Patents Examined by Olatunji Godo
  • Patent number: 11380942
    Abstract: A battery module is disclosed having a plurality of series-connected battery cells contained in, and electrically isolated from, an enclosure, with a first internal relay to control connection between cells and a positive terminal, and a second internal relay to control the connection between cells and a negative terminal. A control signal input is provided to control the relays. An embodiment is disclosed having an internal battery management system which controls the relays in response to a digital message. A modular battery pack is disclosed consisting of a plurality of modules connected in parallel, which can be individually and independently activated and deactivated. A method is provided for activating an individual module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: PALATOV GROUP LLC
    Inventor: Dennis Palatov
  • Patent number: 11380921
    Abstract: A system includes an electrical storage device that stores an electric power generated by a fuel cell, an electric load to which the electric power is supplied using the electric power of the fuel cell and/or the electrical storage device, and an electric power control part that controls supply of the electric power to the electric load, and the electric power control part performs warming-up control of the fuel cell when an electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is less than a predetermined value, and causes the fuel cell to generate an electric power that is greater than the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and causes to store excess electric power in the electrical storage device when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryoji Sakai, Akihiro Matsui
  • Patent number: 11380915
    Abstract: A power supply system includes a power generation facility configured to supply power to a consumer and a server configured to communicate with the facility. The facility includes a fuel cell configured to generate, using fuel gas supplied via a supply path of the fuel gas to the consumer, power to be supplied to the consumer, and a measurement unit configured to measure a supply amount of the fuel gas used for the power generation. The server includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information concerning a supply amount of the fuel gas supplied to the consumer, and a specifying unit configured to specify, based on a measurement result of the measurement unit received from the facility and the information, a supply amount of the fuel gas not used for the power generation in the supply amount of the fuel gas supplied to the consumer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keiji Tsukamoto, Masashi Shinohara
  • Patent number: 11380958
    Abstract: A battery pack assembly includes, among other things, a first battery component, a different, second battery component and an enclosure that has a cover secured to a tray to provide an interior. The first and second battery components are disposed within the interior. The cover has a first area that is disposed directly above the first battery component. The cover has a second area that is disposed directly above the second battery component. The battery pack assembly further includes a rib of the cover. The rib extends into the interior from the first area. The rib is configured to contact the first battery component to inhibit relative movement of the second area toward the second battery component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Eid Farha, Himanshu Khandelwal, Jesus Cardoso, Jingmei Shen, Dave Moschet, Jeffery Christ
  • Patent number: 11374285
    Abstract: A secondary battery according to the present invention including a battery case with an accommodation part accommodating an electrode assembly and an electrolyte, a fluid inlet/outlet port provided in the battery case to provide a moving passage through which a fluid is movable so that discharge of an inner gas and reinjection of the electrolyte are enabled, a gas discharge part restricting the discharge of the inner gas passing through the fluid inlet/outlet port, and an electrolyte reinjection part provided to reinject the electrolyte through the fluid inlet/outlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventors: Chul Gi Hong, Dong Kyu Kim, Dae Soo Kim
  • Patent number: 11374244
    Abstract: An apparatus for measuring average power of a fuel cell may include: a voltage measurement unit configured to sequentially measure forward voltages of unit cells including a fuel cell stack from a bottom cell to a top cell, and sequentially measure reverse voltages of the unit cells from the top cell to the bottom cell; a current measurement unit configured to measure a current of an output terminal of the fuel cell stack; and a control unit configured to control the voltage measurement unit to measure the reverse voltages based on a current measurement time point, after the voltage measurement unit measures the forward voltages, and calculate average power using the forward voltages, the reverse voltages and the measured current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jung-Hwan Oh, Seulkirom Kim, Su-Hun Yang, Yeong-Geun Yeo
  • Patent number: 11374238
