A valve device includes: a valve housing having a valve passage connected with an air flow passage; a valve disk rotatably disposed inside the valve housing through a valve driver and changing air flow cross-section of the valve passage; and a porous member installed at the valve disk and positioned in an open section between the valve disk and the valve passage.

The invention relates to a fuel cell arrangement (10) having an anode (26) connected to an H2 inflow (48) and a cathode (30) connected to an O2 inflow (50), wherein a differential pressure control device (52) is arranged between the H2 inflow (48) and the O2 inflow (50) for controlling a differential pressure between the H2 inflow (48) and the O2 inflow (50), the differential pressure control device (52) having a fluid connection (54) between the H2 inflow (48) and the O2 inflow (50) in which a deflectable diaphragm (56) is arranged, to which a pin (64) is coupled which, when the diaphragm (56) is deflected, opens a valve (58) arranged in the H2 inflow (48).

A fuel cell system includes a plurality of fuel cell stacks, an anode pipeline, a cathode pipeline, an anode discharge valve, a cathode supply valve, a cathode discharge valve, an anode pressure sensor, a cathode pressure sensor, and a control device. The control device determines whether a cross leak that is permeation abnormality of fuel gas or oxidant gas between an anode and a cathode on the basis of a pressure difference, which is difference between a pressure of the fuel gas and a pressure of the oxidant gas detected by the anode pressure sensor and the cathode pressure sensor in a stopped state of electric power generation of the plurality of fuel cell stacks, or a change in the pressure difference.

A control unit of an aging apparatus performs a first pattern of supplying a humidified H.sub.2 gas to an anode and supplying a humidified N.sub.2 gas to a cathode, to thereby move protons from the anode to the cathode through an electrolyte membrane. Further, the control unit performs a second pattern of supplying the humidified N.sub.2 gas to the anode and supplying the humidified H.sub.2 gas to the cathode, to thereby move protons from the cathode to the anode through the electrolyte membrane.

A fuel cell system includes: a turbine including a changing mechanism that adjusts a pressure difference between an upstream pressure and a downstream pressure of the turbine, the turbine recovering at least a part of energy of the cathode off-gas using the pressure difference and assisting driving of the motor with the recovered energy; and a control unit configured to drive the changing mechanism to increase or decrease the recovered energy. The control unit acquires a correlation temperature correlated with a temperature of the cathode off-gas discharged from the turbine and performs freezing avoidance control of not setting the degree of opening to be equal to or less than a predetermined degree of opening when the correlation temperature is lower than a predetermined threshold temperature at which the turbine is able to become frozen.

A controller for a fuel cell based power generator includes a memory and a processor configured to execute executable instructions stored in the memory to receive a pressure in an anode loop of the fuel cell based power generator, wherein the anode loop includes a hydrogen generator and an anode loop blower, and control the anode loop blower such that the hydrogen generator provides hydrogen to an anode of a fuel cell via the blower and the anode loop at a controlled pressure. In further embodiments, the temperatures of the fuel cell and hydrogen generator are independently controlled.

A fuel cell system includes a supply channel having first channels respectively connected with tanks, and a second channel merged with each of the first channels; first on-off valves of the first channels; a second on-off valve of the second channel; and a controller configured to control opening and closing of the first on-off valves and the second on-off valve. In a state where the second on-off valve is closed, the controller supplies first electric power used for opening the first on-off valve against a first differential pressure to at least one first on-off valve, and supplies second electric power, smaller than the first electric power and used for opening the first on-off valves against a second differential pressure smaller than the first differential pressure, to the first on-off valves other than the at least one first on-off valve.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a supply device configured to supply a cathode gas to the fuel cell; and a control unit configured to execute recovery processing of causing a catalyst of the fuel cell to recover from performance deterioration by lowering an output voltage of the fuel cell. The control unit is configured to, when the recovery processing that has been executed is completed, control the supply device to place the fuel cell in a power generation paused state while making a stoichiometric ratio of the cathode gas lower than a stoichiometric ratio of the cathode gas in a normal operation state that is a state before execution of the recovery processing.

An apparatus for inspecting a stack assembly including a fluid channel through which fluid is supplied into fuel cell stacks includes a frame, a conveyor that is installed in the frame and that carries the stack assembly in a predetermined direction of movement to locate the stack assembly in a predetermined inspection position, a masking mechanism that is installed in the frame and that masks a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet of the stack assembly to seal the fluid channel of the stack assembly from outside the stack assembly, and a gas injection mechanism that is installed in the frame and that injects an inspection gas into the fluid channel of the stack assembly to inspect a sealing state of the fluid channel in the stack assembly, in a state in which the stack assembly is sealed by the masking mechanism.

There is provided an inspection method for a fuel cell or a fuel cell stack that ensures performing a leakage inspection minutely in a shorter time compared with the conventional inspection. The inspection method includes an enclosing step, an external leakage inspection step, and a communication leakage inspection step. The enclosing step encloses a first gas passage, a second gas passage, and a refrigerant passage in the fuel cell or the fuel cell stack to form three sections. The three sections are a first section, a second section, and a third section independent of one another. The external leakage inspection step simultaneously supplies an inspection gas to two or more sections among the three sections for pressure boosting to perform an inspection for leakage of the inspection gas from the two or more sections after boosting pressures to an outside. The communication leakage inspection step decompresses one section among the two or more sections after boosting the pressures and maintains a pressure of another one section or pressures of other two sections to perform an inspection for leakage of the inspection gas from the pressure-maintained one section or two sections to the decompressed one section.