Intelligent Energy Inc.

Christopher James Kirk

Peter David Hood

Paul Leonard Adcock

Simon Edward Foster

Zachary Elliott

Jonathan Cole

Henri Winand

Hossein Ostadi

Andrew Kelly

Kevin M Kupcho

Christopher Conlon

John Joseph Murray

Christopher William Bishop

Graham Kirsopp

Mark Braithwate

Marco Mathar

Zachary Elliot

A charging device is configured to deliver power to a portable, power-consuming device, having a profile sensor which can detect information relating to the identity of power-consuming device to which the charging device is connected and may also have a communication channel configured to transmit said information to a remote server. In use, data can be collected or aggregated relating to power-consuming devices by connecting the charging device to the portable power-consuming device; sensing, by a profile sensor in the charging device, information relating to the identity of the power-consuming device; and transmitting the information to a remote server over a communication channel. Collected data may, for example, be used to identify when fuel for a charging device may need replenishment.

Multimode charging device and method

A microvalve assembly () is integrated into a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate (). An aperture () in the PCB substrate includes a closure member () extending into the aperture. A flexible fluid pipe () is disposed between the closure member and a closure edge () of the aperture. A displacement member () is coupled to the PCB and is configured for thermal actuation to displace the closure member so as to vary the cross-sectional profile of the flexible fluid pipe. The closure member may be a cantilever section of the PCB substrate. Displacement of the closure member to vary the cross-sectional profile of the flexible fluid pipe can occur entirely within the plane of the PCB substrate and movement of the displacement member to displace the closure member can also occur entirely within the plane of the PCB substrate, providing a very low profile of microvalve particularly suited for integration into a fuel cell stack ().

Microvalve

A switching controller for coupling one of a plurality of voltage sources to a load. The switching controller is configured to receive a characteristic of one of the plurality of voltage sources; for each of the plurality of voltage sources, set a proportion of a switching period of a control signal during which the voltage source is connected to the load, wherein the proportion of the switching period is set based on the received characteristic of one of the plurality of voltage sources; and control which of the plurality of voltage sources is connected to the load in accordance with the control signal.

Switching controller

The invention relates to fuel cell assemblies, and in particular to improvements relating to sealing of such assemblies, embodiments of which include a fuel cell assembly () comprising a membrane electrode assembly (), a cathode separator plate () having a series of corrugations extending, and providing air flow paths, between first and second opposing edges of the plate, a gasket () providing a fluid seal around a peripheral edge of the membrane electrode assembly () between the separator plate () and the membrane electrode assembly () and a metal shim () disposed between the gasket () and the separator plate () over the peripheral edge of the membrane electrode assembly ().

Fuel cell assembly

A pair of fuel cells are configured as a hydrogen purity monitor. A first cell, acting as a reference cell, is configured to generate electrical current from the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxidant and has a first fuel inlet configured to receive hydrogen from a first hydrogen source. A second fuel cell, acting as a test cell, is configured to generate electrical current from the electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxidant and has a second fuel inlet configured to receive hydrogen from a second hydrogen source. A control system is configured to apply an electrical load to each fuel cell and determine an electrical output of each fuel cell. The control system has a comparator for comparing the electrical outputs of the first and second fuel cells and a purity monitor output configured to give an indication of hydrogen purity based on an output of the comparator.

Hydrogen quality monitor

A fuel cell (FC) system operating as its own hydrogen leak detector. The system including at least one cathode and cathode conduit for passage of oxidant to the cathode and a housing containing one or more FCs and defining a plenum around the FC. A ventilation system forces air from the plenum into the cathode conduit and a control system monitors the FC voltage and detects a drop in voltage attributable to hydrogen in the cathode conduit. A control system may include actual cell voltage monitoring of the FC or of one or more cells in the FC stack and a processor for receiving inputs indicative of the operation of the FC or FC stack and/or to determine an expected voltage of FC(s) being monitored and whether the difference between the actual and expected voltage(s) exceeds a predetermined threshold indicative of a predetermined level of hydrogen in the cathode conduit.

Fuel cell system

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Loughborough, United Kingdom

Christopher James Kirk