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Offset control arrangement and method for controlling voltage values in a fuel cell system

  • US 9,005,831 B2
  • Filed: 12/20/2013
  • Issued: 04/14/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2011
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An offset control arrangement for controlling voltage values of a fuel cell system for producing electricity with fuel cells, each fuel cell in the fuel cell system including an anode side, a cathode side and an electrolyte between the anode side and the cathode side, the offset control arrangement and fuel cell system comprising:

  • at least one fuel cell array of at least two fuel cells, and at least one load for performing a load function;

    control circuitry for at least one offsetting source for monitoring input voltage of the load to obtain monitoring information;

    a control processor programmed to monitor the information;

    the at least one offsetting source in serial connection to the at least one fuel cell array;

    a power level of the at least one offsetting source being substantially low compared to a power level of the fuel cell array, the at least one offsetting source being arranged to perform at least unidirectional shifting of a fuel cell array output voltage to reduce a voltage window apparent to the load based on at least one of the monitoring information and the processed monitoring information; and

    disconnection means for disconnecting the at least one fuel cell array from the load, when a reason for disconnection is detected in the input voltage monitoring of the load by detecting that the input voltage rises out of a specified bound.

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