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:
Jul. 20, 2010
Filed:
Jan. 27, 2006
Martin M. Hoch, Webster, NY (US);
Martin M. Hoch, Webster, NY (US);
GM Global Technology Operations, Inc., Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A system and method for controlling the flow of a cooling fluid through a fuel cell stack during cold system start-up. A pump pumps the cooling fluid through the stack. At cold start-up, the pump is selectively turned on and off in a pulsed manner based on the temperature, cooling fluid volume, stack output power and other factors so that a minimal amount of the cold cooling fluid is introduced into the stack. By selectively controlling the duty cycle and the frequency of the pump pulsing, the reaction temperature will heat the cooling fluid, but the influence of the cold cooling fluid on the stack output power will be minimized. In an alternate embodiment, an electric heater is positioned in the inlet manifold, so that the cooling fluid is heated in the inlet manifold during the times that the pump is off.