Organic vapor fuel cell

摘要

A fuel cell including primarily (a) a membrane electrode assembly, which comprises (i) a proton exchange membrane having a front face and a rear face, (ii) an anode being coupled to the front face, and (iii) a cathode being coupled to the rear face; (b) a fuel permeation-controlling member positioned in front of the anode; the member being substantially impermeable to an organic fuel or water at an ambient temperature or below, but being permeable at a temperature higher than an activation temperature; (c) heating means in control relation to the fuel permeation-controlling member to activate fuel permeation through the member on demand. The invented fuel cell is compact and lightweight, with significantly reduced fuel crossover and improved fuel utilization efficiency. The fuel cell is particularly useful for powering small vehicles and portable devices such as a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant, a mobile phone, and a digital camera.

主权项

1. An organic vapor fuel cell comprising:
(a) a membrane electrode assembly, comprising (i) a proton exchange membrane having a front face and a rear face, (ii) an anode being coupled to said front face with said front face and said anode defining an interface to accommodate an anode electro-catalyst therein, and (iii) a cathode being coupled to said rear face with said rear face and said cathode defining an interface to accommodate a cathode electro-catalyst therein; (b) a fuel permeation-controlling member positioned in front of said anode, said member being substantially impermeable to an organic fuel and/or water at or below an ambient temperature, but being permeable to said organic fuel and/or water at a temperature higher than an activation temperature to deliver a permeated fuel fluid to said anode; (c) heating means in heat-supplying relation to said fuel permeation-controlling member to activate fuel permeation through said member on demand, wherein said heating means comprises receiving heat produced by an electrochemical reaction of the fuel cell or receiving heat from joule heating by passing a current through a heating element implemented in the fuel cell; and (d) fuel supply means to accommodate said organic fuel and water as a mixture at a first organic-to-water ratio, and provide said organic fuel and water as a feeding fuel to said permeation-controlling member and said permeated fuel fluid is at a second organic-to-water ratio, which is lower than said first organic-to-water ratio; wherein said fuel supply means comprises (i) fuel flow channels in flow communication with said fuel permeation-controlling member and (ii) a liquid fuel source in supplying relation to said fuel flow channels and wherein said fuel cell operates to supply additional heat to vaporize more fuel on demand.