ELECTROLYSIS CELL SYSTEMS AND ASSOCIATED ELECTROLYSIS SYSTEMS AND METHODS

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/651,252, filed May 23, 2024, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made with government support under Contract No. DE-AC07-05-ID14517 awarded by the United States Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in the invention.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Electrolysis cell systems are disclosed. More specifically, electrolysis cell systems and associated electrolysis systems and methods are disclosed.

BACKGROUND

Many desirable chemical elements are difficult to collect naturally. Electrolysis systems are used to separate the desirable chemical elements from base materials, which are more common chemical compounds that include the elements. For example, hydrogen (H₂) may be collected by separating the hydrogen from the base material water (H₂O). Electrolysis systems separate the base material into different compounds or elements by passing a current through the base material. The current through the base material is induced by a direct current (DC) voltage or potential applied across the electrolysis system.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure include an electrolysis cell system. The system includes one or more electrochemical cells configured to contain a base material, the base material defining a safe operating voltage of the one or more electrochemical cells. The system further includes a power source configured to supply a voltage to the one or more electrochemical cells. The system also includes a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller between the power source and the one or more electrochemical cells, the PWM controller configured to control the voltage supplied from the power source to the one or more electrochemical cells by pulsing the voltage between the safe operating voltage and a second voltage higher than the safe operating voltage.

Other embodiments of the disclosure include a method of operating an electrolysis cell system. The method includes applying a voltage across an electrochemical cell. The method further includes inducing a current through a base material in the electrochemical cell. The method also includes pulsing the voltage between a safe voltage and a relatively higher voltage than the safe voltage through a pulse width modulation (PWM) controller. The method further includes separating at least one element from the base material through electrolysis.

Another embodiment of the disclosure includes an electrolysis system. The system includes at least two electrochemical cells configured to contain a base material. The system further includes a power source configured to supply a voltage to the at least two electrochemical cells. The system also includes at least one pulse width modulation (PWM) controller between the power source and the at least two electrochemical cells, the at least one PWM controller configured to control the voltage supplied from the power source to the at least two electrochemical cells by pulsing the voltage between a safe voltage and a second voltage higher than the safe voltage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the specification concludes with claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming embodiments of the disclosure, the advantages of embodiments of the disclosure may be more readily ascertained from the following description of embodiments of the disclosure when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an electrolysis cell system in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a plot of a pulse width modulation (PWM) control signal in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an electrolysis system in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a plot of multiple individual control signals for electrolysis cell systems that form part of the electrolysis system of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic of an electrolysis system in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description provides specific details, such as material compositions, shapes, and sizes, in order to provide a thorough description of embodiments of the disclosure. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced without employing these specific details. Indeed, the embodiments of the disclosure may be practiced in conjunction with conventional techniques employed in the industry.

Drawings presented herein are for illustrative purposes only, and are not meant to be actual views of any particular material, component, structure, device, or system. Variations from the shapes depicted in the drawings as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, embodiments described herein are not to be construed as being limited to the particular shapes or regions as illustrated, but include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing. For example, a region illustrated or described as box-shaped may have rough and/or nonlinear features, and a region illustrated or described as round may include some rough and/or linear features. Moreover, sharp angles that are illustrated may be rounded, and vice versa. Thus, the regions illustrated in the figures are schematic in nature, and their shapes are not intended to illustrate the precise shape of a region and do not limit the scope of the present claims. The drawings are not necessarily to scale. Additionally, elements common between figures may retain the same numerical designation.

As used herein, the term “substantially” in reference to a given parameter means and includes to a degree that one skilled in the art would understand that the given parameter, property, or condition is met with a small degree of variance, such as within acceptable manufacturing tolerances. By way of example, depending on the particular parameter, property, or condition that is substantially met, the parameter, property, or condition may be at least 90.0 percent met, at least 95.0 percent met, at least 99.0 percent met, at least 99.9 percent met, or even 100.0 percent met.

