Hydrogenics Corporation

Stephen Burany

Joseph Cargnelli

Todd A Simpson

Ravi B Gopal

Stéphane Massé

Jianming Ye

Ricardo Bazzarella

Norman A Freeman

Robert C Del Core

A fuel cell system and a method of operating same are provided. The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell for driving a load, at least one fuel cell peripheral, a device for measuring at least one fuel cell operation characteristic, and at least one controller for controlling the operation of at least one fuel cell peripheral based on the at least one fuel cell operation characteristic. The fuel cell operation characteristic is divided into at least two ranges, and operation of at least one fuel cell is controlled to provide it with a respective operational characteristic for each range of operation of the fuel cell system.

Fuel cell system and method of operation to reduce parasitic load of fuel cell peripherals

The present invention relates to a fuel cell system and a method of operating same, The fuel cell has a first reactant inlet, a first reactant outlet, a second reactant inlet, a second reactant outlet. The invention involves (a) providing a first reactant incoming stream to the first reactant inlet; (b) providing a second reactant incoming stream to the second reactant inlet; (c) monitoring a fuel cell state variable indicative of flooding; (d) based on the fuel cell state variable, determining whether the fuel cell is flooded; and, (e) providing an additional amount of the first reactant to the fuel cell when the fuel cell is flooded.

Method of operating a fuel cell power system to deliver constant power

A system and method for monitoring cell voltages for a plurality of electrochemical cells connected in series forming a cell stack. The method includes dividing the cells into at least two cell groups, measuring the voltage across each cell group and estimating the minimum cell voltage for each group based on the average cell stack voltage and an estimated number of deficient cells in each group. The lowest minimum cell voltage for the entire cell stack is then determined.

Method and apparatus for monitoring fuel cell voltages

A fuel cell system has: a fuel cell having a first reactant inlet, a first reactant outlet, a second reactant inlet, a second reactant outlet, and optionally a coolant inlet and coolant outlet. A first reactant supply subsystem supplies a first reactant incoming stream to the first reactant inlet of the fuel cell. A second reactant supply subsystem supplies a second reactant incoming stream to the second reactant inlet of the fuel cell. A first reactant recirculation subsystem recirculates at least a portion of the first reactant exhaust stream from the first reactant outlet to an enthalpy shifting subsystem in which one portion of the heat and moisture in first reactant exhaust stream is transferred to one of the first reactant incoming stream in the first reactant supply subsystem and the second reactant incoming stream in the second reactant supply subsystem. Another portion of the heat and moisture is transferred to the other stream. A method of controlling reactant and water in a fuel cell system is also disclosed.

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Thornhill, Canada

Stephen Burany