252 results about "Hybrid fuel" patented technology

A fuel cell system employing a floating base load hybrid strategy for reducing fast voltage transients of a FCPM. A power request signal is applied to an average power calculation processor that calculates the average power requested over a predetermined previous period of time. A weighting function processor provides a weighting function based on the state of charge of an EESS. The power available from the FCPM and the EESS is applied to a power comparison processor. The available power is compared to the power request to provide a difference value between what is currently being provided and what is desired. The difference value is compared to power limit values of the EESS. The output value of this comparison is added to a filtered value to generate a signal for the change in the output power of the fuel cell stack based on the power request.

A fuel cell system that employs a super capacitor and battery electrically coupled in series with each other and in parallel with a fuel cell stack on a power bus line. As the voltage on the power bus line changes over the operating requirements of the system, the super capacitor is charged and discharged over a relatively large voltage swing, such as an 85% SOC swing. The super capacitor equalizes or voltage matches the voltage variation on the power bus line as set by the stack voltage to the voltage of the battery. Therefore, the battery, while providing the majority of the energy and power during charge and discharge, has a relatively small defined SOC swing, which acts to maintain the battery life. The system can also include a diode electrically coupled in parallel with the super capacitor that provides reverse voltage protection and electrical power by-pass.

An integrated combustor and stage one nozzle in a gas turbine includes a combustion chamber that receives premixed fuel and air from at least one fuel nozzle group at separate axial locations. The combustion chamber includes a liner and a transition piece that deliver hot combustion gas to the turbine. The stage one nozzle, the liner and the transition piece are integrated into a single part. At least one of the axial locations of the one or more fuel nozzle groups includes a plurality of small scale mixing devices that concentrate heat release and reduce flame length.

An apparatus and accompanying method for controlling a fuel cell power system having a fuel cell stack with a connected energy storage medium. A voltage monitoring circuit is connected to the individual fuel cells forming a fuel cell stack. A regulating circuit receives signals from the voltage monitoring circuit and outputs a control signal to a DC-DC converter connected between the fuel cell stack and an output bus and energy storage medium. The regulating circuit controls the DC-DC converter voltage output to a maximum power that the fuel cell stack can provide.

An electric power generation system is mounted on a vehicle having a secondary battery, an electric load, and an internal combustion engine as a driving source consuming gasoline in a mixed fuel which mainly consists of the gasoline and ethanol. The electric power generation system has a fuel cell for generating electric power by electric chemical reaction and a fuel storage unit having an ethanol selection permeable membrane for separating the ethanol from the mixed fuel involving the ethanol and gasoline. On satisfying a given condition, the fuel cell receives the ethanol from the permeable membrane and initiates the generation of electric power, and supplies the generated electric power at least one of the secondary battery and the electric load.

The invention relates to hybrid fuel cell systems that protect a fuel cell with a second electrical energy source. The second electrical energy source powers a load to prevent the fuel cell from witnessing stoichiometric levels that may lead to reductions in fuel cell performance or health. The hybrid fuel cell system includes an electrical circuit that electrically initiates the electrical energy source to provide power to the load in response to detecting a potential stoichiometric disturbance for the fuel cell.

An ultracapacitor based power storage device suitable for use in hybrid fuel cell systems and other power systems includes circuitry for simulating the response of a battery. A voltage current limiting circuit may be employed with a variety of electrical storage devices, for example, ultracapacitors and batteries.

Combined aircraft hybrid fuel cell auxiliary power unit and environmental control system and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, an auxiliary power unit includes a fuel cell component which chemically converts combustible fuel into electrical energy. Unutizlied fuel emitted by the fuel cell component is combusted by a burner to generate heated gas. The heated gas is received by and drives a turbine, which in turn drives a drive shaft. A compressor, coupled to the drive shaft, compresses a source of oxidizing gas for supplying compressed oxidizing gas to the fuel cell component and to an environmental control system. A heat exchanger controls the temperature of the pressurized air leaving the environmental control system to provide the cabin air supply. Finally, a generator is coupled to the drive shaft to be driven by the turbines to generate additional electrical energy.

