REFILLABEL HYDROGEN GENERATOR

摘要

A hydrogen generator and a fuel cell system including the hydrogen generator are disclosed. The hydrogen generator includes a reactant that undergoes a thermal decomposition reaction to produce hydrogen when heated. A laser is used to initiate the reaction. The reactant is contained in a reactant composition in a user-replaceable disc-shaped fuel unit. The reactant composition can be segregated into individual quantities. The fuel unit and the laser beam are periodically realigned by incrementally rotating the fuel unit and/or incrementally redirect the laser beam.

主权项

1. A hydrogen generator comprising:
a holder; and, a fuel unit;wherein:
the fuel unit comprises a disc shaped substrate having two opposite planar surfaces, at least one of the surfaces having thereon a reactant composition that is a solid hydrogen containing a reactant capable of releasing hydrogen gas by a thermal decomposition reaction when heated to at least a minimum temperature; the holder comprises a cavity in which the fuel unit can be removably contained; a laser for projecting a beam of electromagnetic radiation onto a portion of the reactant composition to heat the reactant to at least the minimum temperature; the holder further comprises an indexing mechanism for aligning the laser beam and an unreacted portion of the reactant composition, the indexing mechanism comprising one or both of a disc rotating device for rotationally indexing the disc from a first stationary disc position to a second stationary disc position and a laser positioning device for indexing the laser beam from a first laser position to a second laser position over the disc when stationary.