Benthic microbial biofuel cells (BMFCs) are a potential non-toxic and renewable source of underwater power. BMFCs function by coupling an anaerobic anode to an oxygenated cathode. However, current in-situ BMFCs on average produce less than 1W of power. Potential causes are internal ohmic resistance and low capture efficiency of the bacteria-generated charge due to macroscopic average distances between bacteria and electrodes. A microfluidic BMFC chip is enclosed to study those potential causes. The chip is built using elastomer microfluidics to provide biologically-inert microfluidic confinement of the bacteria, forcing them to be no further away than the height of the containment microchamber (‥90 μm) from the microelectrode matrix built on the glass substrate of the chip. The matrix captures the charge without location bias (due to its H-architecture) and conducts it to the outside circuit. The microfluidic chip system can be used as an evaluation station to optimize biological parameters, geometry, and electrode scaling towards increased power. That would lead to the development of an optimized power unit that can then be arrayed to build renewable power stations in maritime environments.

A method includes: determining, based, at least in part, on a predicted driver characteristic, a first energy-versus-distance measure for a planned driving route of a vehicle, the first energy-versus-distance measure determined using an energy model; presenting the first energy-versus-distance measure on a user interface associated with the vehicle; identifying an already-driven part of the planned driving route; determining, based on information associated with the already-driven part of the planned driving route, a model error associated with the energy model; determining a second energy-versus-distance measure by modifying the first energy-versus-distance measure to account for the model error; and presenting the second energy-versus-distance measure on the user interface associated with the vehicle.

The disclosure relates to a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack for providing an electrical power P.sub.stack depending on a power demand, at least one auxiliary unit for operating the fuel cell stack with an electrical power consumption P.sub.aux, at least one consumer with an electrical power request P.sub.use, and a control unit for regulating the power demand as well as a method for controlling such a fuel cell system. It is provided that the control unit is configured to selectively operate the fuel cell system in a first operating mode or in a second operating mode, whereby the fuel cell stack is turned off depending on the operating mode upon the falling below of an optimal efficiency degree operating point P(η.sub.max) of the fuel cell system or a minimum operating point P.sub.min of the fuel cell stack. In particular, at least one auxiliary unit is also turned off in the first operating mode, when the optimal efficiency degree operating point decreases.

There is provided a high pressure container including a plurality of container bodies, each of the container bodies housing a fluid in a huh pressure state and being able to release the fluid through a release portion, (ii) opening section that is linked to the container bodies, and that opens at or above a predetermined opening temperature to release the fluid inside the container bodies, and (iii) a cover member that straddles the plurality of container bodies, that covers at least a portion of the plurality of container bodies, that is able to withstand a temperature of no less than the opening temperature, that is linked to the opening section, and that is capable of transmitting heat to the opening section.

A railway vehicle includes a car body having a shell frame surrounding an internal area suitable for accommodating passengers, and a power generator connected to an external side of the car body and including an outlet for discharging out a liquid produced during generation of electricity. A hydraulic system is in fluid communication with the outlet and receives at least part of the liquid produced during generation of electricity. The hydraulic system includes a first end portion connected to the outlet, a second end portion, spaced apart from the first end portion, for draining out from the hydraulic system the received liquid, and a third intermediate portion which is interconnected between the first and second end portions and is placed, at least partially, in the internal area of the car body, which is adapted to be heated before receiving passengers.

A method and system of controlling hydrogen purge are provided. The method includes estimating an air supply rate supplied to a fuel cell stack and then executing hydrogen purge based on the estimated air supply rate.

The present disclosure relates to a thermal management system and method of adjusting and/or reversing coolant flow of a fuel cell system during stationary applications.

A flame-assisted fuel cell gas turbine hybrid system including a first combustor, a second combustor, and a flame-assisted solid oxide fuel cell configured to receive syngas from the first combustor, react the syngas with oxygen ions to yield carbon dioxide and water, and provide unreacted syngas to the second combustor. The first combustor is configured to receive heated compressed air from an aircraft engine compressor and the second combustor is configured to provide heated air to an aircraft engine gas turbine to generate mechanical power.

A method for diagnosing at least one fuel cell stack of a fuel cell device by way of a fuel cell diagnostic system includes: impressing a sinusoidal first and at least one sinusoidal second AC current into the fuel cell stack; recording a sinusoidal first and second voltage response of the fuel cell stack; evaluating the first voltage response and evaluating the second voltage response by way of an analytical algorithm for a differential impedance analysis; determining a first resistance, a second resistance and a capacitance of the fuel cell stack by specifying an equivalent circuit diagram for the fuel cell stack; and diagnosing the fuel cell stack on the basis of the determined first resistance, the determined second resistance and the determined capacitance, wherein the diagnosis is carried out in real time. A computer-readable storage medium and a fuel cell diagnostic system are also described.

A fuel cell system has a first boost converter of a fuel cell, a second boost converter of a secondary battery, and a control unit. Output sides of the first boost converter and the second boost converter are connected so as to be the same potential. The control unit is configured to, when detecting failure of the second boost converter, cause input and output sides of the second boost converter to conduct, estimate an open circuit voltage of the secondary battery based on a state of charge, and execute electric power consumption by an accessory that operates by electric power supplied from the fuel cell when determining that the first boost converter is not able to boost the output voltage of the fuel cell to the open circuit voltage, and stops the electric power consumption by the accessory when determining that the first boost converter is able to boost.