CATALYTIC HYDROGEN COMBUSTOR

摘要

A catalytic hydrogen combustor is disclosed that is adapted to combust substantially all the hydrogen in the fuel cell exhaust gas during both steady state operation and for short duration higher hydrogen concentration pulses. Hydrogen combustion is catalyzed in two zones, a first zone in which a lower level of catalyst activity is used to catalyze combustion of a higher concentration hydrogen pulse as it moves through the zone and a second zone in which a higher level of catalyst activity is used to catalyze combustion of a lower concentration of hydrogen that is characteristic of steady state fuel cell operation.

主权项

1. A catalytic hydrogen combustor comprising:
a monolith that forms a plurality of passageways that extend along a flow direction from an inlet to an outlet; a first coating containing hydrogen combustion catalyst disposed on surfaces of the monolith that are adjacent to passageways in a first zone of the monolith between the inlet and a transition location between the inlet and the outlet; a second coating containing hydrogen combustion catalyst disposed on surfaces of the monolith that are adjacent to passageways in a second zone of the monolith between the transition location and the outlet; and the second coating formulated to catalyze hydrogen combustion at a greater rate than the first coating.