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Technology Stocks : Ballard Power -world leader zero-emission PEM fuel cells -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Urlman who wrote (3159)	10/4/1998 8:20:00 AM
From: fut_trade	Respond to of 5827

Your link didn't work, but I checked the figures from your original Url to the patent. I'm trying to figure out the consequences of this paragraph stated on page 10 of the patent: "In the present method the reactant passages, including the manifolds and individual fuel cell reactant flow passages within the stack are preferably purged with an essentially dry gas stream before the temperature of the stack is decreased to below the freezing temperature of water..." The patent describes a lab experiment. Let's say someone goes to the mall on some cold winter day. They arrive at the mall. Before they leave the fuel cell powered vehicle, they hit the purge button which sends a stream of dry gas through the entire system. But the temperature of the fuel cell stack is dropping rapidly now that the car has been turned off. The system does not purge quickly enough and ice forms throughout the fuel cell passages. Now what? Does this patent express a typical situation of winter driving, or is it just a "lab" experiment? As far as I know -- which includes very recent information -- cold weather operation is a concern and has not been solved satisfactorily yet.