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:
Aug. 19, 2008
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2001
Dieter Illner, Erlangen, DE;
Igor Mehltretter, Buckenhof, DE;
Ottmar Voitlein, Lonnerstadt, DE;
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Munich, DE;
Abstract
A defective operation of a valve () in a drainage line () of a fuel cell results in unintentionally permitting process gas to flow into the surrounding area of the fuel cells. In order to resolve this problem, the invention provides a method for monitoring the discharge of media out of a fuel cell and provides a fuel cell system, with which the gas and water stream flowing through the drainage line () is monitored () by means of a Venturi nozzle () that is connected to a differential pressure sensor (). The magnitude () and the temporal progression () of the differential pressure indicated by the differential pressure sensor () establishes the basis for controlling the valve () in the drainage line () and for shutting down () the fuel cell block () in the event that the valve () is defective.