Visteon Global Technolgoies, Inc.

Prabhakar Singh

Vijay Garg

Pam Dawson

Robert Joseph Mohan

Richard Eric Luken

Mehrdad Teimor

Clark Hochgraf

Walter Franklin Clark

A control system ( ) for controlling the state of charge in an energy storage device ( ) by manipulating the voltage of a fuel cell ( ) through dynamic system modeling of predetermined parameters ( ) for the fuel cell ( ) as well as the energy storage device ( ). According to the method ( ) of the present invention, manipulation ( ) of predetermined parameters related to the fuel cell and the energy storage device control the energy storage device to a desired state of charge or divides the load current between the two devices.

Method and system for fuel cell control

An electrical storage device is coupled in parallel to a fuel cell contained within a fuel cell power generation system. The electrical storage device is either a battery pack, a plurality of capacitors, or a plurality of supercapacitors and is capable of electrochemically oxidizing a quantity of reformer gas contained within an anode chamber of the fuel cell during transient load conditions by charging from a preset state of charge towards full capacity. The energy storage device thereby prevents large quantities of unoxidized reformer gas from entering a chamber of a combuster during transient load conditions, unoxidized reformer gas that generates a tremendous amount of heat when burned that can corrode or damage the combuster. The energy storage device discharges the excess charge when the fuel cell power generation system returns to normal load conditions or during transient load conditions when the amount of reformer gas entering the anode chamber has been reduced so that the amount of unoxidized reformer gas entering the combuster is maintained at a nearly constant level.

Fuel cell systems with controlled anode exhaust

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.

Growing community of inventors

Richland, WA, United States of America

Prabhakar Singh