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:
Oct. 04, 2016
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2012
Michael T Lines, South Windsor, CT (US);
Michael T Lines, South Windsor, CT (US);
Ballard Power Systems Inc., Burnaby, CA;
Abstract
The bootstrap start-up system () achieves an efficient start-up of the power plant () that minimizes formation of soot within a reformed hydrogen rich fuel. A burner () receives un-reformed fuel directly from the fuel supply () and combusts the fuel to heat cathode air which then heats an electrolyte () within the fuel cell (). A dilute hydrogen forming gas () cycles through a sealed heat-cycling loop () to transfer heat and generated steam from an anode side () of the electrolyte () through fuel processing system () components () and back to an anode flow field () until fuel processing system components () achieve predetermined optimal temperatures and steam content. Then, the heat-cycling loop () is unsealed and the un-reformed fuel is admitted into the fuel processing system () and anode flow () field to commence ordinary operation of the power plant ().