Combined aircraft hybrid fuel cell auxiliary power unit and environmental control system and methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, an auxiliary power unit includes a fuel cell component which chemically converts combustible fuel into electrical energy. Unutilized fuel emitted by the fuel cell component is combusted by a burner to generate heated gas. The heated gas is received by and drives a turbine, which in turn drives a drive shaft. A compressor, coupled to the drive shaft, compresses a source of oxidizing gas for supplying compressed oxidizing gas to the fuel cell component and to an environmental control system. A heat exchanger controls the temperature of the pressurized air leaving the environmental control system to provide the cabin air supply. Finally, a generator is coupled to the drive shaft to be driven by the turbines to generate additional electrical energy.

The present invention relates to an electricity-electricity hybrid fuel cell vehicle power system. It is characterized by that its drive system is composed of drive motor and motor controller, the lithium ion battery is connected with said drive system, the fuel cell engine includes fuel cell engine controller and fuel cell pile, said fuel cell engine is connected with drive system by means of DC / DC converter; the described lithium ion battery, fuel cell engine controller and DC / DC converter are connected with complete vehicle controller by means of optical-fiber CAN control line.

This application relates to a hybrid power supply apparatus comprising a fuel cell and an energy storage device for use in off-road electric vehicles, such as lift trucks. The apparatus is a substitute for conventional lead acid batteries and is sized to fit within a conventional lift truck battery receptacle tray. The fuel cell and fuel processor systems are designed to meet the average load requirements of the vehicle, while the batteries and power control hardware are capable of responding to very high instantaneous load demands. The invention has a similar electrical interface as conventional battery systems and does not require vehicle modification. The apparatus is air-cooled to ensure that the hybrid power components operate within a preferred temperature range and to maintain the external surfaces of the apparatus and exhaust gases within safe temperature limits. Apart from vehicular applications, low power hybrid fuel cell products as exemplified by the present invention may also find application in uninterruptable power supply systems, recreational power, off-grid power generation and other analogous applications.

A hybrid fuel cell / battery including one or more electrochemical cell units comprising at least one cathode, at least one anode, and at least one auxiliary electrode. The auxiliary electrode works in combination with the anode to provide a current as a rechargeable battery while the anode and cathode work in combination to provide an electrical current as a fuel cell. The cathode and the auxiliary electrode may operate alone or in tandem to provide an electrical current.

A hybrid fuel / electric powered watercraft includes an electronic turning machine (ETM), and internal combustion engine, and a propulsion system, which are operatively connected to each other, preferably via one or more clutches. An electronic control unit (ECU) controls the ETM, clutch(es), and engine. At low speeds, the ECU disengages at least one clutch and solely uses the ETM to power the propulsion unit and propel the watercraft. At high speeds, the ECU engages the clutch and uses both the engine and the ETM or just the engine to power the propulsion system. When the watercraft's battery discharges, the ECU operates the ETM in a generator mode and runs the engine to charge the battery. The watercraft can also include a shore button feature that selectively limits / governs the speed of the watercraft. A clutch may be used to avoid driving the propulsion system when the engine is idling or being started.

A hybrid fuel cell system having a fuel cell and a heat engine having an expansion cycle and a compressor cycle and which is further adapted to include a bypass assembly for segmenting expanded oxidant supply gas from the expansion cycle of the heat engine into a first expanded oxidant supply gas portion and a second expanded gas portion and in which the first expanded oxidant supply gas portion is used for the fuel cell and the second expanded gas portion bypassed around the fuel cell.

A service station is provided with a plurality of vehicle servicing islands including liquid fuel blending pumps for dispensing and blending fuel components from underground storage tanks for refueling standard gasoline engine driven vehicles, standard diesel engine vehicles, vehicles with engines requiring dual fuels, vehicles with HCCL engines require low octane gasoline blended with standard diesel fuel, and fuel cell powered vehicles having onboard reformers. Other service islands include pumps for dispensing compressed hydrogen to fuel cell powered vehicles that do not include onboard reformers. In addition, service islands are provided for recharging the batteries of pure electric powered vehicles. A service station is further provided with a wireless communicator for receiving signals indicative of a vehicle's fuel requirements and transmitting signals to direct the vehicle to a service island capable of servicing the vehicle.