    Abstract: A fuel cell has a gas diffusion layer and a separator plate. The separator plate forms, together with the gas diffusion layer, at least one gas-conducting flow field. At least one channel web of the separator plate has an end with an upper face and an end face. The end face is designed to divide a flow impinging on the end face of the channel web in a first direction into two partial flows. The end face is designed to deflect a liquid of the flow impinging on the end face adjacently to the upper face in such a manner that the liquid is spaced further from the upper face after deflection than before deflection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Savo Asanin, Fengmin Du, Julian Arndt Hirschfeld
  • Patent number: 11374286
    Abstract: The present application provides a separator comprising a first porous substrate, a second porous substrate and a first coating layer including a substance that reversibly intercalates and deintercalates lithium and a first inorganic particle, and an electrochemical device, wherein the first coating layer is disposed between the first porous substrate and the second porous substrate. By disposing the first coating layer between the first porous substrate and the second porous substrate, the present application improves the safety performance, rate performance and cycle performance of the electrochemical device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Ningde Amperex Technology Limited
    Inventors: Xinhui Zhou, Xiaofeng Zhang
  • Patent number: 11367915
    Abstract: State-of-the-art flow batteries suffer from drawbacks such as congestion of their electrodes, defects in liquid tightness, or shunt currents, all of which may lead to efficiency drop. Solution The problem is solved by a flow battery comprising multi-chambered ducts (100) mutually plugged together, each duct containing an integrated air electrode (111) and partition walls being partly ion-permeably perforated and partly impermeable, and nonconducting joining elements with integrated passages, the joining elements plugged bilaterally onto the ducts (100).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: HILABS INC.
    Inventor: Manan Haq
  • Patent number: 11367907
    Abstract: A battery pack includes cell units in which upper and lower battery cells are connected in series, wherein an output of series-connection and an output of parallel-connection can be switched. The cell units are respectively provided with protection circuit ICs for monitoring the state of the battery cells, and only the protection circuit on the lower cell unit side is provided with a controller 350 including a microcomputer. To adjust the power consumption for the microcomputer only provided in the lower cell unit, the circuit on the upper cell unit side is provided with a current consumption control means including dummy loads. The current consumption control means is operated in conjunction with the start-up of the microcomputer in the controller so as to equalize power consumption on the upper cell unit side and the lower cell unit side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Koki Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasushi Nakano, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki Hanawa, Kazuhiko Funabashi, Tomomasa Nishikawa, Shota Kanno, Toshio Mizoguchi, Takuya Teranishi
  • Patent number: 11362353
    Abstract: A fuel cell, a control method of the fuel cell, and a non-transitory computer readable recording medium recording a computer program capable of favorably generating power while suppressing leakage of gas and preventing the solenoid valve from being frozen with a simple configuration. The fuel cell includes a stack configure to generate electricity by reacting hydrogen and oxygen, an exhaust valve or a drain valve which is a solenoid valve discharging gas discharged from the stack to the outside, and a control unit configured to control energization of the exhaust valve. The exhaust valves are aligned in a gas discharging direction whereas the drain valves are aligned in a water discharging direction. If there is a risk of any solenoid valve being frozen, the control unit performs energization processing of energizing other solenoid valves in the state where at least one of the aligned solenoid valves is closed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yoshiaki Fukatsu
  • Patent number: 11362356
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, an injection device configured to inject anode gas, an ejector mechanism through which the anode gas injected from the injection device flows, a circulation path configured to return the anode gas, discharged from the fuel cell, to the ejector mechanism, a supply path configured to supply the anode gas, discharged from the fuel cell together with the anode gas injected from the injection device from the ejector mechanism, to the fuel cell, and a controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiromi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11362350
    Abstract: The invention concerns fuel cell systems and methods for converting chemical energy of a fuel containing hydrogen into electricity. According to the invention, a fuel cell stack is provided having at least one anode and one cathode separated by a proton-exchange membrane. A fuel transport circuit feeds fuel to the fuel cell stack, and a temperature control system is adapted to control the temperature of the fuel cell stack by circulating a coolant medium through said fuel cell stack. The temperature control system includes a pump for circulating the coolant medium, a heater unit connected to a coolant transport circuit for heating the coolant with a PTC heater, a heat radiation unit connected to the coolant transport circuit for removing excess heat, and a temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy
