JP-7856164-B2 - Stationary fuel cell systems and power plants

JP7856164B2JP 7856164 B2JP7856164 B2JP 7856164B2JP-7856164-B2

Inventors

礒田博之
臼田昌弘

Assignees

日産自動車株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260511
Application Date: 20221005

Claims (6)

A plurality of power generation modules comprising: an auxiliary equipment structure including an auxiliary device for exchanging gas with a fuel cell stack; a first fuel cell stack connected to one of the vertical surfaces of the auxiliary equipment structure; and a second fuel cell stack connected to the other vertical surface of the auxiliary equipment structure; A piping module comprising: an intake pipe through which air supplied to the power generation module flows; an exhaust pipe through which gas discharged from the power generation module flows; and a fuel pipe through which fuel supplied to the power generation module flows. In a stationary fuel cell system equipped with, Multiple of the aforementioned power generation modules are arranged stacked vertically, A stationary fuel cell system in which the piping module is positioned between two of the power generation modules that are stacked on top of each other.
In the stationary fuel cell system according to claim 1, A frame for housing the power generation module and the piping module, An intake branch pipe connecting the intake pipe and the auxiliary equipment structure, An exhaust branch pipe connecting the auxiliary equipment structure and the exhaust pipe, A fuel branch pipe connecting the fuel piping and the auxiliary equipment structure via a fuel injection unit, Furthermore, The intake branch pipe, the exhaust branch pipe, and the fuel branch pipe are all connected to the front side of the auxiliary equipment structure when viewed from above. A stationary fuel cell system in which each of the aforementioned power generation modules is housed in the frame such that the front-to-rear central axes of the first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack are offset from the front-to-rear central axis of the frame.
In the stationary fuel cell system according to claim 1, A frame for housing the power generation module and the piping module, An intake branch pipe connecting the intake pipe and the auxiliary equipment structure, An exhaust branch pipe connecting the auxiliary equipment structure and the exhaust pipe, A fuel branch pipe connecting the fuel piping and the auxiliary equipment structure via a fuel injection unit, Furthermore, The intake branch pipe, the exhaust branch pipe, and the fuel branch pipe are all connected to the front side of the auxiliary equipment structure when viewed from above. The intake, exhaust, and fuel inlets and outlets of the aforementioned auxiliary structure are arranged in the left-right direction when viewed from the front. A stationary fuel cell system in which the arrangement of the intake, exhaust, and fuel inlets and outlets of the auxiliary equipment structure is reversed between the power generation module above the piping module and the power generation module below the piping module.
In the stationary fuel cell system according to claim 3, The power generation module above the piping module and the power generation module below the piping module have the same structure. A stationary fuel cell system in which the upper power generation module is housed in an upright position relative to the piping module, and the lower power generation module is housed in an inverted position relative to the piping module, both within the frame.
In the stationary fuel cell system according to claim 1, The system further includes a power box for recovering the electricity generated by the aforementioned power generation module. A stationary fuel cell system in which the power box is positioned together with the piping module between two stacked power generation modules.
In a power plant equipped with a stationary fuel cell system as described in claim 1, Multiple stationary fuel cell systems are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, A power plant equipped with a power converter that aggregates and outputs the electricity generated by these multiple stationary fuel cell systems.

Description

This invention relates to a stationary fuel cell system and a power plant. JP2018-41720A discloses a multi-stack fuel cell system (hereinafter also referred to as a multi-stack FC) comprising two fuel cell stack assemblies stacked vertically and a heat exchanger assembly positioned between them. The same document also discloses a power plant in which multiple multi-stack FCs are arranged horizontally in a two-dimensional manner. In this power plant, a portion of the ductwork for transferring fuel and air between the multi-stack FCs and the Balance of Plant (BOP) is routed along the sides of each individual multi-stack FC. In configurations where multi-stack fuel cells (FCs) are arranged horizontally in a two-dimensional manner, such as the power plant disclosed in the above-mentioned document, there is a problem in that the installation area, including the area required for ductwork, increases as the number of multi-stack FCs used increases. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a fuel cell system and a power plant equipped therewith that reduce the area required for installing the fuel cell. According to one aspect of the present invention, a stationary fuel cell system is provided, comprising: an auxiliary equipment structure including an auxiliary device for exchanging gas with a fuel cell stack; a plurality of power generation modules, each having a first fuel cell stack connected to one vertical surface of the auxiliary equipment structure and a second fuel cell stack connected to the other vertical surface of the auxiliary equipment structure; and a piping module having an intake pipe through which air supplied to the power generation modules flows, an exhaust pipe through which gas discharged from the power generation modules flows, and a fuel piping through which fuel supplied to the power generation modules flows. In this stationary fuel cell system, the plurality of power generation modules are arranged in a vertical stack, and the piping module is arranged between two stacked power generation modules. According to another aspect of the present invention, a power plant is provided that includes the above-described stationary fuel cell system. This power plant includes a plurality of stationary fuel cell systems arranged in a direction perpendicular to the vertical direction, and a power converter that aggregates and outputs the electricity generated by these plurality of stationary fuel cell systems. Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the schematic configuration of a stationary fuel cell system.Figure 2 is a front view of a stationary fuel cell system.Figure 3 is a rear view of a stationary fuel cell system.Figure 4 is a left side view of a stationary fuel cell system.Figure 5 shows an excerpt of the fuel system components of a stationary fuel cell system.Figure 6 shows the pair of cross members and the power generation module as viewed from the rear before assembly.Figure 7 is a front view of a power plant utilizing the fuel cell system shown in Figure 1. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the schematic configuration of a stationary fuel cell system (hereinafter also simply referred to as the fuel cell system) 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a front view of the fuel cell system 1. Figure 3 is a rear view of the fuel cell system 1. Figure 4 is a left side view of the fuel cell system 1. Figure 5 is a diagram showing an excerpt of the fuel system components of the fuel cell system 1. In this embodiment, the height direction of the fuel cell system 1 is defined as the up-down direction, the flow path direction of the intake pipe 8 and exhaust pipe 9, etc., which will be described later, is defined as the left-right direction, and the direction perpendicular to the up-down and left-right directions is defined as the front-back direction. Furthermore, in the front-back direction, the side on which connections to the respective pipes 13 and 14 of the auxiliary equipment structure 7, which will be described later, are provided is defined as the front (front). The left-right direction is based on the front view. The fuel cell system 1 according to this embodiment is intended for stationary use. Furthermore, the fuel cell used in the fuel cell system 1 is a solid oxide fuel cell. The fuel cell system 1 comprises two power generation modules 2, one piping module 3, one power recovery module 4, and a frame 5 that supports them. The power generation module 2 comprises an auxiliary structure 7, a first fuel cell stack 6A arranged on one of the upper and lower surfaces of the auxiliary structure 7, and a second fuel cell stack 6B arranged on the other surface. The fuel cell stack 6 consists of multiple single cells stacked vertically. The vertical dimension of the first fuel cell stack 6A is greater than that of the second fuel cell stack 6B. In other words, the fir