As used herein, “about” in reference to a numerical value for a particular parameter is inclusive of the numerical value and a degree of variance from the numerical value that one of ordinary skill in the art would understand is within acceptable tolerances for the particular parameter. For example, “about” in reference to a numerical value may include additional numerical values within a range of from 90.0 percent to 110.0 percent of the numerical value, such as within a range of from 95.0 percent to 105.0 percent of the numerical value, within a range of from 97.5 percent to 102.5 percent of the numerical value, within a range of from 99.0 percent to 101.0 percent of the numerical value, within a range of from 99.5 percent to 100.5 percent of the numerical value, or within a range of from 99.9 percent to 100.1 percent of the numerical value.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “below,” “lower,” “bottom,” “above,” “upper,” “top,” and the like, may be used for ease of description to describe one element's or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the drawings. Unless otherwise specified, the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the materials in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if materials in the figures are inverted, elements described as “below” or “under” or “on bottom of” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” or “on top of” the other elements or features. Thus, the term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below, depending on the context in which the term is used, which will be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art. The materials may be otherwise oriented (e.g., rotated 90 degrees, inverted, flipped) and the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.

As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

As used herein, the term “and/or” means and includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

As used herein, the terms “vertical,” “longitudinal,” “horizontal,” and “lateral” are in reference to a major plane of a structure and are not necessarily defined by earth's gravitational field. A “horizontal” or “lateral” direction is a direction that is substantially parallel to the major plane of the structure, while a “vertical” or “longitudinal” direction is a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the major plane of the structure. The major plane of the structure is defined by a surface of the structure having a relatively large area compared to other surfaces of the structure.

Electrolysis systems may be used to separate elements (e.g., chemical elements) from a material (e.g., a base material) by applying an electrical current through the material. For example, base materials including oxygen, such as water (H₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂), may be separated through electrolysis to produce hydrogen (H₂) or a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO), and oxygen (O₂) when an electrical current is passed through the associated base material.

As current increases through an electrolysis system the quantity of the produced elements or compounds may also increase. Increasing the current through the electrolysis system may also increase the operating temperature of the electrolysis system and lead to additional material concentrations and/or reactions within the electrolysis system. When the temperature of the electrolysis system increases beyond a safe operating temperature, degradation of the electrolysis system may increase significantly, which causes the operating life of the electrolysis system to decrease significantly. Therefore, the currents through conventional electrolysis systems are induced at relatively low voltages and/or currents configured to maintain the associated electrolysis systems at a safe operating temperature. It has also been found that in electrolysis systems where the base material includes oxygen, operating at higher voltages and/or currents (e.g., above the relatively low voltages and/or currents) may also induce larger oxygen concentration gradients. The larger oxygen concentration gradients induced by the higher voltages and/or currents may cause structural damage (e.g., cell cracking, cell fracturing, etc.) which in many cases are not repairable.

Embodiments of the disclosure describe operating systems and methods that are configured to operate an electrolysis system at higher voltages and/or currents, increasing the production of one or more products of the electrolysis systems while mitigating the negative effects of operating at the higher voltages and/or currents. A production rate of the electrolysis product may be increased, without degrading electrochemical cells of the electrolysis systems, by periodically pulsing the electrochemical cells to higher voltages and/or currents for relatively short time periods. The higher voltages and/or currents may be greater than a so-called “safe operating voltage,” which is defined as the voltage where the electrochemical cell containing the base material is operated safely at a constant voltage for a long period of time with minimal degradation or damage of the electrochemical cell. Embodiments of the disclosure may facilitate increases of production of the electrolysis product over conventional electrolysis systems by more than 20% with little to no effect on the operating life of the associated electrolysis systems.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of an electrolysis cell system 100. The electrolysis cell system 100 includes one or more electrochemical cells 102 receiving power from a power source 104, such as a battery, a power cell, line power, a power supply, an inverter, etc. In some embodiments the power source 104 is a direct current (DC) power source. For example, the electrochemical cell 102 may be a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) configured to achieve electrolysis of a base material, such as water or carbon dioxide, using a solid oxide or ceramic electrolyte. Other electrochemical cells may also be used. The amount of power provided to the electrochemical cell 102 is controlled by a controller 106. In some embodiments, the controller 106 is configured to convert the power provided to the electrochemical cell 102 to DC power, such as in embodiments where the power source 104 provides alternating current (AC) power.

