Loop Energy Inc.

Power Disc Development Corporation Ltd.

Fab Developments Inc.

David Earl Leger

Greg John Montie

Greg Montie

Sean Michael MacKinnon

Matthew Paul Paone

Raoul Jacob Kingma

Mark Chesley Mc Donald

Shane Carver Black

David Roberts

Mark Chesley McDonald

Gary Wayne Teichrob

Jacobus Neels

Rodney Bruce Redlich

Tristan Miller

Bruno Mathias Bate

Clark Friesen

A fuel cell anode flow field includes at least one flow channel with a cross-sectional area that varies along at least a portion of its length. In some embodiments, the channel width decreases along at least a portion of the channel length according to a natural exponential function. This type of anode flow field can improve performance, reduce fuel consumption and/or reduce detrimental effects such as carbon corrosion and catalyst degradation, thereby improving fuel cell longevity and durability. When operating the fuel cell on either a substantially pure or a dilute fuel stream, this type of anode flow field can provide more uniform current density. These flow channels can be incorporated into reactant flow field plates, fuel cells and fuel cell stacks.

Fuel cell flow channels and flow fields

A fuel cell power module includes a cylindrical housing encasing a fuel cell stack and an air supply. The housing has a major interior surface. The fuel cell stack can be cylindrical or hexagonal, and comprises fuel cells having an anode and an anode flow field plate, a cathode and a cathode flow field plate, and a membrane electrolyte interposed between the anode and the cathode. The air supply is directed to the plurality of fuel cell cathode flow field plates via a plenum defined by a space between the fuel cell stack and the housing major interior surface. The hexagonal fuel cell stack can be formed by a plurality of fuel cell groups shaped such that when aligned the fuel cell groups together constitute the hexagonal fuel cell stack.

Fuel cell components, stacks and modular fuel cell systems

A fuel cell cathode flow field has multiple channels each with a cross-sectional area that varies along the length of the channel such that oxygen availability at every lengthwise position along the channel is kept substantially constant for a given channel length and air stoichiometry ratio. Each channel comprises a flat floor with substantially constant depth and a pair of side walls extending upwardly from the floor; the side walls each taper inwards from channel inlet to outlet with a convex curve relative to the channel centreline. Achieving substantially uniform oxygen availability throughout the flow field results in substantially uniform current density throughout the flow field, which is desirable for efficient fuel cell operation and improved performance.

Fuel cell cathode flow field

A fuel cell stack comprises fuel cell basic units, each of which including a gas diffuser/collector plate serving as an anode, an ion exchange membrane, disposed on top of the gas diffuser/collector plate and an air diffuser/collector plate serving as a cathode and disposed on top of the ion exchange membrane. The gas diffuser/collector has a face directed to the ion exchange membrane. This face is provided with a flow field incorporating a multiplicity of adjacent open-faced flow channels. Each open-faced flow channel has a cross-section continuously diminishing from its inlet to its outlet. The flow field, viewed from the top, forms a trapezoidal contour.

Fuel cell stack

The fuel cell powered electrical motor comprises an electrical motor and a plurality of fuel cell stacks. The electrical motor includes a shaft assembly, a stator encircling the shaft assembly, a rotor encircling the stator, a flywheel located perpendicularly to the shaft assembly, at a top part of the latter, and a base plate located perpendicularly to the shaft assembly, at a low part of the latter. Base plate is designed to allow a fuel from an outside source to enter and exit the several fuel cell stacks and is also adapted for the passage of electrical power output from the fuel cell stacks to an external controller and from the latter to the stator and rotor.

Fuel cell powered electrical motor

A folding wheelbarrow is adjustable between erected and folded positions and comprises a pair of handle members, a pair of leg members, a wheel and a collapsible container of flexible sheet material. Forward portions of the handle members are hingedly connected together to form a kicker portion when erected, and rear portions of the handle members are laterally spaced apart for gripping. Forward portions of the leg members are hingedly connected together and located above the forward portions of the handle members when the wheelbarrow is erected, and rear portions of the leg members provide spaced apart legs to support the wheelbarrow. Each leg member is hinged to an adjacent arm member for rotation about a respective main hinge axis. The wheel is mounted for rotation about a transversely extending axle which is hingedly and slidably connected to the forward portions of the handle members. The collapsible container is made of a flexible sheet material and is located between the forward portions of the leg members and the rear portions of the handle member. A stiffening structure extends between the arm members and the leg members to limit relative movement therebetween about the main axis to stiffen the wheelbarrow when erected. A limiting structure limits rotation of the handle members about the handle axes.

Folding wheelbarrow

Growing community of inventors

Chilliwack, Canada

David Earl Leger