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:
Oct. 29, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 25, 1999
Kevin Michael Colbow, North Vancouver, CA;
Marian van der Geest, Vancouver, CA;
Cindy J. Longley, Vancouver, CA;
Jens Müller, Blaustein, DE;
Joy Roberts, Coquitlam, CA;
Jean St-Pierre, Vancouver, CA;
Peter Urban, Ulm, DE;
Regina Wezel, Ulm, DE;
David P. Wilkinson, North Vancouver, CA;
Jiujun Zhang, Richmond, CA;
Ballard Power Systems Inc., Burnaby, CA;
Abstract
An electrochemical fuel cell is operated with periodic reactant starvation at either or both electrodes. Periodic reactant starvation conditions cause a change in the potential of the starved electrode and may result in the removal of electrocatalyst poisons and in improved fuel cell performance. This technique may have other beneficial effects at the electrodes, including performance improvements due to water management effects or localized heating effects at the starved electrode. In a preferred method, while successive localized portions of a fuel cell electrode are periodically reactant starved, the remainder of the fuel cell electrode remains electrochemically active and saturated with reactant such that the fuel cell is able to continue to generate power.