| 摘要 |
A cryogenic compressor for compressing hydrogen and oxygen and method for compressing these two gases. In a first preferred embodiment, an electrochemical compressor (12) is operative to compress hydrogen and oxygen gas. These two gases separately enter chamber (120 and 132) in an enclosure (118). Between the two chambers is disposed a catalytic membrane (124), sandwiched between a porous cathode (122) and a porous anode (126). A catalytic reaction combines the gases to form water, producing an electrical current as a byproduct. Adjacent chamber 132 are disposed a porous anode (134) and a porous cathode (138), sandwiched on each side of a catalytic membrane (136). An electric potential applied to porous anode (134) and porous cathode (138) transports water molecules and hydrogen from chamber (132) through catalytic membrane (136) into a chamber (140). The pressure in chamber (140) is substantially greater than the pressure in chamber (132). Yet another porous anode (142) and a porous cathode (146), sandwiched on each side of a catalytic membrane (144), are operative to dissociate the pressurized water into oxygen molecules, hydrogen ions, and free electrons in response to an applied electrical potential. The free electrons combine with the hydrogen ions to form hydrogen molecules. Both the oxygen and hydrogen gas streams produced by the latter catalytic reaction are at a substantially higher pressure than the gases entering the compressor. A second preferred embodiment uses a mechanical water pump (74) to pressurize water instead of the second catalytic reaction.
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