Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6602625 | Fuel cell with dual end plate humidifiers In a fuel cell, a humidification cell stack is provided at each end of the fuel cell as an extension of the fuel cell. The cells of each of the two humidification cell stacks can be structurally similar to and can include the same membrane as the individu... | 08/05/2003 |
| 6596425 | Fuel cell system A fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell unit and facility for humidifying process gases to provide a fuel for the fuel cell unit, wherein water-carrying media conduits of the fuel cell unit are provided at least in part as heatable media conduits.... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6596426 | Method and apparatus for the operation of a cell stack assembly during subfreezing temperatures A coolant system is proposed for addressing temperature concerns during start-up and shut-down of a cell stack assembly. The coolant system comprises a coolant exhaust conduit in fluid communication with a coolant exhaust manifold and a coolant pump, the ... | 07/22/2003 |
| 6592741 | Fuel gas generation system and generation method thereof A metal hydride is supplied into a reactor while being converted into fine particles. By injecting water from an injector, the metal hydride is hydrolyzed to generate hydrogen. The water supplied to the reactor is water generated by a fuel cell. This allo... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6586126 | Temperature controller for fuel gas in fuel cell system According to the present invention, access to a password area in a nonvolatile memory cannot be granted by simple supply of an address in a normal order. According to one preferable mode, for instance, a trap address is set in the password area so that re... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6586125 | Combustion heating device, fuel reforming apparatus including combustion heating device, and fuel cell system A combustion heating device for heating a fluid to be heated includes a fuel supply device that supplies the fuel to the device, and a vaporizing device that burns a portion of the fuel supplied by the fuel supply device, and vaporizes a remaining portion... | 07/01/2003 |
| 6582841 | Fuel cell system and method of controlling the same A fuel cell system and a method of controlling the same, wherein the fuel cell system includes a fuel cell 20, a reformer 12, a combustor 14, a combustor temperature controller 44 that controls output temperature of the combustor at a target temperature, ... | 06/24/2003 |
| 6572993 | Fuel cell systems with controlled anode exhaust An electrical storage device is coupled in parallel to a fuel cell contained within a fuel cell power generation system. The electrical storage device is either a battery pack, a plurality of capacitors, or a plurality of supercapacitors and is capable of... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6569549 | Method for increasing the operational efficiency of a fuel cell power plant A method is proposed for increasing the operational efficiency of a fuel cell power plant including a cell stack assembly comprised of a plurality of fuel cells in electrical communication with one another. The cell stack assembly includes a fuel inlet ma... | 05/27/2003 |
| 6562501 | Control system for fuel cell A control system for a fuel cell to output an electric energy by a reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas. The control system comprises a humidifier for decreasing the humidification of the fuel cell when the pressure in the fuel cell is high, a... | 05/13/2003 |
| 6562503 | Freeze tolerant fuel cell power plant The invention is a freeze tolerant fuel cell power plant that includes at least one fuel cell and a water transport plate secured within the fuel cell having a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet that direct a water coolant through the plate. A suction wat... | 05/13/2003 |
| 6555260 | Fuel cell system having a fuel cell stack with integrated polarity reversal protection diode A fuel cell system comprises a plurality of fuel cells arranged in a stack between two end plates. An electrical load is connected to the fuel cell stack via a load circuit, and a diode is arranged between the fuel cell stack and the electrical load in th... | 04/29/2003 |
| 6551733 | Controlling the temperature at which fuel cell exhaust is oxidized A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack that generates electrical energy during operation by reacting two streams of reactant gases. The fuel cell stack also produces a fuel cell exhaust stream. An oxidizer unit is positioned to receive the fuel cel... | 04/22/2003 |
| 6548198 | Compact precooler A precooler for use in a fuel cell system between a thermal reformer and a shift converter includes an atomizing water inlet in combination with a swirling inducing reformed gas inlet which act to increase the resistance time of the reformed gas in the pr... | 04/15/2003 |
| 6544677 | Fuel cell system A fuel cell system is described whose fuel cell is driven with a methanol-water mixture. The problem with such systems is that at the outlet from the cathode, as a result of the chemical reaction in the fuel cell, carbon dioxide is present which must be r... | 04/08/2003 |
| 6541142 | Fuel cell system having a methanol decomposition reactor A fuel cell system having a methanol decomposition reactor that is used to solve cold startup and transient operating condition problems. Methanol is charged into a methanol decomposition reactor and heat is supplied to decompose methanol (an endothermic ... | 04/01/2003 |
| 6537692 | Fuel cell apparatus The present invention provides a direct water injection type fuel cell apparatus which can effectively cool an air electrode in a fuel cell main body. The apparatus supplies water to the surface of the air electrode in a liquid state and the amount of pro... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6528194 | Freeze tolerant fuel cell power plant The invention is a freeze tolerant fuel cell power plant that includes at least one fuel cell; a coolant loop having a coolant circulating device that directs a water coolant through a water transport plate within the fuel cell; and a water displacement s... | 03/04/2003 |
| 6511765 | Fuel cell system A fuel cell power generating apparatus includes a stack of a plurality of fuel cell units each having a cathode and an anode disposed on opposite sides of an electrolyte membrane. A fuel gas supply system supplies fuel gas to the anode, an air supply syst... | 01/28/2003 |
| 6500573 | Humidifer device for fuel cells and operating system thereof A humidifier device for use in fuel cells comprising a mist humidifier unit for adding mists to process gas supplied to an electrolyte equipped in a fuel cell and a humidifier unit control device for intermittently operating the mist humidifier unit in ac... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6497971 | Method and apparatus for improved delivery of input reactants to a fuel cell assembly Disclosed is a fuel cell stack assembly for use in a fuel cell power plant and for producing electricity from fuel and oxidizer reactants. The fuel cell stack assembly includes a plurality of individual fuel cells each having an electrolytic medium, a cat... | 12/24/2002 |