The present invention provides a hybrid fuel cell system that is configured to determine if an idle stop condition has been satisfied during a normal operation mode of the hybrid fuel cell system, cut off air supply to a fuel cell to stop power generation of the fuel cell and reduce a voltage which the fuel cell outputs in response to determining that the idle stop condition has been satisfied. The voltage of a bidirectional converter, connected between a battery and a bus terminal is reduced and the output of the fuel cell is controlled, based on a first predetermined value and maintained at that first predetermined value. Subsequently, the battery is charged via the output current of the fuel cell generated by maintaining the reduced voltage of the bidirectional converter.

A hybrid fuel cell / battery including at least one cathode, at least one anode, and at least one auxiliary electrode. The auxiliary electrode works in combination with the anode to provide a current as a rechargeable battery while the anode and cathode work in combination to provide an electrical current as a fuel cell. The cathode and the auxiliary electrode may operate alone or in tandem to provide an electrical current.

An ultracapacitor based power storage device suitable for use in hybrid fuel cell systems and other power systems includes circuitry for simulating the response of a battery. A voltage current limiting circuit may be employed with a variety of electrical storage devices, for example, ultracapacitors and batteries.

A self-regulating system for reducing concentration of hydrocarbon vapor in a container may be performed by introducing air into the container and extracting a mixture of air and vapor from the container. The extracted mixture may be compressed with a compressor to produce a flow of compressed mixture of air and vapor. The compressed mixture may be passed through an oxidation reactor that may be either catalytic or thermal to produce a flow air and CO2. A turbine may be driven with the flow of air and CO2. The compressor may be driven with the turbine. Extraction from the container may continue until vapor concentration is low enough so that flow of CO2 and air from the reactor is insufficient to drive the turbine.

A hybrid fuel cell vehicle with a multi-power source and a multi-drive system includes: a plurality of primary power sources sharing a single main bus terminal and connected in parallel to each other; a plurality of drive systems receiving power from the main bus terminal to generate output torque so as to drive vehicle wheels and connected in parallel to each other; and an auxiliary power source sharing the main bus terminal and disposed between the primary power sources and the drive systems to supplement power shortage of the primary power sources.

A hybrid fuel cell-gas turbine system and method efficiently generates power using a combination of separate power generating components. The system includes a turbine system having an air compressor and a turbine, and a fuel cell. By-product waste heat from the fuel cell is used within the fuel cell to heat the cathode air.

A fuel cell system that employs a super capacitor and battery electrically coupled in series with each other and in parallel with a fuel cell stack on a power bus line. As the voltage on the power bus line changes over the operating requirements of the system, the super capacitor is charged and discharged over a relatively large voltage swing, such as an 85% SOC swing. The super capacitor equalizes or voltage matches the voltage variation on the power bus line as set by the stack voltage to the voltage of the battery. Therefore, the battery, while providing the majority of the energy and power during charge and discharge, has a relatively small defined SOC swing, which acts to maintain the battery life. The system can also include a diode electrically coupled in parallel with the super capacitor that provides reverse voltage protection and electrical power by-pass.

The present invention is a hybrid system for generating power from hydrocarbon and alcohol fuels using a two-stage process to achieve high overall energy conversion efficiency. The first stage is a reformer and fuel cell subsystem that uses an internal combustion engine operated at an air / fuel ratio richer than stoichiometric as a partial oxidation reformer for commonly available liquid or gaseous hydrocarbon or alcohol fuels. The engine produces shaft power and a product gas mixture containing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and traces of light hydrocarbons that is used as fuel in fuel cells to generate electric power. The second stage is a heat engine subsystem that captures heat from the reformer and fuel cell subsystem, and produces additional shaft power. In addition to efficiency, advantages include adaptability to a variety of fuels, quick system startup with immediate shaft power availability, and low emission of pollutantants.

A hybrid fuel and methods of making the same are disclosed. A process for making a hybrid fuel includes the steps of combining a biofuel emulsion blend and a liquid fuel product to form a hybrid fuel. Optionally, the hybrid fuel can be combined with water in a water-in-oil process and include oxygenate additives and additive packages. A hybrid fuel includes blends of biofuel emulsions and liquid fuel products, including light gas diesel. Optionally, the hybrid fuel can include water, oxygenate additives, and other additive packages.

