초록 ▼

A fuel cell system for providing primary and/or auxiliary/backup power to one or more loads for which a primary and/or backup power source is desirable to enable equipment to function for its intended purpose. The system provides power to the one or more loads upon the occurrence of power outage con

A fuel cell system for providing primary and/or auxiliary/backup power to one or more loads for which a primary and/or backup power source is desirable to enable equipment to function for its intended purpose. The system provides power to the one or more loads upon the occurrence of power outage condition, which includes a disruption in the delivery of primary power to, or power demand condition by, the one or more loads. A controller senses outage of primary power to, or demand for primary power by, the one or more loads, and, responsive thereto, operatively engages one or more fuel cells to provide power to the one or more loads.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A fuel cell system for providing primary and/or auxiliary/backup power to one or more loads selected from the group comprising: lawn & garden equipment; radios; telephone; targeting equipment; battery rechargers; laptops; communications devices; sensors; night vision equipment; camping equipment;

1. A fuel cell system for providing primary and/or auxiliary/backup power to one or more loads selected from the group comprising: lawn & garden equipment; radios; telephone; targeting equipment; battery rechargers; laptops; communications devices; sensors; night vision equipment; camping equipment; stoves; lanterns; lights; vehicles; cars; recreational vehicles; trucks; boats; ferries; motorcycles; motorized scooters; forklifts; golf carts; lawnmowers; industrial carts; passenger carts (airport); luggage handling equipment (airports); airplanes; lighter than air crafts; blimps; dirigibles; hovercrafts; trains; locomotives; submarines (manned and unmanned); torpedoes; security; systems; electrical energy storage devices for solar-based, tidal-based, hydro-based, wind-based, and other renewable energy source; equipment for which a primary and/or backup power source is necessary or desirable to enable the equipment to function for its intended purpose, military-usable variants of above, and suitable combinations of any two or more thereof;the system comprising one or more fuel cells, each comprising a power source and a fuel storage unit, wherein one or more of the fuel cells further comprises a regeneration unit; anda controller for sensing demand for primary power by, or outage of primary power to the one or more loads, and, responsive thereto, operatively engaging the one or more fuel cells to provide power to the one or more loads. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the power sources is configured to function as a regeneration unit. 3. The system of claim 1 wherein one or more of the fuel cells further comprises a reaction product storage unit. 4. The system of claim 3 wherein one or more of the fuel cells further comprises a second reactant storage unit. 5. The system of claim 4, wherein each of the fuel storage unit and the second reactant storage unit have an independently selected volume in the range from about 0.001 liters to about 1,000,000 liters. 6. The system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the controller is configured to sense cessation of power demand from the one or more loads or resumption of delivery of system-external primary power to the one or more loads, and, responsive thereto, engage a system-external primary power source to provide power to one or more of the regeneration units in the one or more fuel cells. 7. The system of claim 1 wherein the system further comprises a power conversion unit for converting the power output from the one or more fuel cells into another form, and one or more racks for physically supporting the one or more fuel cells, the controller, the power conversion unit, and the one or more loads. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to not utilize or produce significant quantities of flammable fuel or reactant product. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the fuel storage unit is configured to store fuel at a pressure in the range from about −5 psi to about 200 psi. 10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the power sources comprises fuel that is present in cell cavities of the power source prior to operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells by the controller to provide power to the one or more loads, and wherein the amount of fuel present in the cell cavities of the power source prior to the controller sensing the demand from the one or more loads for primary power or the outage of system-external primary power to the one or more loads is sufficient to permit operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells by the controller to provide power to the one or more loads at a rate at least ten percent faster than when there is substantially no fuel present in the cell cavities of the power source prior to the controller sensing the outage. 11. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the power sources comprises fuel that is present in cell cavities of the power source prior to operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells b y the controller to provide power to the one or more loads, and wherein the amount of fuel present in the cell cavities of the at least one of the power sources prior to the controller sensing the demand from the one or more loads for primary power or the outage of system-external primary power to the one or more loads is sufficient to permit operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells by the controller for a time in the range of about 0.001 minutes to about 100 minutes without additional fuel being added. 12. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the power sources comprises fuel that is present in cell cavities of the power source prior to operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells by the controller to provide power to the one or more loads, and wherein the at least one of the power sources further comprises one or more second reactants that are present in the power source at a pressure in the range from about 0.01 psi gauge pressure to about 200 psi gauge pressure prior to operative engagement of the one or more fuel cells by the controller to provide power to the one or more loads. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more second reactants are present in the power source at the pressure at a time prior to an outage sense time, which outage sense time is in the range from about 10 microseconds to about 10 seconds after the controller has sensed outage of primary power to the one or more loads. 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the time is also after the controller has sensed demand from the one or more loads for primary power or outage of system-external primary power to the one or more loads. 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to engage a flow of the one or more second reactants into the power source responsive to sensing the outage of primary power to the one or more loads.