A material collection device 108 may be configured to collect elements or compounds (e.g., the one or more electrolysis products) generated through electrolysis of the base material, such as H₂O or CO₂, in the electrochemical cell 102. For example, the material collection device 108 may collect one or more of H₂, CO, or O₂ separated through electrolysis in an electrochemical cell 102. produced from other base materials or material compositions by electrolysis in an electrochemical cell 102. The material collection device 108 may be a tank or reservoir configured to collect elements or compounds in a gas, vapor, liquid, or solid form. In some embodiments, the material collection device 108 includes additional components such as pumps or compressors configured to pressurize the elements or compounds as the elements or compounds are received from the electrochemical cell 102.

The controller 106 may be configured to control the power supplied to the electrochemical cell 102 through pulse width modulation (PWM) (e.g., pulse-duration modulation (PDM) or pulse-length modulation (PLM)). PWM is a control strategy that changes a perceived power at a load, such as the electrochemical cell 102, by switching a power supplied to the load on and off during specified intervals, such that the ratio between the time the power supplied by the power source 104 is on and the time the power supplied by the power source 104 is off defines the perceived power or average power at the load. For example, if the power supplied by the power source 104 is always on, the perceived power is 100% of the power being provided by the power source 104. If the power supplied by the power source 104 is on 50% of the time, the perceived power is 50% of the power being provided by the power source 104.

PWM may also be used to provide power to the load while modulating the power supplied by the power source 104 between two different voltages and/or currents. For example, the controller 106 may be configured to switch between two different voltages and/or currents multiple times in a short period of time as illustrated in FIG. 2. This modulation may facilitate operating the load at a higher power in short bursts and allowing the load to rest in short bursts to substantially prevent damage or rapid degradation to the electrochemical cells 102 that may occur when operating at the higher power for longer periods of time. For example, in electrochemical cells 102 configured to produce hydrogen, operating the electrochemical cell 102 at higher voltages and/or currents may result in excessive stressing of the electrochemical cell 102, leading to rapid degradation of the electrochemical cell 102. Operating electrochemical cells 102 configured to produce hydrogen at higher voltages and/or currents may also lead to the formation of oxygen concentration gradients within the electrochemical cell 102 that cause structural damage to the electrochemical cell 102 that is not reparable.

Because higher currents provided through the electrochemical cells 102 operating at higher voltages and/or currents increase the production of the materials from the base materials through electrolysis, it is desirable to operate the electrochemical cells 102 at higher voltages and/or currents. It is surprising and unexpected that the electrochemical cells 102 may be operated at higher voltages and/or currents, which are conventionally considered to be unsafe voltages and/or currents, when short rest periods operating at lower voltages and/or currents, which are considered safe voltages and/or currents, are included between the periods operating at the higher voltages and/or currents. This may result in higher production of the one or more electrolysis products from the associated electrochemical cell 102 with minimal effect on the operable life-span of the associated electrochemical cell 102.

FIG. 2 illustrates a PWM control signal 200. The PWM control signal 200 illustrates variations of a voltage 202 over time 204. The voltage 202 provided to an electrochemical cell 102 (FIG. 1) correlates to the current passing through the electrochemical cell 102 (FIG. 1) and causing the electrolysis therein. In some embodiments, the voltage 202 across the electrochemical cell 102 is controlled and in other embodiments, the current passing through the electrochemical cell 102 is controlled. As noted above, the voltage 202 correlates to the current, such that higher voltages result in higher currents and similarly higher currents result in higher voltages. As illustrated in the plot in FIG. 2, the voltage 202 is pulsed, such that the plot defines a pulse region 206 where power is supplied from the power source 104 to the electrochemical cell 102 by a high voltage 222 and a gap region 208 between pulse regions 206 where the power from the power source 104 to the electrochemical cell 102 is supplied by a safe voltage 220. The safe voltage 220 as used herein is a voltage where the associated electrochemical cell 102 may be operated safely at a constant voltage for long periods of time with minimal degradation or damage. The safe voltage 220 may vary based on the base material within the associated electrochemical cell 102. For example, an electrochemical cell 102 containing water may have a different safe voltage 220 than an electrochemical cell 102 containing carbon dioxide.

