Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
429450000 | Control of electrolyte or water | 36 |
20100203412 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF - A fuel cell system ( | 08-12-2010 |
20100221632 | Method and Apparatus for Forming a Wetting Nominal Value for a Fuel Cell Unit - In a method and apparatus for wetting a fuel cell unit on the basis of a predetermined dew point nominal value as a function of the operating state of the fuel cell unit, a corrected dew point nominal value is determined using a predetermined dew point nominal value, a component-specific correction value, and a process correction value. The corrected dew point nominal value is used to set the required amount of water for optimum wetting of the fuel cell unit. | 09-02-2010 |
20100227242 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND OPERATION METHOD FOR FUEL CELL - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell that includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane and an anode catalyst layer having a water-electrolytic catalyst, a movement portion that moves water from an oxygen electrode of the fuel cell to a side of a fuel electrode, a water content detection portion that detects the water content of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and a control portion that controls the movement portion on the basis of a result of detection of the water content detection portion. | 09-09-2010 |
20100273082 | Structure and method for optimizing system efficiency when operating an SOFC system with alcohol fuels - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack, a fuel inlet conduit, a water inlet conduit, and a hydrometer, such as an alcoholometer. The hydrometer is adapted to provide a measurement of a water-to-fuel ratio of a fuel inlet stream within the fuel inlet conduit. The water inlet conduit is adapted to provide a quantity of water to the fuel inlet conduit in order to achieve a desired water-to-ratio being provided to the fuel cell stack. | 10-28-2010 |
20110020723 | FUEL CELL PLATE HAVING MULTI-DIRECTIONAL FLOW FIELD - An exemplary fuel cell plate includes a plurality of first flow field channels that have an inlet near one end and an outlet near an opposite end. The first flow field channels establish a plurality of first fluid flow paths from a corresponding inlet to the corresponding outlet. A plurality of second flow field channels have an inlet near one end and an outlet near an opposite end for establishing a plurality of second fluid flow paths from the inlet to the outlet. The direction of fluid flow in the first fluid flow paths is opposite to a direction of fluid flow in the second fluid flow paths. At least some of the second flow field channels are between two of the first flow field channels. | 01-27-2011 |
20110104582 | TAILORING LIQUID WATER PERMEABILITY OF DIFFUSION LAYERS IN FUEL CELL STACKS - A fuel cell stack ( | 05-05-2011 |
20110183226 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack and a mounting section. The fuel cell stack is mounted on the mounting section with inclination. The fuel cell stack is formed by stacking a plurality of fuel cells in a vertical direction. An oxygen-containing gas in an oxygen-containing gas flow field and a fuel gas in a fuel gas flow field flow in a counterflow manner. In a front box of a vehicle, an inlet side of the fuel gas flow field is positioned above an outlet side of the fuel gas flow field with respect to a horizontal direction. In this state, the fuel cell stack is mounted on the mounting section. The fuel cell stack is inclined downward from the horizontal direction toward the back of the vehicle in a vehicle length direction. | 07-28-2011 |
20110207012 | METHOD FOR DETECTING ORIFICE FLOW PHASE TRANSITION IN A PRESSURE-CONTROLLED ANODE - A fuel cell system that determines the phase transition from water to gas through a bleed/drain valve in a water separation device. The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack having an anode side and a cathode side. An injector injects hydrogen gas into the anode side of the fuel cell stack. The water separation device receives an anode exhaust gas from the anode side of the fuel cell stack, where the water separation device includes a water holding reservoir. A controller controls the injector and the bleed/drain valve and determines when the bleed/drain valve transitions from draining water to bleeding the anode exhaust gas by comparing the flow rate through the water separation device and the flow rate through the injector. | 08-25-2011 |
20110269046 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - The degree of dryness in a fuel cell can be judged more accurately. A system has: an impedance calculation part that calculates an impedance of a fuel cell extracts from the calculated impedance a high-frequency impedance which is an impedance in a high frequency range and a low-frequency impedance which is an impedance in a low frequency range, and subtracts the high-frequency impedance from the low-frequency impedance to calculate a differential impedance; a water content calculation part that calculates the water content of an electrolyte membrane using the high-frequency impedance and calculates the water content of a catalyst layer using the differential impedance; and a water content control part that performs water content recovery processing to increase the water content of the catalyst layer if the water content of the catalyst layer is smaller than a predetermined water content. | 11-03-2011 |
