Patents by Inventor Vincent Lawlor

Vincent Lawlor has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20220320534
    Abstract: A combustor, including: a catalyst bed portion supporting a catalyst capable of promoting a combustion reaction of fuel; a vaporizer which is arranged on the downstream side of the catalyst bed portion with respect to a flow of the fuel going through the catalyst bed portion and is configured to be able to use a combustion gas generated from the combustion reaction as a hot fluid; a manifold portion which is outside the catalyst bed portion and guides air in a direction opposite to the flow of the fuel going through the catalyst bed portion and has a wall portion on which a sidewall of the vaporizer is projected; and a fuel introducing portion configured to penetrate the wall portion of the manifold portion so that the fuel evaporated by the vaporizer can be introduced into the manifold portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Applicants: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD., AVL LIST GMBH, RENAULT S.A.S.
    Inventors: Masahiro USUDA, Susumu MAESHIMA, Tomokatsu HIMENO, Vincent LAWLOR, Daniel MAIR, Robert POESCHL, Bernd REITER
  • Patent number: 11233255
    Abstract: The present invention concerns a starting burner (100a; 100b) for a fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b), having a catalyst (10) with a catalyst inlet (11) and a catalyst outlet (12), a catalyst area (13) being formed between the catalyst inlet (11) and the catalyst outlet (12), and the catalyst area (13) being surrounded by a catalyst wall (14) in a passage direction (D) from the catalyst inlet (11) to the catalyst outlet (12), and an operating fluid guide section (20) for supplying an operating fluid (F1) to the catalyst inlet (11), wherein the operating fluid guide section (20) is arranged outside the catalyst (10) at least in sections along the catalyst wall (14). The invention also concerns a fuel cell system (1000) with the starting burner (100a; 100b) and a method for heating a service fluid (F1) in the fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignees: AVL List GmbH, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jörg Mathé, Michael Reissig, Thomas Krauss, Julian Makinson, Bernd Reiter, Vincent Lawlor, Tatsuya Yaguchi, Tetsushi Noda, Takeshi Shiomi
  • Patent number: 11196059
    Abstract: The invention relates to a fuel cell system (100) having a fuel supply unit (8) and fuel cells (1, 2) having a cathode (4, 4?) and an anode (3, 3?), wherein the cathode (4, 4?) features a cathode feed line (40), the anode (3, 3?) features an anode feed line (30), and the flow in the anode (3, 3?) is connected with the flow in the fuel supply unit (8) via the anode feed line (30), in which a reforming apparatus (13) is arranged, and having an anode exhaust line (6) provided with at least one burner apparatus (22, 23).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignees: AVL List GmbH, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Reissig, Bernd Reiter, Jörg Mathé, Thomas Krauss, Stefan Planitzer, Vincent Lawlor, Jürgen Rechberger, Masanari Yanagisawa, Shinichi Miyazaki, Hayato Chikugo, Tadaki Mano, Tatsuya Yaguchi
  • Publication number: 20200295388
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for heating a fuel cell system (100a) for a motor vehicle (1000), having a fuel cell stack (1) with an anode section (2), a cathode section (3), at least one evaporator (4) for evaporating a fuel/water mixture, a reformer (5) for reforming the evaporated fuel/water mixture for use in the anode section (2) of the fuel cell stack (1), and at least one burner (6) for combusting a fuel-containing fluid, wherein the reformer (5) is arranged downstream of the at least one evaporator (4) in particular, and the at least one burner (6) is arranged upstream of the at least one evaporator (4) in particular.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Publication date: September 17, 2020
    Applicant: AVL List GmbH
    Inventor: Vincent LAWLOR
  • Publication number: 20200161675
    Abstract: This invention concerns a fuel cell system (100a; 100b; 100c) comprising a fuel cell stack (1) having an anode portion (2) and a cathode portion (3), a reformer (4) for supplying reformed anode gas to the anode portion (2), and an exhaust gas burner (5) for burning anode exhaust gas from the anode portion (2) and/or cathode exhaust gas from the cathode portion (3), wherein the reformer (4) is arranged at least in sections annularly around the exhaust gas burner (5), wherein an inner wall portion of the reformer (4) is arranged completely or at least substantially around an outer wall portion of the exhaust gas burner (5). The invention also concerns a method for operating a fuel cell system conforming to the invention (100a; 100b; 100c) and a motor vehicle (1000) with a fuel cell system conforming to the invention (100a; 100b; 100c).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: May 21, 2020
