Miniature vaporizers for use with chemical converters and energy devices

Abstract

A miniature vaporizer for effectively vaporizing a process fluid (e.g., a liquid media) in small energy system applications, such as systems employing chemical reformers and fuel cells. The vaporizer of the present invention can employ a heating medium, such as a hot exhaust generated by a power system, as the heating source for generating steam or for evaporating a fluid (e.g., liquid chemicals or fuels). The vaporizer of the invention can optionally be configured to vaporize water thereby functioning as a miniature steam generator, to evaporate a process fluid thereby functioning as a miniature evaporator or heat exchanger, or to evaporate a process fluid and mix the fluid with another medium. This evaporator/mixer configuration can be used in reformer plants where a liquid chemical or fuel (e.g., gasoline, diesel, methanol, etc.) needs to be first evaporated and mixed with steam prior to the introduction of the resultant mixture to a converter (e.g., reformor or fuel cell).

1 . An energy system for producing at least one of electricity and a chemical output, comprising 
 one or more chemical converters,    delivery means for delivering one or more fluids to the chemical converter, and    one or more vaporizers of  claim 1  or one or more evaporator/mixers of claim  28  for heating the fluid prior to introduction to the chemical converter.    
   
   
       2 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the chemical converter comprises at least one of a fuel cell and a reformer.  
   
   
       3 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the vaporizer comprises at least one of a steam generator, a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG), a waste heat boiler, a vaporizer, an evaporator, and an evaporator/mixer.  
   
   
       4 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the vaporizer or the evaporator/mixer coupled to the treatment stage of the process fluid generates an output vapor or mixture that is fluidly coupled to the chemical converter.  
   
   
       5 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the vaporizer is disposable during use in an essentially vertical position, wherein the vaporizer is adapted to vaporize water to form steam with a heating medium.  
   
   
       6 . The energy system of  claim 5 , wherein the vaporizer comprises a housing forming a chamber and a bundle element disposed within the chamber, wherein the water passes through the bundle element and the heating medium passes through the chamber.  
   
   
       7 . The energy system of  claim 5 , wherein an evaporator/mixer is fluidly coupled to the vaporizer, and the water vaporized by the vaporizer is introduced to the evaporator/mixer as a heating medium for evaporating a liquid fuel, and for mixing the evaporated fuel with the heating medium or the steam.  
   
   
       8 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the evaporator/mixer is adapted for evaporating and mixing a process liquid with a reforming agent.  
   
   
       9 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the evaporator/mixer is adapted for evaporating and mixing a process liquid with a heating medium.  
   
   
       10 . The energy system of  claim 1 , wherein the vaporizer or the evaporator/mixer includes coaxial tubes, one of the tubes being adapted to carry a process fluid, and the other tubes being adapted to carry a heating medium, such that the heating medium transfers heat to the process fluid through the wall of the inner tube.