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:
Jan. 21, 2013
GM Global Technology Operations Llc, Detroit, MI (US);
Derek R. Lebzelter, Fairport, NY (US);
Balasubramanian Lakshmanan, Pittsford, NY (US);
Sriram Ganapathy, Honeoye Falls, NY (US);
Sanja Sljivar-Lovria, Honeoye Falls, NY (US);
Bruce J. Clingerman, North Rose, NY (US);
Michael J. Kiefer, Rochester, NY (US);
GM Global Technology Operations LLC, Detroit, MI (US);
Abstract
A system and method that monitor the rate of a voltage drop of fuel cells in a fuel cell stack to determine whether the voltage drop is a result of cathode reactant starvation or anode reactant starvation. The method looks at a falling voltage of a fuel cell to determine whether the rate of the fall in voltage indicates that hydrogen starvation of the anode of the fuel cell is occurring. The method also looks at the actual voltage of the fuel cell that is falling to determine whether it is a below a predetermined minimum voltage threshold also indicating that hydrogen starvation of the anode of the fuel cell is occurring. If hydrogen starvation is occurring, the method performs power limiting of the fuel cell stack either based on the rate or the voltage level.