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US 7,405,018 B2Granted
Fuel cell with catalytic combustor seal
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsDavid Champion, Gregory S Herman, Peter Mardilovich, Niranjan Thirukkovalur
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Subject matter includes a fuel cell with a catalytic combustor seal and related methods. The catalytic converter is positioned to come in contact with a fuel after the fuel has traversed a path over an intended electrode and the fuel is catalytically converted before the fuel can come in contact with an unintended electrode.
Claims35
A dual chamber fuel cell that includes a gas-permeable catalyic combustor instead of a seal, comprising:
- an anode chamber for presenting fuel to an anode;
- a cathode chamber for presenting oxidizer to a cathode, wherein the anode chamber and the cathode chamber are coupled to form a continuous space within the fuel cell;
- a gas-permeable catalytic combustor in at least part of the continuous space to react at least some of the fuel with at least some of the oxidizer;
- wherein the gas-permeable catalytic combustor is located where normally a seal between the anode chamber and the cathode chamber is situated;
- and
- wherein the gas-permeable catalytic combustor is in physical contact with the anode, the cathode, or an electrolyte of the fuel cell.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.