Measuring cell voltages of a fuel cell stack
First Claim
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1. A system usable with a stack of fuel cells that have cell terminals, comprising:
- scanning units coupled to the stack and establishing different groups of the fuel cells, each scanning unit having a ground referenced to a different one of the cell terminals and being adapted to measure the voltages of the fuel cells in an associated one of the groups and indicate the measured voltages; and
a circuit adapted to receive the indicated voltages from the scanning units.
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Abstract
A system that is usable with a stack of fuel cells that have cell terminals includes scanning units and a circuit. The scanning units are coupled to the stack and establish different groups of the fuel cells. Each scanning unit has a ground that is referenced to a different one of the cell terminals, and each scanning unit is adapted to measure the voltages of the fuel cells in an associated one of the groups and indicate the measured voltages. The circuit is adapted to communicate with the scanning units to receive the indicated voltages.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A system usable with a stack of fuel cells that have cell terminals, comprising:
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scanning units coupled to the stack and establishing different groups of the fuel cells, each scanning unit having a ground referenced to a different one of the cell terminals and being adapted to measure the voltages of the fuel cells in an associated one of the groups and indicate the measured voltages; and a circuit adapted to receive the indicated voltages from the scanning units. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A system usable with a serially coupled array of voltage sources that have terminals, comprising:
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scanning units coupled to the array and establishing different groups of the voltage sources, each scanning unit having a ground referenced to a different one of the terminals and being adapted to measure the voltages of the voltage sources in an associated one of the groups and indicate the measured voltages; and a circuit adapted to communicate with the scanning units to receive the indicated voltages. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method usable with a stack of fuel cells, comprising:
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dividing the fuel cells into groups; establishing ground references at the different terminals of the cells, each ground reference being associated with one of the groups; and measuring the voltages of the fuel cells in each group using the associated ground reference. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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Specification