A hybrid fuel injection and carburetor assembly for delivering a fuel and air mixture into an intake manifold of an engine is provided. The assembly includes a housing and a plurality of inserts with Venturi-shaped bores to establish low pressure regions in the flow of air. The housing and inserts cooperate with one another to present cavities, and the inserts include apertures extending between the cavities and the low-pressure regions. The assembly also includes fuel injectors in fluid communication with the cavities. In operation, fuel is injected at a high pressure into the cavities to the point, and the pressurized fuel is delivered into the low pressure air via the apertures. Because of the large pressure difference between the pressurized fuel in the cavities and the low pressure air, the fuel becomes very atomized.

Disclosed herein is a circuit for passively managing power between a fuel cell stack and a battery in a hybrid system. The circuit includes a buck-boost converter circuit, a direct charge circuit; and a network which interconnects them. The network is configured so that in response to a voltage level in the network being lower than or equal to a maximum battery charge voltage, the battery is charged via the direct charge circuit; and in response to another voltage level in the network which is higher than the maximum battery charge voltage, the battery is charged via the buck-boost converter circuit. Also disclosed is a device incorporating the circuit and a method of passively managing power.

A fuel cell reactant flow field (16) has flow-through channels (18) joined by an interface (26) with interdigitated flow channels (21, 22). The interface may be defined by a flow reversing manifold (35) or may exist between flow reversing manifolds (43, 48), remotely thereof.

There is provided a control method of a compression-ignition internal combustion engine capable of easily coping with a wide range of required loads by a single fuel. A compression-ignition internal combustion engine includes a first tank (2) for storing a blended fuel that contains alcohol and liquid hydrocarbon at predetermined percentages and a second tank (4) for mixing the blended fuel supplied from the first tank (2) with water and storing a liquid mixture of the water and the alcohol mixed with each other and the liquid hydrocarbon with the liquid mixture and the liquid hydrocarbon separated from each other, and a supply of the blended fuel stored in the first tank (2) and a supply of the liquid hydrocarbon stored in the second tank (4) are varied according to a required load of the compression-ignition internal combustion engine (1).

A spark-ignition type internal combustion engine, including a main tank for storing a to-be-determined fuel having an unknown self-ignition property, an auxiliary tank for accumulating a reference fuel having a known self-ignition property, and a controller. The controller is programmed to supply to a combustion chamber a blended fuel prepared by blending the to-be-determined fuel and the reference fuel at a predetermined ratio, measure a self-ignition property of the blended fuel, and determine the unknown self-ignition property of the to-be-determined fuel based on the measured self-ignition property of the blended fuel, the known self-ignition property of the reference fuel and the ratio of the blended fuel. The controller is also programmed to introduce the to-be-determined fuel after the determination from the main tank to the auxiliary tank, and store the to-be-determined fuel in the auxiliary tank such that the to-be-determined fuel serves as a next reference fuel having a known self-ignition property.

The invention discloses a flexible dual-fuel high pressure combustion chamber (HPCC) engine combustion and discharge control method and deivce. An engine comprises an air inlet channel oil injector, an air inlet valve, an air cylinder direct injection oil injector, a spark plug, an exhaust valve, a variable valve actuation (VVA) mechanism and an electronic control unit (ECU). The ECU respectively reads engine rotation speed signals and accelerator position signals, judges the engine current operation conditions according to the received engine rotation speed signals and accelerator position signals, determines the combustion mode, and further controls oil injection times, oil injection time and oil injection pulse width of two fuels, spark plug ignition time and VVA actions. According to the flexible dual-fuel HPCC engine combustion and discharge control method and deivce, different combustion modes are adopted for different loads, namely the combustion modes can be controlled timely and flexibly, and the characteristics of fuels in a cylinder can be controlled timely and flexibly; and the device has the advantages of various fuel flexibility and various fuel mode adaptability, and the purpose of effective and clean combustion in the normal working condition range of passenger vehicles can be achieved simply by adopting a diesel engine oxidation and catalyzing postprocessor DOC.