Other

Estco Battery Management Inc.

Vered, Ron

Wight, James Stuart

Parisien, Brian Rudy

Fung, David Tat Fai

Ron Vered

James Stuart Wight

Brian Rudy Parisien

David Tat Fai Fung

Neil Teitelbaum

William A Adams

Christopher L Gardner

James H Dunn

David Tat Fung

A system for treating a polar liquid includes a signal generator for providing an alternating electrical current, and a transducer electrically coupled to the signal generator. The transducer includes a solenoidal coil and two ferromagnetic end pieces at the ends of the coil and transverse thereto. In operation, the transducer is at least partially immersed in a polar liquid and, when energized with the current provides a magnetic field into the liquid, the field may change a property of the liquid, e.g. an interfacial mass transfer rate. This can be used in many different industrial applications.

Method and system for changing a property of a polar liquid

For changing a property of a polar liquid a device comprising a signal generator and a transducer is provided adjacent to the liquid or at least partially immersed therein. The signal generator provides an alternating electrical signal to the transducer, wherein the electrical signal is of a frequency and an amplitude to affect the transducer to produce an alternating magnetic field having a magnetic flux density so as to change the property of the polar liquid, wherein a portion of the magnetic field penetrates the liquid, having an effect thereon and providing a change in the property of the liquid at a distance of at least 1 meter from the transducer. The property is a gas exchange rate and the change is at least 5%, or the property is surface tension and the change is at least 1%, or the property is viscosity and the change is at least 0.5%.

Method of changing a property of a polar liquid

For changing a property of a polar liquid, a transducer including a solenoidal coil is disposed at least partially within the liquid, which is prevented from penetrating the interior of the coil. An alternating electrical current applied to the coil produces a magnetic field about the coil. The current has a frequency and an amplitude such that the magnetic field has an effect on the liquid changing a property of the liquid at a distance of at least 5 meters from the transducer, wherein the property is gas exchange rate, surface tension, viscosity, freezing point, or partial vapor pressure. A system may include two transducers, wherein the electrical currents are offset in phase or frequency for controlling the effect.

Methods and devices for rejuvenating, supplementing, or bypassing an individual fuel cell or a group of fuel cells, in a fuel cell stack, is disclosed. The methods and devices provide for a mechanism for removing catalyst poisons on both the anode portion and the cathode portion of the fuel cell and providing an improvement in the operation of the electrolytes. A controller that controls a variable resistor or a variable power supply in parallel with an individual fuel cell or a group of fuel cells in a stack is utilized. Adjusting the resistive value of the variable resistor, or the voltage level of the variable power supply, directly controls the current in the fuel cell. In accordance with Kirchoff s Current Law, decreasing the fuel cell voltage increases the current through the fuel cell, while the fuel cell stack is operational, and poisons deposited on the anode and cathode electrocatalysts are removed, thereby rejuvenating the fuel cell. Typically, the removal of cell poisons only requires short, periodic pulsing of the fuel cell potential. Methods and devices for determining the limiting processes within a fuel cell thus enabling the optimization of the fuel cell stack performance to diagnose the fuel cell stack are also disclosed.

Method and apparatus for rejuvenating fuel cells

Growing community of inventors

Ottawa, Canada

Ron Vered