20120003560 | FUEL CELL FOR MOISTURE MANAGEMENT AT GAS INLETS - A fuel cell includes an electrode assembly having an electrolyte between a cathode catalyst and an anode catalyst, and a flow field plate having a channel for delivering a reactant gas to the electrode assembly. The flow field plate includes a channel having a channel inlet. A porous diffusion layer is located between the electrode assembly and the flow field plate. The porous diffusion layer includes a first region near the channel inlet and a second region downstream from the first region relative to the channel inlet. The first region includes a filler material that partially blocks pores of the first region such that the first region has a first porosity and the second region has a second porosity that is greater than the first porosity. | 01-05-2012 |
20120178010 | FUEL CELL STACK WITH ASYMMETRIC DIFFUSION MEDIA ON ANODE AND CATHODE - The present invention provides a fuel cell having a membrane electrode assembly disposed between a first diffusion media that has a first set of material characteristics and a second diffusion media that has a second set of material characteristics. The membrane electrode assembly and the first and second diffusion media provide a cell assembly. The cell assembly provides a water transport mechanism that selectively controls water transportation across a thickness of the first and second diffusion media and through the membrane electrode assembly. The first set of material characteristics has at least one material characteristic substantially different from at least one material characteristic of the second set of material characteristics. The selection of the first and second set of material characteristics defines the water transport mechanism for managing hydration of the first and the second diffusion media. | 07-12-2012 |
20120315563 | LARGE-AREA DEMINERALIZER FOR FUEL CELL - A coolant demineralizer is disclosed for a fuel cell, which removes ions released from coolant for cooling a fuel cell stack to pipes. In particular the demineralizer reduces the occurrence of differential pressure due to an ion resin layer such that the coolant smoothly flows through the demineralizer, thereby maximizing the effect of filtering ions and, at the same time, the utilization of the ion resin. To this end, the demineralizer includes a housing having an inlet port, through which coolant is introduced to pass through an interior space of the housing, and an outlet port through which the coolant is discharged; and a filter member having a plate-shape such that the coolant introduced through the inlet port passes through the filter member in a direction perpendicular to the filter member. | 12-13-2012 |
20130065150 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a storage device, a fuel cell, a power circuit, a controller, and a memory. The memory stores a favorable combination range in which the combination of a water distribution condition of the fuel cell and the state of charge of the storage device is suitable for the required power of the vehicle, and the controller includes a water distribution condition estimating and acquiring unit that acquires the water distribution condition of the fuel cell, a state-of-charge acquiring unit that acquires the state of charge of the storage device, a combination status determining unit that determines whether the combination of the acquired water distribution condition and the acquired state of charge is within the favorable combination range, and a combination status improving unit that improves the water distribution condition of the fuel cell when the combination is not within the favorable combination range. | 03-14-2013 |
20130149628 | METHOD OF ESTIMATING AMIOUNT OF LIQUID WATER IN FUEL CELL, METHOD OF ESTIMATING AMOUNT OF LIQUID WATER DISCHARGED FROM FUEL CELL, ESTIMATION APPARATUS OF LIQUID WATER AMOUNT IN FUEL CELL AND FUEL CELL SYSTEM - The procedure of the invention successively obtains an estimated value of amount of liquid water in a fuel cell during operation in each specified period by the following steps (a) to (d), thereby improving the detection accuracy of the water condition inside the fuel cell. The step (a) obtains a previous estimated value. The step (b) obtains a drainage rate that represents an amount of liquid water discharged from the fuel cell per unit time, based on the previous estimated value and a value representing a current flow rate of a reactive gas in the fuel cell. The step (c) multiplies the drainage rate by a period of obtaining the estimated value, so as to calculate an amount of liquid water discharged from the fuel cell for a specified duration. The step (d) determines a current estimated value, based on the amount of liquid water discharged from the fuel cell for the specified duration. | 06-13-2013 |
20130273449 | FUEL CELL - To prevent inflow of liquid water into a power generating portion even if the liquid water remains in a manifold, and to enable size reduction by making constant the contact or surface pressure. S According to the present invention, in a fuel cell comprising a power generating section including an electrolyte membrane joined between an anode and a cathode, and a manifold to cause inflow and outflow of an hydrogen containing gas and an oxygen containing gas separately from each other to the anode and cathode; the manifold is formed with an inflow preventing portion to prevent inflow of a liquid water remaining in the manifold, into the power generating portion. | 10-17-2013 |
