| 摘要 |
The invention is a system and method for shutting down a fuel cell power plant (10) having at least one fuel cell (12), a primary load (92), and an auxiliary load (96) that receive electrical current from electrodes (14, 16), of the fuel cell through an external circuit (90). Shutting down the plant includes disconnecting the primary load (92); terminating flow of the oxidant through a cathode flow field (30); connecting the auxiliary load (96) to consume oxygen within the fuel cell (12); disconnecting the auxiliary load (96); connecting a power supply (102) to the fuel cell electrodes (14, 16) to increase a concentration of hydrogen within the cathode flow field (30); and, then, decreasing or eliminating flow of hydrogen into an anode flow field (28) after an equilibrium gas concentration of at least 0.0001 % hydrogen, balance fuel cell inert gases, is achieved in both the anode and cathode flow fields (28, 30). |
