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.

Date of Patent:
Jan. 11, 2005

Filed:

May. 30, 2002
Applicants:

Carl A. Reiser, Stonington, CT (US);

Ryan J. Balliet, West Hartford, CT (US);

Inventors:

Carl A. Reiser, Stonington, CT (US);

Ryan J. Balliet, West Hartford, CT (US);

Assignee:

UTC Fuel Cells, LLC, South Windsor, CT (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01M 800 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

Performance of a fuel cell stack () is recovered following long term decay by connecting () an auxiliary load () to the fuel cell while shutting off one or more of oxidant inlet valve (), oxidant pressure regulating valve () or oxidant pump (), which all may be achieved with a controller (), to cyclically starve the cathode of oxidant so that it achieves hydrogen potential, e.g., less than 0.1 volts, for on the order of tens of seconds, repetitively, such as at every 10 or 20 seconds, while the auxiliary load remains connected, initially drawing 10 to 100 mASC, for example. Complete rejuvenation is obtained following 1800 or more cycles over a period of five or more hours.


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