    Applicant: AVL List GmbH
    Inventors: Vincent LAWLOR, Michael REISSIG, Jörg MATHÉ, Julian MAKINSON, Bernd REITER, Thomas KRAUSS
  • Publication number: 20200161681
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a fuel cell unit (100a; 100b; 100c; 100d; 100e; 100f; 100g; 100h) for a fuel cell system (1100), comprising at least a first fuel cell stack (3.1, 3.2), at least a second fuel cell stack (4.1, 4.2), an anode gas supply line (6), an anode exhaust line (7), a cathode gas supply line (8), a cathode exhaust line (9), and at least one BOP device (1, 2) for ensuring the operability of the fuel cell system (1100), the anode gas supply line (6), the anode exhaust line (7), the cathode gas supply line (8) and/or the cathode exhaust line (9) in at least one stack section (A, B) in between at least one first fuel cell stack (3.1, 3.2) and at least one second fuel cell stack (4.1, 4.2), wherein the at least one BOP device (1, 2) in the at least one stack section (A, B) within the anode gas supply line (6), the anode exhaust line (7), the cathode gas supply line (8) and/or the cathode exhaust line (9) are arranged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Publication date: May 21, 2020
    Applicant: AVL List GmbH
    Inventors: Vincent LAWLOR, Michael REISSIG, rgen RECHBERGER, Julian MAKINSON
  • Publication number: 20190379071
    Abstract: The present invention concerns a starting burner (100a; 100b) for a fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b), having a catalyst (10) with a catalyst inlet (11) and a catalyst outlet (12), a catalyst area (13) being formed between the catalyst inlet (11) and the catalyst outlet (12), and the catalyst area (13) being surrounded by a catalyst wall (14) in a passage direction (D) from the catalyst inlet (11) to the catalyst outlet (12), and an operating fluid guide section (20) for supplying an operating fluid (F1) to the catalyst inlet (11), wherein the operating fluid guide section (20) is arranged outside the catalyst (10) at least in sections along the catalyst wall (14). The invention also concerns a fuel cell system (1000) with the starting burner (100a; 100b) and a method for heating a service fluid (F1) in the fuel cell system (1000a; 1000b).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Publication date: December 12, 2019
    Applicants: AVL List GmbH, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jörg MATHÉ, Michael REISSIG, Thomas KRAUS, Julian MAKINSON, Bernd BEITER, Vincent LAWLOR, Tatsuya YAGUCHI, Tetsushi NODA, Takeshi SHIOMI
  • Publication number: 20190379069
    Abstract: The invention relates to a fuel cell system (100) having a fuel supply unit (8) and fuel cells (1, 2) having a cathode (4, 4?) and an anode (3, 3?), wherein the cathode (4, 4?) features a cathode feed line (40), the anode (3, 3?) features an anode feed line (30), and the flow in the anode (3, 3?) is connected with the flow in the fuel supply unit (8) via the anode feed line (30), in which a reforming apparatus (13) is arranged, and having an anode exhaust line (6) provided with at least one burner apparatus (22, 23).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Publication date: December 12, 2019
    Applicants: AVL List GmbH, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael REISSIG, Bernd REITER, Jörg MATHÉ, Thomas KRAUSS, Stefan PLANITZER, Vincent LAWLOR, Jürgen RECHBERGER, Masanari YANAGISAWA, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Hayato CHIKUGO, Tadaki MANO, Tatsuya YAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20070213761
    Abstract: A device for treating a target area of a vessel wall of a vessel within a man or animal body, the device comprising: an expandable portion for radially expanding the device from a contracted configuration allowing travel within the vessel to the target area to an expanded configuration allowing treatment of the target area; a protective sheath stretch-fitted over the expandable portion to exert a compressive force on the expandable portion for radially contracting the device from its expanded configuration to its contracted configuration, and for exerting a compressive force on the expandable portion in its contracted configuration; and at least two spaced apart treatment implements extending radially outwardly from the expandable portion, wherein in the device's contracted configuration the implements are shielded within the protective sheath, and in its expanded configuration the thickness of the sheath-decreases to expose the implements for contact with the target area of the vessel wall.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 23, 2007
    Publication date: September 13, 2007
    Applicant: National University of Ireland, Galway
    Inventors: Bruce Murphy, Vincent Lawlor