20130330646 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system for generating power by supplying a reaction gas to a fuel cell includes a wet state detection unit configured to detect a wet state of an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell, a steady time target wet state setting unit configured to set a steady time target wet state of the electrolyte membrane during a steady operation of the fuel cell system based on an operating condition of the fuel cell system, and a transient time target wet state setting unit configured to set a transient time target wet state so that the wet state of the electrolyte membrane gradually changes from a wet state detected before a transient operation starts to the steady time target wet state during the transient operation in which the operating condition of the fuel cell system changes. | 12-12-2013 |
20140220470 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system including a fuel cell that receives a supply of an anode gas and a cathode gas and generates power is provided. The fuel cell system includes a water content calculation unit configured to calculate a water content of the fuel cell, an internal impedance calculation unit configured to calculate an internal impedance of the fuel cell, and a starting temperature calculation unit configured to calculate a fuel cell temperature at a start of the system, based on the water content of the fuel cell as of a last time the system was stopped, and the internal impedance of the fuel cell at the start of the system. | 08-07-2014 |
20140272659 | MICROPOROUS LAYER STRUCTURES AND GAS DIFFUSION LAYER ASSEMBLIES IN PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS - In at least one embodiment, a microporous layer configured to be disposed between a catalyst layer and a gas diffusion layer of a fuel cell electrode assembly is provided. The microporous layer may have defined therein a plurality of hydrophilic pores, a plurality of hydrophobic pores with a diameter of 0.02 to 0.5 μm, and a plurality of bores with a diameter of 0.5 to 100 μm. The microporous layer structures and gas diffusion layer assemblies disclosed herein may be defined by a number of various designs and arrangements for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems. | 09-18-2014 |
20140370413 | FUEL CELL WATER DRAIN VALVE CONTROL WITH VEHICLE TILT COMPENSATION - System and methods for removing water and/or other liquids from a fuel cell system at a variety of vehicle tilt orientations are disclosed. In certain embodiments, a method for regulating a sump system in a vehicle may include receiving orientation information from one or more orientation sensors associated with the vehicle and/or the sump system. Based on the orientation information, an adjusted fill level of the sump system may be determined (e.g., using a look-up table or the like). A drain valve of the sump system may be selectively actuated to regulate a level of liquid in the sump system at or below the adjusted level. | 12-18-2014 |
20140370414 | INTERNALLY CONTROLLABLE FUEL CELL - Fuel cell and/or high-pressure electrolysis cell and a fuel cell membrane arrangement for improved control of a fuel cell by an actuator connected to the fuel cell membrane. | 12-18-2014 |
20150086895 | FUEL CELL - A fuel cell assembly is disclosed comprising a fuel cell electrode component and a reactant gas flow component ink bonded thereto. In one aspect direct bonding of a gas diffusion layer with a flow field is achieved allowing a simplified structural configuration. In another aspect improved component printing techniques reduce corrosion effects. In a further aspect flow fields are described providing reactant channels extending in both the horizontal and vertical directions, i.e. providing three dimensional flow. In a further aspect an improved wicking material allows wicking away and reactant humidification. In a further aspect improved mechanical fastenings and connectors are provided. In a further aspect improved humidification approaches are described. Further improved aspects are additionally disclosed. | 03-26-2015 |
20150093673 | PEM FUEL CELL STACK INLET WATER REGULATION SYSTEM - A fuel cell stack assembly is disclosed that includes a porous member disposed within a flow path for a reactant. A fluid collection member is provided within the flow path adjacent to and in fluid communication with the porous member. The porous member and the fluid collection member cooperate to collect liquid water from the reactant flowing in the flow path, wherein the collected liquid water may be drained from the fluid collection member. | 04-02-2015 |
20150349361 | AIR HUMIDIFICATION DEVICE AND AIR HUMIDIFICATION METHOD FOR FUEL CELL USING INJECTOR - Provided are air humidification device and method for a fuel cell. The air humidification device and method for the fuel cell may cool an air compressor and air compressed by the air compressor and easily humidify air supplied to the fuel cell by mixing water with air and injecting the mixture into an inlet of the air compressor. In particular, the air humidification device and method may easily humidify air supplied to a cathode of the fuel cell by bypassing a portion of the compressed air from an outlet of an air compressor supplying air to the cathode of the fuel cell and simultaneously by injecting condensed water discharged from a fuel cell system into an inlet of the air compressor using the bypassed compressed air. | 12-03-2015 |
