Solid oxide fuel cell device and system

Abstract

The invention provides solid oxide fuel cell devices and systems, each including an elongate substrate having an active end region for heating to an operating reaction temperature, and a non-active end region that remains at a low temperature below the operating reaction temperature when the active end region is heated. An electrolyte is disposed between anodes and cathodes in the active end region, and the anodes and cathodes each have an electrical pathway extending to an exterior surface in the non-active end region for electrical connection at low temperature. The system further includes the devices positioned with their active end regions in a hot zone chamber and their non-active end regions extending outside the chamber. A heat source is coupled to the chamber to heat the active end regions to the operating reaction temperature, and fuel and air supplies are coupled to the substrates in the non-active end regions.

1 .- 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . A solid oxide fuel cell device for producing a voltage potential from flow of a fuel gas and flow of an oxidizer gas, the device comprising:
 an elongated substrate having first and second ends, opposing first and second sides, a non-active region adjacent the first end, and an active region adjacent the non-active region;   a fuel passage and an oxidizer passage, the fuel passage and the oxidizer passage extending in each of the non-active region and the active region from a respective fuel inlet and oxidizer inlet to a respective fuel outlet and oxidizer outlet,
 the active region including: 
 (i) an anode configured to be exposed to the fuel gas when the fuel gas flows through the fuel passage, 
 (ii) a cathode configured to be exposed to the oxidizer gas when the oxidizer gas flows through the oxidizer passage, 
 (iii) a solid electrolyte between the anode and the cathode, 
 (iv) a tab extending from the anode to one of the first side and the second side, and 
 (v) a tab extending from the cathode to one of the first side and the second side, and 
 the non-active region not including the anode in the fuel passage or the cathode in the oxidizer passage; 
   a first metallization on one of the first side and the second in electrical contact with the tab from the anode and extending to the non-active region; and   a second metallization on one of the first side and the second in electrical contact with the tab from the cathode and extending to the non-active region.   
     
     
         19 . The fuel cell device of  claim 18  wherein the tab of the anode extends to the first side and the tab of the cathode extends to the second side, and wherein the first metallization extends on the first side from the active region to the non-active region and the second metallization extends on the second side from the active end region to the non-active end region. 
     
     
         20 . The fuel cell device of  claim 19  further comprising:
 a first electrical connection to the first exterior metallization in the non-active region and a second electrical connection to the second exterior metallization in the non-active region. 
 
     
     
         21 . The fuel cell device of  claim 18  wherein the fuel inlet is in the non-active region and the fuel outlet is in the active region, and the oxidizer inlet is in the non-active region and the oxidizer outlet is in the active region. 
     
     
         22 . The fuel cell device of  claim 21  further comprising:
 a fuel supply coupled to the fuel inlet for supplying the fuel gas into the fuel passage; and 
 an oxidizer supply coupled to the oxidizer inlet for supplying the oxidizer gas into the oxidizer passage. 
 
     
     
         23 . The fuel cell device of  claim 22  wherein the fuel supply and the oxidizer supply are each coupled by a flexible rubber or plastic tube secured over the respective fuel and oxidizer inlets. 
     
     
         24 . The fuel cell device of  claim 18  wherein the elongated substrate further includes a plurality of fuel passages and a plurality of oxidizer passages repeating so as to produce a multi-layer anode-cathode structures with individual ones of the plurality of anodes opposing individual ones of the plurality of cathodes in the active region with the electrolyte disposed therebetween, and each of the plurality of anodes and the plurality of cathodes having the at least one tab extending therefrom within the elongate substrate to one of the first side and second side, and
 a plurality of third metallizations on one or both of the first side and the second side in the active region over pairs of tabs to electrically connect the anodes and the cathodes. 
 
     
     
         25 . The fuel cell device of  claim 18  further comprising:
 a heat source positioned adjacent the active region to heat the active region to an operating temperature at which the fuel cell device produces a voltage; and 
 an insulating region between the heat source and the non-active region adapted to maintain the non-active region at the lower temperature below the operating reaction temperature. 
 
     
     
         26 . A solid oxide fuel cell system comprising:
 a hot zone chamber;   a plurality of the solid oxide fuel cell devices of  claim 18 , each positioned with the active region in the hot zone chamber and the non-active region extending outside the hot zone chamber;   a heat source coupled to the hot zone chamber and adapted to heat the active regions to an operating temperature within the hot zone chamber;   a first voltage connection to the first exterior metallizations in the non-active regions in electrical contact with the electrical pathways of the anodes; and   a second voltage connection to the second exterior metallizations in the non-active regions in electrical contact with the electrical pathways of the cathodes.   
     
     
         27 . The fuel cell system of  claim 26  further comprising an insulating region between the heat source and each of the non-active end regions adapted to maintain the temperature below the operating reaction temperature. 
     
     
         28 . The fuel cell system of  claim 26  wherein the fuel inlets are in the non-active region and the fuel outlets are in the active region, and the oxidizer inlets are in the non-active region and the oxidizer outlets are in the active region. 
     
     
         29 . The fuel cell system of  claim 26  further comprising:
 a fuel supply coupled to the fuel inlets for supplying a fuel gas into the fuel passages; and 
 an air supply coupled to the oxidizer inlets for supplying an air flow into the oxidizer passages. 
 
     
     
         30 . A method of using the device of  claim 18 , comprising:
 positioning the elongated substrate with the active region in a hot zone chamber and the non-active region extending outside the hot zone chamber;   applying heat in the hot zone chamber to heat the active region to an operating temperature above 400° C. while maintaining the non-active region at a low temperature less than 300° C.;   supplying fuel and oxidizer to the heated active region whereby the fuel and oxidizer react and produce electrons that travel along the electrical pathways of the anodes and of the cathodes to the respective first and second exterior metallizations.   
     
     
         31 . A method of using the device of  claim 18 , comprising:
 positioning the elongated substrate with the active end region in a hot zone chamber and the non-active end region extending outside the hot zone chamber;   connecting a first voltage to the first exterior metallization in the non-active end region;   connecting a second voltage to the second exterior metallization in the non-active end region;   applying heat in the hot zone chamber to heat the active end region to an operating temperature above 400° C. while maintaining the non-active end region at a low temperature less than 300° C.;   supplying fuel and air to the heated active end region whereby the fuel and air react and produce electrons that travel along the electrical pathways of the anodes and cathodes to the respective first and second voltage connections.   
     
     
         32 . A method of using the system of  claim 26 , comprising:
 applying heat in the hot zone chamber to heat the active regions to an operating temperature above 400° C. while maintaining the non-active regions at a low temperature less than 300° C.;   supplying fuel and oxidizer to the heated active regions to react the fuel and oxidizer and produce electrons that travel to the respective first and second exterior metallizations and to the respective first and second voltage connections.