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. 13, 2014
Filed:
Oct. 31, 2008
Patrick Frost, Rochester, NY (US);
Bruce J. Clingerman, Palmyra, NY (US);
Patrick Frost, Rochester, NY (US);
Bruce J. Clingerman, Palmyra, NY (US);
GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A system and method for determining whether valves in a fuel cell system bleed manifold unit (BMU) are blocked with ice or have otherwise failed. The system opens a first bleed valve, closes a second bleed valve and opens an exhaust valve, and then reads a pressure signal to determine whether there is flow through a flow restriction to determine whether the first bleed valve or the exhaust valve is blocked. The system then closes the exhaust valve, leaves the first bleed valve open, and again reads the pressure signal to determine the pressure drop across the flow restriction, which will indicate whether the flow restriction the pressure sensor lines are blocked. The system then closes the first bleed valve and opens the second bleed valve to determine whether the pressure signal indicates a flow through the second bleed valve.