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. 19, 2009
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2006
Bruce Lin, Vancouver, CA;
Bruce Lin, Vancouver, CA;
Daimler AG, Stuttgart, DE;
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
Improvements in startup time for an electrochemical fuel cell system from freezing and sub-freezing temperatures are obtained by utilizing an insulated fuel cell stack in combination with an thermal control subsystem. Temperature of the insulated electrochemical fuel cell stack, as well as temperature of the ambient environment, are monitored and a heating fluid is heated by thermal transfer with the environment under appropriate thermal conditions. The heated fluid is then passed to the insulated fuel cell in order to increase the temperature of the same, typically to a temperature at or near the temperature of the ambient environment. In this manner, ambient heat from the environment is utilized to increase the temperature of the insulated fuel cell stack, thus improving conditions for subsequent cold start of the insulated fuel cell stack.