| 6465118 | System and method for recovering thermal energy from a fuel processing system A system and method for recovering thermal energy from a fuel processing system comprising a fuel processor and a fuel cell stack. The system includes a heat recovery system including a heat exchange fluid that recovers thermal energy from such sources as... | 10/15/2002 |
| 6461752 | Portable electric generator with thermal electric co-generator The invention is an electric generator comprising a portable electric generator and a thermal electric co-generator. The co-generator converts heat produced by the portable electric generator into electricity. In one embodiment of the present invention, t... | 10/08/2002 |
| 6447940 | Evaporation control method for liquid fuel in fuel cell system An evaporation control method for liquid fuel in a fuel cell system, the fuel cell system comprising: a fuel reforming apparatus formed of an evaporator for evaporating liquid fuel, a reforming device for making gas evaporated by the evaporator react by a... | 09/10/2002 |
| 6444338 | Fuel cell system with improved startability A fuel cell system in which warm up of the fuel cell is promoted at the time of starting and the fuel cell is operated under steady condition in a short time. The fuel cell has a plurality of power generator portions. A circulating water passage connected... | 09/03/2002 |
| 6440595 | Fuel cell system Disclosed is a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell which includes a feed line for a fuel and a feed line for an oxidant. To ensure adequate moistening of the fuel cell membrane even during the start-up phase of the fuel cell, a fluid reservoir contain... | 08/27/2002 |
| 6436561 | Methanol tailgas combustor control method A method for controlling the power and temperature and fuel source of a combustor in a fuel cell apparatus to supply heat to a fuel processor where the combustor has dual fuel inlet streams including a first fuel stream, and a second fuel stream of anode ... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6436564 | Air mover for a battery utilizing a variable volume enclosure The metal-air battery includes an air mover mechanism located in the cathode plenum space of one or more metal-air cells. The air mover is an enclosure isolating the air cathode, with a mechanism for expanding and contracting the volume of the enclosure t... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6436562 | Fuel-cell engine stream conditioning system A stream conditioning system for a fuel cell gas management system or fuel cell engine. The stream conditioning system manages species potential in at least one fuel cell reactant stream. A species transfer device is located in the path of at least one re... | 08/20/2002 |
| 6432568 | Water management system for electrochemical engine An electrochemical engine for a vehicle comprises a fuel processor operating to process liquid fuel to hydrogen gas reformate, a combustor to generate heat for the fuel processor, and a fuel cell stack to generate electricity from the hydrogen gas reforma... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6420060 | Solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell cogeneration system The present invention provides a fuel cell cogeneration system which can stably supply hot water at high temperature shortly after the system starts to operate. The cogeneration system comprises a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell system for generating ... | 07/16/2002 |
| 6416893 | Method and apparatus for controlling combustor temperature during transient load changes A method and apparatus for controlling the temperature of a combustor in a fuel cell apparatus includes a fast acting air bypass valve connected in parallel with an air inlet to the combustor. A predetermined excess quantity of air is supplied from an air... | 07/09/2002 |
| 6406809 | Fuel cell comprising a separator provided with coolant passages Each of cooling medium flow passages provided for a first separator includes single main flow passage grooves communicating with a cooling medium inlet and a cooling medium outlet respectively, and branched flow passage grooves formed and branched between... | 06/18/2002 |
| 6395415 | Sensor mount assembly for a fuel cell system An assembly includes a receptacle and a sensor body. The receptacle includes an orifice for receiving the sensor body. At least one tab is located on the receptacle or sensor body to engage a feature such as a notch on the other. The sensor body is adapte... | 05/28/2002 |
| 6387556 | Fuel cell power systems and methods of controlling a fuel cell power system Fuel cell power systems and methods of controlling a fuel cell power system are provided. According to one aspect, a fuel cell power system includes a plurality of fuel cells electrically coupled with plural terminals and individually configured to conver... | 05/14/2002 |
| 6383672 | Temperature regulator for fuel cell When starting a fuel cell, valves are operated such that a heat exchange medium flows from a circulation pump through a heating-time bypass duct to a heater and the fuel cell, and the heat exchange medium is heated by the heater. Consequently, the fuel ce... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6383671 | Gas humidification device for operation testing and evaluation of fuel cells The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the humidification of gas streams, such as reactant gas streams for fuel cells, wherein the specific water evaporation rate, gas delivery temperature, and degree of gas humidity may be adjusted and... | 05/07/2002 |
| 6379826 | Regulating a fuel cell powered heating system A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack, an inverter, a reformer and a circuit. The fuel cell stack is adapted to produce heat in response to a fuel flow, and the inverter is coupled to the fuel cell stack and is adapted to use electrical energy pro... | 04/30/2002 |
| 6375906 | Steam reforming method and apparatus incorporating a hydrocarbon feedstock A fuel processing assembly adapted to produce hydrogen gas from a carbon-containing feedstock. The fuel processing assembly includes a fuel processor, such as a steam reformer. The fuel processing assembly further includes a feed assembly adapted to deliv... | 04/23/2002 |
| 6365289 | Cogeneration system for a fuel cell A fuel cell system and process using an organic Rankine cycle to produce shaft work to operate a fuel cell system component such as an air compressor. The air compressor delivers compressed air to a fuel cell stack. The steps of the Rankine cycle include ... | 04/02/2002 |
