The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 12, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 22, 1997
Yasuhiro Nonobe, Aichi-ken, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
A power supply system 10 with a stack of fuel cells 20 and a storage battery 30 includes a remaining charge monitor 46 for measuring the remaining charge of the storage battery 30. The remaining charge monitor 46 detects the remaining charge of the storage battery 30 at the time of stopping operation of the power supply system 10. In case that the remaining charge of the storage battery 30 is not greater than a predetermined level, the fuel cells 20 continuously charge the storage battery 30 until the remaining charge reaches the predetermined level. The power supply system 10 is stopped after the charging operation of the storage battery 30 has been accomplished. At a next start of the power supply system, the storage battery 30 functions as a primary power source to supply electric power to a loading until the warm-up of the fuel cells 20 is completed.