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:
Nov. 15, 2016
Filed:
Sep. 21, 2012
Intelligent Energy Limited, Loughborough, Leicestershire, GB;
Simon Edward Foster, Loughborough, GB;
Peter David Hood, Loughborough, GB;
Christopher James Kirk, Loughborough, GB;
Intelligent Energy Limited, Loughborough, GB;
Abstract
A fuel cell (FC) system operating as its own hydrogen leak detector. The system including at least one cathode and cathode conduit for passage of oxidant to the cathode and a housing containing one or more FCs and defining a plenum around the FC. A ventilation system forces air from the plenum into the cathode conduit and a control system monitors the FC voltage and detects a drop in voltage attributable to hydrogen in the cathode conduit. A control system may include actual cell voltage monitoring of the FC or of one or more cells in the FC stack and a processor for receiving inputs indicative of the operation of the FC or FC stack and/or to determine an expected voltage of FC(s) being monitored and whether the difference between the actual and expected voltage(s) exceeds a predetermined threshold indicative of a predetermined level of hydrogen in the cathode conduit.