Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

David John Keyes

Kenneth L Kaye

Todd D Bogumil

Kengo Ikeya

Matthew K Hortop

Michael F Zawisa

Mark A Buffa

Kristian M Whitehouse

Kazuyuki Izawa

Ellen Greifenstein

Joseph J Ferrero

An integrated environmental barrier for protecting the receiver portion of a fuel cell stack health monitoring system. The stack health monitoring system includes a transmitting measurement module and an optical communication module having a receiver. Measurements indicating the health of the fuel cell stack are optically communicated between the transmitter and receiver through the environmentally protective barrier. The environmentally protective barrier is disposed between the measurement module and the optical communication module such that the environmental barrier isolates the optical communication module from the environment contained within the fuel cell stack. The environmental barrier comprises light blocking and light transmitting portions enabling system variation while ensuring signal integrity.

Integrated environmentally protective barrier with light blocking and light transmitting features to optically communicate between two electronic devices operating in different environments

A fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell stack and an EESD electrically coupled to a common high voltage bus line. The EESD has a higher voltage output than the fuel cell stack, and thus the stack is unable to fully charge the EESD, for example, at system shut-down. In order to allow the fuel cell stack to fully charge the EESD, the EESD is separated into a plurality of separate electrical storage banks having lower voltage potentials. A series of contactors are provided to electrically couple the storage banks in series during normal system operation, and separately charge the storage banks using the fuel cell stack so that they are fully charged. The series of contactors can also be configured so that the storage banks can be electrically coupled in series during normal operation of the system and be electrically coupled in parallel during charging at system shut-down.

Method of fully charging an electrical energy storage device using a lower voltage fuel cell system

A hybrid fuel cell system that employs a fuel cell stack and an ultracapacitor. A diode is provided on a high voltage electrical bus between the fuel cell stack and the ultracapacitor so that high voltage from the ultracapacitor does not affect the operation of the fuel cell stack. During system start-up, a by-pass switch is closed to by-pass the ultracapacitor so that power from the ultracapacitor can be used to start various system loads, such as a cathode side air compressor that provides air to the fuel cell stack. A 12 volt-to-high voltage converter is employed to provide a low power, high voltage supply from a low voltage battery to the system loads at start-up when the by-pass switch is opened, but before a fuel cell stack switch is closed.

Method and apparatus for starting a fuel cell engine in a vehicle equipped with an ultracapacitor

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

David John Keyes