Importance

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Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus which comprises a first enclosure for containing a first fluid, a second enclosure for containing a second fluid, a pathway between the first and second enclosures through which the first fluid can leak from the first enclosure into the second enclosure, and means for admitting into said pathway a third fluid under greater pressure than either the first fluid or the second fluid, whereby the third fluid leaks into the first and second enclosures and prevents the first and second fluids from intermixing. In particular, the apparatus is a solid oxide water electrolyzer having a multiplicity of electrically interconnected vertical tubes sealed at one end where each tube comprises a solid oxide oxygen ion conducting electrolyte sandwiched between an oxygen permeable anode on the inside of the tube and an oxygen permeable cathode on the outside of the tube, a first plenum leakably sealed to the outside of the tubes into which steam can be admitted, a second plenum leakably sealed to the outside of the tubes in gaseous communication with the inside of the tubes from which oxygen can be taken, and a third plenum inbetween the first plenum and the second plenum into which pressurized steam can be admitted.

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First Claim