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:
May. 17, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 28, 2002
David Leboe, Vancouver, CA;
David Leboe, Vancouver, CA;
Cellex Power Products, Inc., Richmond, CA;
Abstract
This application relates to a method and system for controlling the supply of fuel to a dead-ended hydrogen fuel cell. The invention may be utilized, for example, to more efficiently integrate the operation of a hydrogen fuel cell and a hydrogen generator, such as a reformer coupled with a hydrogen separation unit. The invention ensures that the production and consumption of hydrogen are effectively balanced to avoid negative feed line pressure fluctuations. The fuel supply control subsystem and hydrogen consumption control subsystems are, however, 'decoupled' and hence independently operable. The invention may include an accumulator disposed in a flow path between the hydrogen generator and the fuel cell for storing hydrogen under pressure. The accumulator is sufficiently large in volume such that the pressure of hydrogen in the flow path does not deviate substantially from a target pressure, even during the waste purging sessions. The system enables the use of low-cost pressure transducers in place of mass flow meters. In one aspect of the invention raffinate flow from the hydrogen separator can be controllably adjusted to regulate the temperature or other operating parameters of the reformer.