Each pulse region 206 may have a substantially constant voltage 202 between a start 210 and a stop 212. The high voltage 222 in each pulse region 206 may be an over-potential in a range from about 0.1 Volts (V) to about 1 V, such as in a range from about 0.4 V to about 0.8 V. For example, an electrochemical cell 102 configured to produce hydrogen through electrolysis may be configured to operate safely at about 1.3 V, therefore, the safe voltage 220 may be about 1.3 V, the high voltage 222 may be in a range from about 1.4 V to about 2.3 V, such as in a range from about 1.7 V to about 2.1 V.

The pulse region 206 has a pulse period 216 and the gap region 208 has a gap period 218. The combined pulse period 216 and gap period 218 define a cycle 214. The percentage of the cycle 214 defined by the pulse period 216 may be in a range from about 1% to about 80%, such as in a range from about 1% to about 50%, or a range from about 20% to about 50%. Resting the associated electrochemical cell 102 (FIG. 1) at the safe voltage 220 during the gap period 218 for as little as 20% of the cycle 214 may be sufficient to prevent overstressing the electrochemical cell 102 (FIG. 1) and to substantially prevent damage from oxygen concentration gradients and other reactions that occur at the high voltage 222.

Each cycle 214 may extend from the time that the high voltage 222 is supplied, through the time that the safe voltage 220 is supplied until the high voltage 222 is supplied again. The cycles 214 may range from about 0.01 Hz (e.g., 100 second cycles or 0.01 cycles per second) to about 1 kHz (e.g., 0.001 second cycles or 1000 cycles per second), such as in a range from about 0.1 Hz (e.g., 10 second cycles or 0.01 cycles per second) to about 10 Hz (e.g., 0.1 second cycles or 10 cycles per second).

At the safe voltage 220, the associated electrochemical cell 102 continues producing the associated material(s) in a state of electrolysis, such that the electrochemical cell 102 is producing the associated material(s) throughout each cycle, with the change in production being the quantity of the material(s) produced during the pulse period 216 and the gap period 218.

FIG. 3 illustrates an electrolysis system 300 including multiple electrolysis cell systems 302, such as electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d. The electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d may be similar to the electrolysis cell system 100 described above, with respect to FIG. 1 and includes similar components in substantially the same arrangement as described in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, each of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d include a PWM controller similar to the PWM controller 106 illustrated in FIG. 1 configured to control power supplied from a power supply 306 to the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d. The electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d may each be operatively connected to a material collection device 308 configured to collect the elements or compounds generated through electrolysis in the individual electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d.

In some embodiments, the material collection device 308 is coupled to each of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d individually through separate ports and/or tubing or pipes. In other embodiments, the material collection device 308 is coupled to the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d through a manifold configured to consolidate the individual connections to the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d into a single or reduced number of connections at the material collection device 308. Similar to the material collection device 108 described above, the material collection device 308 may be a reservoir or tank configured to collect the elements or compounds in a gas, vapor, liquid, or solid form. The material collection device 308 may also include a pump or compressor configured to pressurize the elements or compounds before the elements or compounds are collected in the material collection device 308.

As discussed above, a system controller 304 is configured to cycle the power supplied by the power supply 306 to the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d between a safe voltage and a high voltage greater than the safe voltage with a PWM style control, as illustrated and described in respect to FIG. 2. In some embodiments, the system controller 304 is a common controller connected between the power supply 306 and all of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d. In other embodiments, the electrolysis system 300 may include multiple system controllers 304 coupled between the power supply 306 and one or more of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d, such as between the power supply 306 and one of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d or between the power supply 306 and two of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d.