20160087292 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell provided in a vehicle; and an electronic control unit configured to determine whether an amount of water in the fuel cell is equal to or smaller than a predetermined amount, and to prevent dryness of the fuel cell by increasing the amount of water in the fuel cell when a speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value in a case where the electronic control unit determines that the amount of water in the fuel cell is equal to or smaller than the predetermined amount. | 03-24-2016 |
20160141669 | Pressure Compensation System Having a Safety Function for an Electrolytic Tank - The invention relates to a pressure compensation system having a safety function for an electrolytic tank of flow batteries, in particular, vanadium redox flow batteries, and a head portion ( | 05-19-2016 |
20160141670 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD OF THE SAME - A fuel cell system | 05-19-2016 |
429451000 | Control of electrolyte stream | 10 |
20120308909 | Cell Stack System | 12-06-2012 |
20130059222 | Fuel Cell Stacks - A fuel cell stack ( | 03-07-2013 |
20140051002 | AQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES COMPRISING MATCHED IONOMER MEMBRANES - This invention is directed to aqueous redox flow batteries comprising ionically charged redox active materials and ionomer membranes, wherein the charge of the redox active materials is of the same sign as that of the ionomer, so as to confer specific improvements. | 02-20-2014 |
20140072897 | SYSTEM FOR ENERGY GENERATION OR STORAGE ON AN ELECTROCHEMICAL BASIS - A system for energy generation or storage on an electrochemical basis comprises at least one flow cell, each flow cell consisting of two half-cells through which differently charged electrolyte liquids ( | 03-13-2014 |
20140113210 | UNDERWATER VEHICLE HAVING AN ELECTROLYTE-ACTIVATED ELECTROCHEMICAL FUEL CELL - This underwater vehicle includes an electrolyte-activated electrochemical fuel cell to supply it with electrical power, which fuel cell includes:
| 04-24-2014 |
20140113211 | TAYLOR VORTEX FLOW FUEL CELLS UTILIZING ELECTROLYTE SUSPENSIONS - Taylor Vortex Flow fuel cells ( | 04-24-2014 |
20140170519 | Flow Battery System and Method Thereof - A redox flow battery system includes a first flow compartment, a second flow compartment, an ion exchange membrane positioned between the first flow compartment and the second flow compartment, a first pump configured to pump a first half-cell electrolyte from a first storage tank to the first flow compartment, a second pump configured to pump a second half-cell electrolyte from a second storage tank to the second flow compartment, a first weight sensor configured to provide a first weight signal associated with the weight of the first storage tank and the first half-cell electrolyte within the first storage tank, a memory in which command instructions are stored, and a processor configured to execute the command instructions to obtain the first weight signal, and to control the first pump, current and voltage on terminals of flow battery based upon the obtained first weight signal. | 06-19-2014 |
20140255812 | TAYLOR VORTEX FLOW ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS UTILIZING PARTICULATE ELECTROLYTE SUSPENSIONS - Taylor Vortex Flow galvanic electrochemical cells ( | 09-11-2014 |
20140255813 | ENERGY GENERATION AND STORAGE USING ELECTRO-SEPARATION METHODS AND DEVICES - Systems and methods for the storage of energy that can be easily converted to electrical power are disclosed. A concentration battery includes a stack of alternating cation and anion exchange membranes separated from one another by alternating first and second spaces; a first reservoir containing a concentrated ionic solution; a second reservoir containing a dilute ionic solution; multiple spaced first fluid pathways in fluid communication with the first reservoir and configured to flow concentrated ionic solution flows into the first spaces; and multiple spaced second fluid pathways in fluid communication with the second reservoir and configured to flow dilute ionic solution flows into the second spaces. The fluid pathways may be configured to flow the ionic solutions in a common first direction. Electrodes at either end of the device in fluid communication with the concentrated ionic solution permit electrical energy to be applied or extracted. A related method is included. | 09-11-2014 |
20150086896 | MONITORING ELECTROLYTE CONCENTRATIONS IN REDOX FLOW BATTERY SYSTEMS - Methods, systems and structures for monitoring, managing electrolyte concentrations in redox flow batteries are provided by introducing a first quantity of a liquid electrolyte into a first chamber of a test cell and introducing a second quantity of the liquid electrolyte into a second chamber of the test cell. The method further provides for measuring a voltage of the test cell, measuring an elapsed time from the test cell reaching a first voltage until the test cell reaches a second voltage; and determining a degree of imbalance of the liquid electrolyte based on the elapsed time. | 03-26-2015 |