan. 30, 2015, which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/713,460 filed Mar. 2, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,980,492 issued Mar. 17, 2015, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/778,584, filed Mar. 2, 2006 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/778,563, filed Mar. 2, 2006. The entire teachings of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown in plain view a conventional semiconductor wafer 10 upon which a plurality of semiconductor fuel cells 12 have been fabricated. A plurality of cells may be electrically interconnected on a wafer and provided with gases to form a power chip 15. For simplicity, fuel cells 12 and chips 15 are not shown to scale in as much as it is contemplated that at least 80 million cells may be formed on a 4″ wafer. One such cell is shown in fragmented cross-section in FIG. 2. In its simplest form, each cell 12 consists of a substrate 14, contacts 16A and B, and a conductive polymer base 18 formed on both sides of a first layer 20(a) of non-conductive layered polymer support structure 20 and in intimate contact with the metal electrical contacts.
FIG. 3b shows the conductive polymer base 18 as it has been applied to the structure. Base 18 is in physical/electrical contact with the metal contacts 16 and has been adapted to attract the conductive polymer 22 of the step shown in FIG. 3a-3h.
Using MEMS machining methods three channels 60A, 60B and 60C are etched into a semiconductor substrate 140. The outside two channels 60A and 60C are separated from the middle channel 60B by thin walls 70A, 70B. These walls have a plurality of thin slits S1-Sn etched into them. The resultant tines T1-Tn+1 have a catalyst 280 deposited on them in the area of the slits. At the bottom of these thin walls, 70A, 70B, on the side which makes up a wall of an outside channel 60A, 60C, a metal electrode 160A, 160B is deposited. A catalyst 280 is deposited on the tines after the electrodes 160 are in place. This allows the catalyst to be deposited so as to come into electrical contact and to cover to some degree, the respective electrodes 160 at their base. In addition, metal conductors 90 are deposited to connect to each electrode 160, which then run up and out of the outside channels.
The thin walls 70A, 70B of the reaction channel 60B serve to retain the electrolyte during its casting. The slits S1-SN allow the hydrogen and oxygen in the respective channels 60A, 60B access to the catalyst 280 and PEM 300. Coating the tines T1-T1+n with a catalyst 280 in the area of the slits provides a point of reaction when the H2 gas enters the slits. When the electrolyte is poured/injected into the reaction channel 60B, it fills it up completely. The surface tension of the liquid electrolyte keeps it from pushing through the slits and into the gas channels, which would otherwise fill up as well. Because there is some amount of pressure behind the application of the electrolyte, there will be a ballooning effect of the electrolyte's surface as the pressure pushes it into the slits. This will cause the electrolyte to be in contact with the catalyst 280 which coats the sides of the slits S1-SN. Once this contact is formed and the membrane (electrolyte) is hydrated, it will expand even further, ensuring good contact with the catalyst. The H2/O2 gases are capable of diffusing into the (very thin, i.e. 5 microns) membrane, in the area of the catalyst. Because it can be so thin it will produce a more efficient i.e. less resistance (12R) losses are low. This then puts the three components of the reaction in contact with each other. The electrodes 160A and 160B in electrical contact with the catalyst 280 is the fourth component and provides a path for the free electrons [through an external load (not shown)] while the hydrogen ions pass through the electrolyte membrane to complete the reaction on the other side.
Referring now to FIG. 9, further details of the invention are shown. In this embodiment, the individual power cells 121, 122-124 are formed on a wafer and wired in parallel across power buses 99A and 99B using transistor switches 97 which can be controlled from the microprocessor 88 of FIG. 8. Switches 97B and 97A are negative and positive bus switches respectively, whereas switch 97C is a series switch and switches 97D and 97E are respective positive and negative parallel switches respectively.
Referring to FIG. 25, the array 2505 contains a number of series-connected columns 2511a, 2511b, . . . , 2511x of fuel cells 2512. Each column 2511a-x has a respective switch (2513a, 2513b, . . . 2513x) between the fuel cells 2512 and a power bus 2515, such that when the switches 2513a-x are closed, the corresponding series columns 2511a-x are connected in parallel with each other and a load 2514.
Consider first a situation where the leftmost switch 2513a for the leftmost column 2511a is closed and the others 2513 b-x are open. If the impedance of the load 2514 is very high, then a voltage V1 across a load is close to the sum of the open circuit potentials of the individual cells comprising the series array. If the impedance of the load 2514 is lower, the current output by the fuel cells 2512 in the leftmost column 2511a in this example, which substantially is equivalent to a load current, I1, increases, and the voltage generated by the column 2511a of fuel cells 2512 decreases in accordance with the sum of the individual device V-I curves. Next, consider a situation where a second series column 2511b is connected by closure of its corresponding switch 2513b. In this situation, the current flowing through each column 2511a, 2511b is reduced by roughly half, and the voltage of each column 2511a, 2511b increases, correspondingly. Accordingly, an output voltage can be maintained within a pre-established tolerance by connecting and disconnecting columns 2511a-x of cells 2512, which leads to a steady-state variation of voltage as a function of load impedance, as shown in FIG. 26.