The system controller 304 may be configured to control the power supplied to the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d individually. This may facilitate offsetting the PWM control signals 200 (FIG. 2) of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d. For example, the system controller 304 may control the power supplied to a first electrolysis cell system 302a and to a second electrolysis cell system 302b, such that the pulse period 216 (FIG. 2) of the first electrolysis cell system 302a is aligned with the gap period 218 (FIG. 2) of the second electrolysis cell system 302b. Offsetting the PWM control signals 200 (FIG. 2) of the individual electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d may result in a substantially constant production rate for the electrolysis system 300 by alternating the rest periods (e.g., gap periods 218) between the individual electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d and having at least one of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d operating at the high voltage 222 at all times.

For example, FIG. 4 illustrates a plot of system control signals 400 for the electrolysis system 300. The plot includes a signal for the electrolysis cell system 302a, a signal for the electrolysis cell system 302b, a signal for the electrolysis cell system 302c, and a signal for the electrolysis cell system 302d each separated vertically along the Y-axis and plotted against a common time scale in the X-axis to illustrate the offset of the signals. Similar to the PWM control signal 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, each of the signals in the plot of the system control signals 400 represents a voltage 402a, 402b, 402c, 402d being provided to the associated electrolysis cell system 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIG. 4, the voltage 402a associated with the electrolysis cell system 302a begins in a high voltage region 404a and the voltage 402b associated with the electrolysis cell system 302b begins in a safe voltage region 406b. The voltage 402a of the electrolysis cell system 302a transitions to the safe voltage region 406a as the voltage 402b transitions to the high voltage region 404b. The voltage 402c of the electrolysis cell system 302c also begins in the safe voltage region 406c. The voltage 402c of the electrolysis cell system 302c transitions to the high voltage region 404c as the voltage 402b of the electrolysis cell system 302b transitions back to the safe voltage region 406b and the voltage 402a of the electrolysis cell system 302a remains in the safe voltage region 406a. The voltage 402d of the electrolysis cell system 302d begins by transitioning from the high voltage region 404d to the safe voltage region 406d. The voltage 402d transitions back to the high voltage region 404d as the voltage 402c of the electrolysis cell system 302c transitions back to the safe voltage region 406c. The voltage 402d of the electrolysis cell system 302d then transitions back to the safe voltage region 406d as the voltage 402a of the electrolysis cell system 302a transitions back to the high voltage region 404a.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the electrolysis system 300 has at least one electrolysis cell system 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d operating in the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d at all times. Each of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d are operating in the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d about 25% of the time. In other embodiments, the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d may operate in the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d a greater percentage, such as 40% of the time, 50% of the time, or even 80% of the time. When the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d are operating in the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d a greater percentage of the time, the high voltage regions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d of one or more of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d may overlap, such that two or more of the electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d are operating in the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d at any given time.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the electrolysis system 300 includes four electrolysis cell systems 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d. In some embodiments, the electrolysis system may include fewer electrolysis cell systems 302, such as two electrolysis cell systems 302 or three electrolysis cell systems 302. In other embodiments, the electrolysis system 300 may include a greater number of electrolysis cell systems 302, such as ten electrolysis cell systems 302 or twenty electrolysis cell systems 302. A greater number of electrolysis cell systems 302 may facilitate maintaining at least one of the electrolysis cell systems 302 at the high voltage region 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d in embodiments where the period is less than ¼th of the cycle length. In other cases a greater number of electrolysis cell systems 302 may increase the overlap in the high voltage regions 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d of the associated electrolysis cell systems 302.

FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified electrical schematic 500 of a control system in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure. The control system may be configured to be integrated into one or more of the electrolysis cell systems (e.g., the electrolysis cell system 100 or the electrolysis system 300) described herein. The control system includes a function generator 502, a current controller 504, and a power supply 506. The function generator 502 is configured to generate a signal configured to trigger a PWM signal, such as the PWM control signal 200 or one or more of the system control signals 400. The function generator 502 is coupled to the current controller 504, which controls current supplied by the power supply 506 based on the signal provided by the function generator 502.