    Inventor: Pauli Koski
  • Patent number: 11355824
    Abstract: An electrical device comprises a battery cell; a pressure sensor for measuring swelling forces of the battery cell, optionally with voltage, temperature and current sensors, and a battery management system including a controller. The controller executes a program to: (i) determine a reference swelling force corresponding to a reference electrical signal received from the pressure sensor at an earlier reference time, (ii) determine a second swelling force corresponding to a second electrical signal received from the pressure sensor at a later second time, and (iii) determine whether a risk of internal short circuit of the battery cell exists by comparing a reference level of the reference electrical signal and a signal representative of the second electrical signal. When the signal representative of the second electrical signal exceeds the reference level of the reference electrical signal by a threshold amount, a risk of internal short circuit of the cell exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    Inventors: Anna G. Stefanopoulou, Jason B. Siegel, Sravan Pannala, Gregory B. Less, Ting Cai, Mingxuan Zhang
  • Patent number: 11342575
    Abstract: A fuel cell stack includes a first stack including a plurality of first fuel cells stacked on each other, and a second stack including a plurality of second fuel cells stacked on each other and disposed on one side of the first stack. Each of the first stack and the second stack includes a fuel inlet hole, through which fuel to be supplied to anodes of the respective first and second fuel cells is introduced, a fuel discharge hole, through which the fuel passing through the anodes is discharged, an air inlet hole, through which air to be supplied to cathodes of the respective first and second fuel cells is introduced, and an air discharge hole, through which the air passing through the cathodes is discharged. The fuel cell stack divided into the two stacks increases a charging ratio of hydrogen at the anodes of the respective stacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Hyoungsuk Woo, Dongkeun Yang, Jaeyoung Won
  • Patent number: 11329301
    Abstract: To precisely measure and control the amount of a cathode gas supplied to a fuel cell, a fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a first flow passage through which a cathode gas is supplied to the fuel cell, a second flow passage through which a cathode off-gas is discharged from the fuel cell, a bypass flow passage which is bifurcated from the first flow passage and which is connected to the second flow passage, a compressor provided in the first flow passage, a first flowmeter provided in the first flow passage, a flow amount regulation valve provided in the bypass flow passage, a second flowmeter provided in the bypass flow passage, and a controller which controls the flow amount of the cathode gas supplied to the fuel cell, wherein the compressor is arranged on the upstream side of the bypass flow passage, the first flowmeter is arranged on the upstream side of the compressor, the second flowmeter is arranged on the downstream side of the flow amount regulation valve, and the controller controls the flow am
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yasushi Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11322753
    Abstract: Implementation of an interconnector structure for an SOEC or SOFC electrochemical device, the interconnector being formed of a conductive support element having a first face with a rough region, the roughness of which has been modified locally before being brought into contact with a seal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Michel Planque, Charlotte Bernard
  • Patent number: 11322756
    Abstract: In a cooling system of a fuel cell, a first container for receiving a part of a coolant from a circulation flow path for circulating a coolant between a fuel cell and a heat exchanger is connected to the circulation flow path, a second container is connected to the first container via a pressure regulating valve, and a gas diffusion portion is provided in the second container. When a pressure inside the first container is equal to or higher than a threshold, the pressure regulating valve is opened and a gas inside the first container is released into the second container. The gas diffusion portion gradually discharges the gas released into the second container to outside of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuaki Nonoyama, Hiromichi Sato
  • Patent number: 11322758
    Abstract: A method for reducing cell degradation in a fuel cell system includes adding oxygen-containing gas to a fuel in the anode chamber to prevent an increase in a cell voltage above a predetermined maximum value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignees: VOLKSWAGEN AG, AUDI AG
    Inventors: Miriam Stiefel, Lasse Schmidt, Gerold Hübner
  • Patent number: 11322767
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes at least one of plural electrochemical pump separators to separate carbon dioxide from a fuel exhaust stream or a combination of a gas separator and a fuel exhaust cooler located outside a hotbox.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: BLOOM ENERGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: David Weingaertner, Matthias Gottmann, Jayakumar Krishnadass, Chockkalingam Karuppaiah, Arne Ballantine, Swaminathan Venkataraman, Martin Perry, John Fisher, Greg Young