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:
Mar. 18, 2003
Filed:
Jan. 16, 2001
Richard Eric Luken, Farmington Hills, MI (US);
Pam Dawson, Dearborn, MI (US);
Robert Mohan, Canton, MI (US);
Vijay K. Garg, Canton, MI (US);
Prabhakar Singh, Richland, WA (US);
Visteon Global Technologies, Inc., Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
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.