The power supply 506 may be a direct current power supply. In some embodiments, the power supply 506 is configured to receive alternating current power, such as line power, and convert the alternating current to direct current power. The current supplied by the power supply 506 and controlled by the current controller 504 is transmitted to an electrolysis cell 508 (e.g., electrochemical cells 102, or electrolysis cell systems 100, 302a, 302b, 302c, 302d, etc.). The current controller 504 includes a relay 510 configured to pulse the current supplied by the power supply 506 when the signal provided by the function generator 502 is above a threshold level. For example, the signal provided by the function generator 502 may be an oscillating signal, such as a sinusoidal oscillating signal. The function generator 502 may be configured to supply the oscillating signal at a relatively low current, such as in a range from about 10 mA to about 200 mA with a peak to peak voltage in a range from about 1 Vpp to about 10 Vpp. The relay 510 may be configured to close when the signal is above a threshold value and open when the signal falls below the threshold value. In other embodiments, the relay 510 may be a normally closed relay. When the signal increases above the threshold value, the relay 510 opens, interrupting the current from the power supply 506. When the signal decreases below the threshold value the relay 510 closes, restoring the current from the power supply 506.

The current flowing through the relay 510 may form a substantially square wave of pulses that substantially coincide with the frequency of the signal provided by the function generator 502. As discussed above, pulsing the current may facilitate operating the electrolysis cell 508 at a higher voltage than are conventionally considered to be safe, by providing short rest periods operating at conventionally safe voltages between the periods operating at the higher voltages. This may result in higher production from the associated electrochemical cell 102 with minimal effect on the operable life-span of the associated electrochemical cell 102.

The control system may also include a regulator 512 and a current measurement circuit 514 that may be used to monitor and control the current passing through and the voltage across the electrolysis cell 508. For example, the regulator 512 may be used to monitor and limit the pulsed voltage applied across the electrolysis cell 508. The regulator 512 may be a potentiostat. As discussed above, the pulsed voltage across the electrolysis cell 508 may be greater than a conventionally safe voltage. While the pulsed voltage is higher, the regulator 512 may be configured to limit the pulsed voltage to a pulsed safe voltage (e.g., a voltage where the pulsed voltage will not excessively stress the electrolysis cell 508 and cause degradation of the electrolysis cell 508 during the short pulsed time period). For example, the power supply 506 may be configured to supply a voltage that is greater than a pulsed safe voltage and the regulator 512 may be configured to limit the voltage of the pulses supplied from the current controller 504 to below the pulsed safe voltage.

The pulsed safe voltage may vary depending on factors, such as the frequency of the pulses and the period or length of the pulses. The current measurement circuit 514 may provide a user with additional information regarding the current leaving the current controller 504. The current measurement circuit 514 may facilitate making adjustments to the regulator 512 based on the current pulses measured by the current measurement circuit 514. In some embodiments, a separate controller (i.e., in addition to the current controller 504) may monitor the current measurement circuit 514 and adjust the regulator 512 based on the measurements received by the current measurement circuit 514. In other embodiments, the current measurement circuit 514 may provide the measurements to a display where an operator may make control adjustments to the regulator 512 and/or the function generator 502 based on the displayed measurements.

Embodiments of the disclosure may facilitate operating an electrolysis cell at voltages and/or currents above what is conventionally understood to be safe voltages and/or currents of operation without an increase in degradation or damage to the associated electrolysis cells. Operating the electrolysis cells at higher voltages and/or currents may result in higher rates of production of one or more electrolysis products. Increasing production from an electrolysis cell may reduce the number of electrolysis cells used to produce a given amount of an element or compound. Reducing the number of electrolysis cells may, in turn, reduce the space used by an operation for a similar production quantity or facilitate increasing the production of an electrolysis operation without increasing the space used by the operation.

The embodiments of the disclosure described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures do not limit the scope of the invention, since these embodiments are merely examples of embodiments of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Any equivalent embodiments are intended to be within the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, various modifications of the present disclosure, in addition to those shown and described herein, such as alternative useful combinations of the elements described, may become apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. Such modifications and embodiments are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims and their legal equivalents.