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:
Jan. 05, 2016
Filed:
May. 31, 2012
Richard Fellows, Vancouver, CA;
Richard Fellows, Vancouver, CA;
Daimler AG, Stuttgart, DE;
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI (US);
Abstract
A system and method is provided for minimizing the degradation of a fuel cell after shutdown by forcing remaining air out of a fuel cell system. Upon fuel cell shutdown, the flow of air to the cathode of the fuel cell can be kept at a low rate. The flow of cathode exhaust gases along an exhaust conduit is substantially restricted while the pressure of the supply air supplied is increased. As a result, the pressure of the cathode exhaust gases in the exhaust conduit increases. The voltage of the fuel cell can be to deplete the oxygen in the supply air. The pressure of the supply air is decreased to a pressure lower than the pressure of the cathode exhaust gas in the exhaust conduit such that the cathode exhaust gas flows backward through the system to push out any remaining air.