HEATER AND SUPPORTING STRUCTURE THEREOF

• Main Authors: FISCHER BERNHARD A, SCHNEIDER JONATHAN R, BADURA CHARLES J, HALTINER, JR. KARL J
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 05.03.2015
• Subjects: BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS,e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USERAPPLICATIONS; EARTH DRILLING; EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; ELECTRICITY; FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; MINING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

A heater includes a heater housing with a support plate secured to one end. A fuel cell stack assembly is disposed within the heater housing and includes a plurality of fuel cells which convert chemical energy from a fuel into heat and electricity through a chemical reaction with an oxidizing agent. The fuel cell stack assembly includes a fuel cell manifold for receiving the fuel and distributing the fuel to the plurality of fuel cells and for receiving the oxidizing agent and distributing the oxidizing agent to the plurality of fuel cells. A fuel supply conduit supplies the fuel to the fuel cell manifold and an oxidizing agent supply conduit supplies the oxidizing agent to the fuel cell manifold. The fuel cell stack assembly is supported on the support plate by one of the fuel supply conduit and the oxidizing agent supply conduit.