A humidifier with an integrated water separator for a fuel cell system, including a housing with a first channel for a first gas stream and a second channel for a second gas stream, a humidifier area in which the first channel and the second channel are separated from one another by a water vapor-permeable membrane, and a collection container for collecting the deposited liquid water is provided. It is provided that a water separator for separating liquid water is situated in the humidifier area.

A cathode supply (30) for a fuel cell (10) of a fuel cell unit (1) for a fuel cell system is provided, the cathode supply (30) including a cathode supply path (31) and a cathode exhaust gas path (32) and at least two fluid pumping devices (33, 133) for pumping a cathode operating medium (5) for the fuel cell (10) are fluido-mechanically coupled into the cathode supply path (31), at least one first fluid pumping device (133) of the at least two fluid pumping devices (33, 133) being drivable only on the basis of an enthalpy in a cathode exhaust gas (6) of the fuel cell (10). A fuel cell unit for a vehicle, in particular, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell system for a vehicle, in particular, an electric vehicle, or a vehicle in particular an electric vehicle, the fuel cell unit, the fuel cell system, or the vehicle including a cathode supply (30) is provided.

An exemplary fuel cell component comprises a porous plate. A vapor permeable layer is provided on at least one portion of the porous plate. The vapor permeable layer is configured to permit vapor to pass through the layer while resisting liquid passage through the layer.

A combined cooling and humidifying system for a fuel cell system includes a first line strand, second line strand, gas separator, and water feed device. The first line strand has a supply line for feeding water to a heat exchanger of the fuel cell system and a return line for receiving a water-steam mixture from the fuel cell system. The gas separator is in the return line to at least partially separate the steam from the water-steam mixture and provide it at a steam connection. The second line strand has a fluid inlet for feeding a gaseous fluid to the fuel cell system. The steam connection is coupled to the second line strand downstream of the fluid inlet to admix steam with the fluid. The water feed device is coupled to the supply line to compensate for a separating mass flow of steam in the first line strand.

A membrane electrode assembly humidifying method and a computer readable storage medium are disclosed. The membrane electrode assembly humidifying method includes (i) heating a membrane electrode assembly to a temperature greater than or equal to that of water vapor, (ii) directing the water vapor to both sides of the membrane electrode assembly to pass the water vapor through an anodic gas diffusion layer and a cathodic gas diffusion layer to reach a catalyst-coated membrane, and (iii) allowing a coolant to flow through both sides of the membrane electrode assembly to condense the water vapor reaching the catalyst-coated membrane into liquid water. The membrane electrode assembly humidifying method achieves efficient wetting of the membrane electrode assembly alone without subsequently combining with discharge activation as commonly used in the art, thereby shortening wetting time and saving wetting costs.

A method of operating a fuel cell system (100) comprising a fuel cell stack (110) and a closed loop water cooling circuit for direct injection of cooling water into the stack (110), the method comprising: measuring an operational parameter of the fuel cell system (100) over a time period; adding an amount of water to the closed loop cooling circuit from the total amount of water generated during operation of the fuel cell stack (110) over the time period; and removing the amount of water from the closed loop cooling circuit generated during operation of the fuel cell stack (110) over the time period is automatically determined by the fuel cell system (100) as a function of the operational parameter.

A four-fluid bipolar plate for a fuel cell includes a nonporous sub-plate comprising a first reactant half-plate joined to a second reactant half-plate. The nonporous sub-plate includes an internal coolant passage network having coolant flow field passages extending across an active area of the fuel cell. The nonporous sub-plate defines fuel supply and fuel return internal manifolds, oxidant supply and oxidant return internal manifolds, water management supply and water management return internal manifolds, and coolant supply and coolant return internal manifolds. The internal coolant passage network may have secondary cooling functions, such as a reactant coolant loop surrounding an internal reactant internal manifold, providing a heat exchange area to cool incoming reactant gas, and cooling the interfacial and porous sub-plate seals.

An air cooler includes: a cooler main body having a first zone and a second zone partitioned off from the first zone; cooling flow paths configured to cool the air and disposed in the first zone so that the air introduced into the cooler main body passes therethrough; bypass flow paths configured to allow the air to bypass the cooling flow paths and disposed in the second zone so that the air introduced into the cooler main body passes therethrough; and an opening/closing unit configured to selectively open or close the cooling flow paths, thereby obtaining an advantageous effect of simplifying a structure thereof and optimizing water balance of a fuel cell stack.

A system that provides a cooling liquid to a component of an aircraft, the system having: a cooling circuit that includes a fuel cell that receives a first flow and transfers first waste heat to the first flow; an air cycle machine (ACM) that transfers second waste heat to a second flow; a first heat exchanger, fluidly coupled to the cooling circuit downstream of the fuel cell, that thermally couples the first and second flows to superheat the first flow; a turbine, fluidly coupled to the cooling circuit downstream of the first heat exchanger, that extracts energy from the first flow; and a condenser, fluidly coupled to the cooling circuit downstream of the turbine, that condenses the first flow into the cooling liquid, wherein the component is fluidly coupled to the circuit downstream of the condenser.

Proposed is a fuel cell system, including a fuel cell stack connected to an intake line and an exhaust line, an air compressor connected to the intake line, and a heat energy storage part provided between the fuel cell stack and the air compressor on the intake line and absorbing and storing heat from the air on the intake line through a thermochemical reaction and releasing moisture into the air on the intake line.