Fuel cell system
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorFumio Kagami
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel cell system and a method of operating a fuel cell system are disclosed wherein an external electric source (4) is provided to apply current to a fuel cell (1), comprised of a polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode catalyst complex having a polymer electrolyte membrane (21) sandwiched between a fuel electrode (24A) and an oxidant electrode (24B) and separators (26, 28) formed with flow channels (27, 29) to supply fuel and oxidant to the polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode catalyst complex, and operative to change a direction in which current is applied to the fuel cell (1).
Claims12
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a fuel cell including a polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode catalyst complex composed of a polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched between a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode, and a separator formed with channels through which a fuel and an oxidant are supplied to the polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode catalyst complex;
- and
- an external electric source operative to apply current to the fuel cell and to change a direction in which the current is applied to the fuel cell.
A method of operating a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell that includes a polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode catalyst complex composed of a polymer electrolyte membrane sandwiched between a fuel electrode and an oxidant electrode, and an external electric source operative to apply current to the fuel cell, when a performance of the fuel cell is recovered, comprising:
- supplying fuel to the oxidant electrode of the fuel cell;
- activating the external electric source to cause current to flow in a direction from the fuel electrode to the oxidant electrode of the fuel cell;
- and
- switching the external electric source to cause the current to flow in a direction from the oxidant electrode to the fuel electrode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.