Fuel cell power and management system, and technique for controlling and/or operating same

Abstract

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a portable fuel cell power and management system (for example, hydrogen and / or methanol based systems), components and / or elements thereof, as well as techniques for controlling and / or operating such systems. The fuel cell power management system (and method of controlling and / or operating same) actively monitors, manages and / or controls one or more operating parameter(s) of the fuel cell system. For example, the system monitors, manages and / or controls the consumption and / or the rate of consumption of fuel by the system, and in response thereto, may provide and / or alert the user to amount of fuel remaining, consumed, the rate of consumption and / or the time (or estimation thereof remaining until all of the fuel is spent. In this way, the user may schedule or plan accordingly.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 538,646, entitled “Integrated Fuel Management System for Fuel Cells”, filed Jan. 22, 2004 (hereinafter “the Provisional Application”). The contents of the Provisional Application are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] This invention relates to fuel cell power and management systems, and techniques for controlling and / or operating such systems; and more particularly, in one aspect, to fuel cell power and management systems, for example, hydrogen and / or methanol based systems, as well as components, elements and / or subsystems therefore. [0003] Generally, small portable electrical and electronic devices often employ batteries as a power source. However, conventional batteries have limited energy storage capacity and must either be discarded or recharged after they have depleted their limited energy storage capacit...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a hydrogen-based fuel cell management system that includes a hydrogen-based fuel cartridge, a power unit, and a refill unit. The hydrogen-based fuel cartridge stores the fuel and has a control circuitry to manage the fuel's operation. The power unit includes a hydrogen-based fuel cell to generate electrical power from the fuel. The system uses data stored in the fuel cartridge's memory to monitor and control the fuel's operation. The system also has communication circuitry to send and receive data with external circuitry. The technical effects of this invention include improved management of hydrogen-based fuel cell systems through monitoring and control of fuel usage, pressure, temperature, and other parameters, as well as increased efficiency and flexibility through refueling and reuse of the fuel.

Problems solved by technology

However, conventional batteries have limited energy storage capacity and must either be discarded or recharged after they have depleted their limited energy storage capacity.

If thrown away, conventional batteries present environmental hazards because of the toxic material used in manufacturing the batteries.

If recharged, the recharging process of conventional batteries is time consuming and as the age of these batteries increases it becomes more and more difficult to determine the state of charge of the battery.

In this regard, the life becomes unpredictable and unreliable, and so the user often discards the batteries before the useful life is complete, thus incurring additional cost by the user having to carry extra batteries.

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