A coolant injection controller for a fuel cell system, the coolant injection controller configured to actively control the flow of a coolant to a fuel cell assembly for cooling and/or hydrating the fuel cell assembly in response to a measure of fuel cell assembly performance, wherein the coolant injection controller is configured to provide for a first mode of operation if the measure of fuel cell assembly performance is below a predetermined threshold and a second mode of operation if the measure of fuel cell assembly performance is above the predetermined threshold, the first and second modes having different coolant injection profiles and wherein, in the first mode of operation, the coolant injection profile provides for control of the flow of coolant by alternating between at least two different injection flow rates.

A hydrogen consumption measuring method for a fuel cell system includes steps of: calculating an amount of hydrogen consumed for a representative section from a first pressure at a time when hydrogen is supplied into an anode and a second pressure at a time when the hydrogen is no longer supplied to the anode; and calculating a total amount of hydrogen consumed by accumulating amounts of hydrogen consumed from a plurality of sections.

A SOFC system having a fuel reformer for reforming a gaseous hydrocarbon stream and steam into a hydrogen rich gas, a solid oxide fuel cell stack including an anode and a cathode for electrochemically reacting the hydrogen rich gas and a cathode air stream to produce electricity, an anode exhaust stream and a cathode depleted air stream. The anode exhaust stream and the cathode depleted air stream are kept separate, a burner for combusting a mixture of the anode exhaust stream and a fresh air stream to complete combustion and produce heat for the reformer control unit and a blower are also provided. The control unit controlling the blower for controlling the mass flow rate of the fresh air stream to provide heat to the reformer to reform the gaseous hydrocarbon stream and to produce a burner exhaust stream.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods and systems for determining at least one actual value of a controlled variable of a conditioning unit for a reactant of a fuel cell. In one example embodiment, the method steps for determining the at least one actual value of a controlled variable includes: measuring a measured value of the actual value of the at least one controlled variable, calculating a model value of the at least one controlled variable using a model of the conditioning unit, calculating a model value of the actual value of the at least one controlled variable using a sensor model, calculating a correction value for the at least one controlled variable, and calculating the actual value of the at least one controlled variable as the sum of the correction value and of the model value of the at least one controlled variable.

A method of monitoring operation of a reactor system includes causing a chemical reaction to occur within an assembly of the reactor system, and measuring a chemical composition of one or more reactants of the chemical reaction with spatial resolution at a plurality of points along a path within the assembly using a sensor system structured to implement distributed sensing. The sensor system includes an optical fiber sensing member provided at least partially within the assembly, wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device structured to exhibit a change in one or more optical properties in response to changes in the chemical composition of the one or more reactants.

A fuel cell system is disclosed, which includes an anode recirculation loop having a fuel cell stack for generating power, a flowmeter, a current sensor and a processor. The flowmeter is configured for measuring a fuel flow rate provided into the anode recirculation loop. The current sensor is configured for measuring a current drawn from the fuel cell stack. The processor is configured for determining a steam to carbon ratio in the anode recirculation loop based on the measured fuel flow rate and the measured current. The fuel cell system further includes a temperature sensor for measuring a temperature in the anode recirculation loop. The process is configured for determining the steam to carbon ration further based on the measured temperature. A method for operating the fuel cell system and a fuel cell power plant are also disclosed.

A method for performing one or more proactive remedial actions to prevent anode flow-field flooding in an anode side of a fuel cell stack at low stack current density. The method includes identifying one or more trigger conditions that could cause the anode flow-field to flood with water, and performing the one or more proactive remedial actions in response to the identified trigger conditions that removes water from the anode side flow-field prior to the anode flooding occurring.

The invention relates to a method (1) for leakage monitoring of a fuel cell system (200). According to the invention, it is provided that the leakage monitoring is carried out before or during shut-down of the fuel cell system (200) and during or after restarting of the fuel cell system (200).

Provided is an expander including: an expanding chamber that expands a working fluid introduced and discharges the expanded working fluid; a driving chamber housing a driving mechanism that is driven by expansion energy of the working fluid; an intermediate chamber interposed between the expanding chamber and the driving chamber ; a first seal member that seals a gap between the expanding chamber and the intermediate chamber ; a second seal member that seals a gap between the driving chamber and the intermediate chamber ; and a pressurizing unit that pressurizes a pressurized fluid filling the intermediate chamber.

The present invention relates, inter alia, to a method for storing a medium, in particular a gas, in a pressure storage device (31), wherein, in a preferred embodiment, a dynamic operating pressure, which is dependent on measured temperature values and up to which the medium can be stored in the pressure storage device (31), is determined. In particular, the invention allows dynamic storing of medium in the pressure storage device (31) in respect of the storage pressure, in particular the operating pressure, with a simple design. This is achieved by the dynamic operating pressure being determined, in particular calculated, on the basis of dynamic reference temperature values as a function of time. The method is preferably carried out in an energy system (10), having at least one energy source device (21) for generating a medium and a pressure storage device (31), spatially separated therefrom, for storing the generated medium.