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:
Nov. 15, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 04, 2007
Naohisa Tsuchiya, Toyota, JP;
Naohisa Tsuchiya, Toyota, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota-shi, JP;
Abstract
A fuel cell operating system which can prevent freezing of a valve and a method of preventing fixation of the valve in the fuel cell operating system are provided. In steps of the process of preventing freezing of a valve in the present invention, first, supply of hydrogen, which is a fuel gas, is stopped. Power generation is continued in a fuel cell stack until the fuel gas which has already been supplied is consumed by the fuel cell reaction. It is constantly judged whether or not the power generation is stopped. When it is judged that the power generation is stopped, a function of a water discharge process module executes a process to open a bypass valve. When the bypass valve is opened, a large amount of pressurized air is supplied to a bypass flow path, and water present in the bypass flow path and water present in an exit-side flow path are forcibly pushed and discharged.