Visteon Global Technolgoies, Inc.

Pam Dawson

Vijay Garg

Prabhakar Singh

Robert Joseph Mohan

Richard Eric Luken

A fuel cell power generation system is disclosed which includes a primary fuel cell stack for generating a first quantity of electric power, an auxiliary fuel cell stack for generating a second quantity of electric power, a fuel handling subsystem for feeding a fuel containing hydrogen to the primary fuel cell stack and the auxiliary fuel cell stack, an oxidant handling subsystem including a compressor for feeding an oxidant containing oxygen to the primary fuel cell stack, and a controller electrically connected to the primary fuel cell stack, the auxiliary fuel cell stack, the fuel handling subsystem and the oxidant handling subsystem for controlling operation of the fuel cell power generation system. In one version of the fuel cell power generation system, the controller executes a stored program to sense a startup signal for the fuel cell power generation system, to initiate operation of the auxiliary fuel cell stack, and to apply at least a portion of the second quantity of electric power generated by the auxiliary fuel cell stack to the oxidant handling subsystem to initiate operation of the primary fuel cell stack.

Auxiliary convective fuel cell stacks for fuel cell power generation systems

A tubular polymeric membrane fuel cell mechanically integrated through upper and lower manifolds that also acts as power leads to the fuel cell. The fuel cell of the present invention can be stacked and multiple fuel cell stacks can be arranged in a series and parallel format. According to the manifold design of the present invention, the dual-purpose manifolds allow the fuel cell system to operate under low parasitic power loss conditions, thereby simplifying and improving the system. In addition, the mechanically integrated fuel cell structure of the present invention does not require external clamping. The manifold design of the present invention mechanically integrates the fuel cells and the fuel cell stacks without the need for external clamping.

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Dearborn, MI, United States of America

Pam Dawson