Pdel=(VINT−RSI)I=I VINT−I2RS
Pdiss=PTOT−Pdel=VINTI−(VINT−I2RS)
FIG. 37 is a topology of a multi-voltage supply 3700 formed from a power (e.g., fuel) cell array 3705 configured as multiple subarrays or banks 3710a, 3710b, . . . , 3710n. The multi-voltage supply 3700 is an extension of the disclosed structure, which useful in electronic devices which require multiple voltages. A modern cell phone or laptop computer, for example, contains multiple voltage regulators to provide different voltages to the display, logic hard disk, RF devices, etc. An array of micro fuel cells or other power generating cells can easily be configured to deliver such multiple voltages without incurring the power dissipation, heat generation, board cost and separate component cost associated with a conventional power conditioning system in a phone or laptop. It should be understood that the fuel cell array 3705 may be configured with extra banks (e.g., 3710n-2, 3710n-1, and 3710n) to provide redundancy, where the extra banks may be configurable to provide any of the voltages provided by primary banks. Moreover, all of the banks 3710a-n may be configurable to supply any voltages to allow for rotation of the banks for longevity purposes.
FIG. 40 is a block diagram of an array 4000 of power cells (not shown) having A-I columns of power cells 4010a, 4010b, 4010c, . . . 4010i. The array 4000 also includes a controller 4005 either on a substrate integrated with the power cells or separate from the substrate with the power cells. In either case, the controller may be used to control which column(s) 4010a-i are used to deliver power 4020 via a bus 4015 to a load 4025. In other words, the controller 4005 may sequence through the columns 4010a-i or otherwise select columns of power cells to generate power 4020 to deliver to the load 4025. In the example embodiment, the controller 4005 sequentially steps from columns A-I to generate power and accordingly, the power 4020 is delivered in a corresponding order (i.e., column A 4010a has power Pa delivered first, column B 4010b next delivers power Pb, . . . , and finally column I 4010i delivers power PI).
FIG. 41 is a block diagram that illustrates a case in which a power generation system 4110 includes a controller 4105 associated with an array of power cells 4107, 4110a-e. In this example, starter cells 4107 are caused first to generate power Pout 4120 via a bus 4115 to an external load 4125 to cause the starter cells 4107 to generate heat so as to warm surrounding, and outwardly extending, power cells 4110a. Alternatively, the starter cells 4107 may be caused to deliver power Pwarm 4122 to an optional internal load 4140 on the same substrate 4102 as the array of power cells. This allows the starter cells 4107 to warm up without having to be connected to an external load 4125. It should be understood that the location of the starter cells 4107 may be set in other locations among power cells in the array 4110 a-e, such as more centric to warm power cells in any of four directions.
2H2O(l)→2H2(g)+O2(g )
1. An apparatus for generating power, comprising:
an array of power cells;
2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to control the electrical elements to couple the at least one first power cell to a load to drive the load while simultaneously causing the second power cells to drive the at least one first power cell of the voltage to clean catalyst on the at least one first power cell.
3. The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the controller is configured to decouple the at least one first power cell from the second power cells after cleaning the catalyst and to couple the at least one first power cell to a load.
4. The apparatus according to claim 1 further including sensors and a diagnosing unit and wherein the sensors provide information about power cells generating power and wherein the diagnosing unit diagnoses a state of contamination of the catalyst on the power cells generating power.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to cause the second power cells to produce a voltage of a typical or atypical waveform selected from the group consisting of a pulse, a sinewave, a chirp, and a single-or multi-frequency waveform having at least one amplitude and at least one offset.
6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the controller is further configured to cause the second power cells to produce a waveform known to cause the at least one first power cell to vibrate.
7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the catalyst includes first catalyst on a first side of a wall of the at least one first power cell and a second catalyst on a second side of a wall of the at least one first power cell, and wherein the controller is further configured to cause the second power cells to drive the first catalyst and second catalyst with first and second pulses, respectively.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the first or second pulses are a reference level to decontaminate the first or second side more than the other.
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Patent Publication Number: 20180131024
Assignee: Encite LLC (Burlington, MA)
Inventors: Stephen A. Marsh (Carlisle, MA), Lawrence W. Hill (North Eastham, MA)
Application Number: 15/782,633
International Classification: H01M 8/04 (20160101); H01M 8/0662 (20160101); H01M 8/0289 (20160101); H01M 8/0432 (20160101); H01M 8/0438 (20160101); H01M 8/04858 (20160101); H01M 8/04828 (20160101); H01M 8/04537 (20160101); H01M 8/04746 (20160101); H01M 8/1004 (20160101); H01M 8/1097 (20160101); H01M 8/241 (20160101); B82Y 30/00 (20110101); H01M 8/1286 (20160101); H01M 8/249 (20160101); H01M 8/1018 (20160101); H01M 8/24 (20160101);