| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080206608 | METHOD FOR DYNAMIC ADAPTIVE RELATIVE HUMIDITY CONTROL IN THE CATHODE OF A FUEL CELL STACK - A fuel cell system and method for controlling relative humidity in a fuel cell system. A controller can be signally coupled to one or more sensors and configured to operate at least one flow manipulation device in response to changes in a relative humidity of a reactant passing through the cathode flowpath of the fuel cell in order to maintain the relative humidity within a prescribed range. The controller correlates one or more of a temperature setpoint, pressure setpoint, stoichiometry setpoint or actual operating condition of any of them to an operating condition of the system. In this way, a desired level of relative humidity can be achieved, maintained or both while minimizing the use of power-robbing flow manipulation devices, such as a pump, compressor, fan or related component. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20090001183 | CONTROL METHOD FOR RESS FAN OPERATION IN A VEHICLE - A method of controlling the ventilation system for an energy source in a fuel cell vehicle is disclosed, which includes an HVAC system, a fluid reserve, and a rechargeable energy storage system (RESS), capable of controlling a temperature of the RESS to militate against damage to or a shortened life of the battery, while maximizing vehicle durability, efficiency, performance, and passenger comfort. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090075127 | METHOD FOR MEASURING HIGH-FREQUENCY RESISTANCE OF FUEL CELL IN A VEHICLE - A transient load can be applied to a fuel cell stack to generate an AC voltage across and an AC current through the fuel cell stack. The AC voltage and AC current can be used to ascertain an impedance of the fuel cell stack. The ascertained impedance can be correlated to a state of hydration of the fuel cell stack thereby providing an independent determination of the state of hydration. The independently determined state of hydration can be used as a diagnostic tool to verify a different independent determination of the state of hydration and/or as an input for controlling operation of the fuel cell stack. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090117417 | METHOD FOR MODEL BASED EXHAUST MIXING CONTROL IN A FUEL CELL APPLICATION - A system and method for controlling a bleed valve and a compressor in a fuel cell system during an anode exhaust gas bleed so as to maintain the concentration of hydrogen within a mixed cathode exhaust gas and anode gas below a predetermined percentage. The system uses a valve orifice model to calculate the flow rate of the anode exhaust gas through the bleed valve to identify how much airflow from the compressor is required to dilute the hydrogen in the anode gas to be below the predetermined percentage. The system also uses sensor inaccuracies and production tolerances in the valve orifice model to ensure that the concentration of hydrogen in the mixed anode and cathode exhaust gas is below the determined percentage. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090208782 | APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZED COOLING OF A DRIVE UNIT AND A FUEL CELL IN A FUEL CELL VEHICLE - A system for cooling a fuel cell stack and a drive unit in a fuel cell vehicle is disclosed, wherein the system includes a drive unit and a fuel cell stack. An oil cooling loop for the drive unit includes a three way valve, a liquid to liquid heat exchanger, and a pump. The liquid to liquid heat exchanger may be used to transfer drive unit off heat into the stack coolant loop. By not using an oil to air heat exchanger overall heat exchanger arrangement air side pressure drop can be minimized and airflow increased. The three way valve allows decoupling of the cooling loops if needed to inhibit negative impact on the fuel cell stack. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090236436 | APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZED EXECUTION OF HEATING TASKS IN FUEL CELL VEHICLES - A heating system for optimizing execution of heating tasks in a fuel cell vehicle is disclosed, the system including a stack coolant loop with a fuel cell stack, a primary pump, and a radiator module. A bypass coolant loop is disposed parallel with and is connected to the stack coolant loop between the fuel cell stack and the radiator module. The bypass loop including a cabin heat exchanger and a coolant heater, along with a secondary pump for pumping coolant through the heaters when desired. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20100092817 | METHOD FOR REVISING A POLARIZATION CURVE THAT DEFINES THE CURRENT/VOLTAGE RELATIONSHIP OF A FUEL CELL STACK - A method for revising a reference polarization curve of a fuel cell stack that identifies the relationship between the voltage and the current of the stack over time. When the stack is operating at a low load where kinetic voltage losses of the stack dominate, a first adaptation value is revised as the difference between the actual stack voltage and the stack voltage of the reference polarization curve. When the stack is operating at higher loads where ohmic voltage losses of the stack dominate, a second adaptation value is revised as the difference between the actual stack voltage and the stack voltage of the reference polarization curve. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20110112781 | METHOD FOR ESTIMATING BATTERY DEGRADATION IN A VEHICLE BATTERY PACK - A method for gathering information from battery sensors—for instance, information regarding the state-of-charge (SOC), temperature and/or other characteristics of battery cells in a vehicle battery pack—and using that information to estimate or predict battery degradation or state-of-health (SOH). According to an exemplary embodiment, the method uses both a time-based algorithm and an event-based algorithm to predict or estimate battery degradation. The event-based algorithm may select certain data from the battery conditions (e.g., a state-of-charge (SOC) swing (ΔSOC) or an SOC maximum (SOC | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110117463 | BATTERY TEMPERATURE CONTROL METHOD AND ASSEMBLY - An assembly ( | 05-19-2011 |
