抄録
Demands for the the application of fuel cells to home appliances and industrial equipments have been increasing because of their long life and continuous electricity. A methanol fuel cell is so handy that it is profitable to portable use.
It is most important for fuel cells to operate them with higher efficiency. A fuel supplying system which could operate the methanol fuel cell with higher efficiency was studied in this paper.
Since the consumption ratio of water and methanol in the cell varied with operating conditions, the system which methanol and water, were supplied independently from tanks in the circulating system of anordic electrolyte was adopted firstly. Then, the amounts of methanol and water supply were controlled by methanol concentration and liquid level sensors. The methanol concentration sensor based on electrochemical reaction under constant voltage could accurately detect methanol concentration in the range of 0.4_??_1.5mol/ι.
On the other hand, the liquid level sensors were based on the principle that short circuit current flowed while they were immersed in anordic electrolyte, and were arranged at the upper, middle and bottom of the liquid level. As the result of operating the methanol fuel cell with this fuel supplying system, high efficient and stable characteristics of the cell within the variation of ±0.1mol/ι of specified of methanol concentration could be obtained.
