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:
Feb. 21, 2012
Filed:
Nov. 19, 2007
Yang Song, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Zakiul Kabir, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Craig Evans, Portland, OR (US);
Lin Qiu, London, CA;
Donald L. Maricle, Glastonbury, CT (US);
Yang Song, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Zakiul Kabir, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Craig Evans, Portland, OR (US);
Lin Qiu, London, CA;
Donald L. Maricle, Glastonbury, CT (US);
ClearEdge Power, Inc., Hillsboro, OR (US);
Abstract
A method is provided for reducing degradation in a fuel cell assembly, including at least one fuel cell with a PBI membrane, during standby, operation. The method may include electrochemically consuming an oxidant from a cathode coupled to the PBI membrane in response to a disconnection of an external load and supplying fuel to remove or electrochemically consume any back-diffused oxidant to the associated fuel cell sufficient to replace or consume the back-diffused oxidant while the external load is removed, and/or also may include controlling a standby temperature of the fuel cell. In this way, it may be possible to avoid increased cell voltage decay associated with degradation of the PBI in a simple and cost effective system.