Belenos Clean Power Holding Ag

Paul Scherrer Institut

Felix Buechi

Marcel Hofer

Martin Ruge

Philipp Dietrich

Daniel Schmid

Uwe Hannesen

Akinori Tsukada

Jérôme Bernard

Philippe Dietrich

A method of operating a PEM fuel cell including an anode feed circuit and a cathode feed circuit for feeding of an anode side with a reactant gas and for feeding a cathode side with a cathode gas. A shut-down mode for shutting down an electricity generating operation of the fuel system includes decreasing the supply of reactant gas and cathode gas in response of a shut-down signal, monitoring an output voltage of at least one cell of a fuel cell stack, monitoring the reactant gas pressure and the cathode gas pressure, electrically shunting of the at least one fuel cell in response of the output voltage reaching a predefined voltage level, at least reducing the pressure of the anode side to a predefined pressure level by means of at least one pump, and filling and/or flushing of at least the anode side with an inert gas.

Method of shut-down and starting of a fuel cell

The method for limiting the output voltage of a PEM fuel cell system operating in, or near, zero load conditions, in such a way as to minimize degradation of performance over time, comprises:

Method for limiting the output voltage of a PEM fuel cell system

The present invention concerns a separator plate for use in a fuel cell stack with a substantially circular or oval main surface wherein a fluid flow path is defined by a plurality of channels extending substantially in parallel to each other and leading a fluid from a fluid supply port to a fluid discharge port. Adjacent channels merge such as to decrease the number of parallel channels from the supply port to the discharge port, thereby decreasing a cross sectional area of the flow path. The plurality of parallel channels comprises the following sections:

Fuel cell structure and separator plate for use therein

A fuel cell stack is disclosed having a number of stacked fuel cells, each having in series an anode-facing end plate, an anode, an ion-exchanging layer, a cathode and a cathode-facing end plate. The stack includes at least one conductive and flexible intermediate layer between elements of the stack. The intermediate layer is deformable implemented in terms of its thickness. The intermediate layer abuts and interacts, in a fluid-tight manner, with the end plates. The intermediate layer is further disposed between at least one of the anode-facing end plate and the cathode-facing end plate of adjacent fuel cells, an end plate of a stack and a cooling plate attached to said end plate and an end plate of the stack and a cathode-facing end plate.

Method and device for stacking fuel cells

A fuel cell has an electrochemical process area having a cathode area, an anode area and an ion-exchanging membrane that separates these areas. The cathode area has a gas passage way having a gas inlet, a gas channel and a gas outlet, wherein the gas passage way is for an oxygen-containing gas to flow from the gas inlet through the gas channel to the gas outlet. The fuel cell includes further a humidity transfer area having a dehumidifying zone, a humidifying zone and a humidity transfer membrane that separates these zones. An exhaust channel connects the gas outlet to the dehumidifying zone, and an inlet channel connects the gas inlet to the humidifying zone. Humidity is extracted from the oxygen-containing gas in the dehumidifying zone, and added to the oxygen-containing gas in the humidifying zone via the humidity transfer membrane.

Growing community of inventors

Langenthal, Switzerland

Felix Buechi