The Swedish intellectual property office PRV has granted Swedish micro fuel cell company myFC patents for two innovations underpinning the concept of Active Power Balancing.
The patented innovations ensure that the advantage of each technology is harnessed: optimal, independent and distributed fuel cell control and active battery charge balancing. The benefit is improved performance, lifetime and usability of the technology.
The patent covering Fuel Cell Power Architecture describes an improved fuel cell and battery hybrid system supporting optimal power generation and thermal conditions. The solution detailed in the patent allows each set of serially connected fuel cells to operate independently from other sets and at its own optimal power point. This is key to create the modularity and scalability of myFC’s technology offering and is currently used in ongoing projects.
The second patent granted, Fuel cell proactive charge balancing and external supply, combines myFC’s fuel cell assembly with battery cells to enable automatic active battery cell balancing. Battery cell balancing normally comes at a cost as well as potentially energy loss, but this innovation makes it possible to deliver optimal power without energy loss and added cost.
“We are already using the technology in our ongoing projects. That means we can optimize the distributed fuel cell system to achieve the target application power and voltage requirements simply by how we connect our planar fuel cell assemblies. We also enable the use of active charge balancing of the battery cell without additional cost or complexity. Both these patents are clear demonstrations of our freedom in design concept, supporting modular approaches and overcoming known obstacles,” says Sebastian Weber, CTO of myFC.
The Swedish patent authority is the first to grant patents for these two innovations. myFC’s global patent portfolio consists of more than 100 approved patents and ongoing patent applications.
About myFC
Swedish innovation company myFC offers thin, scalable fuel cells that are easy to dimension and adapt to any electric application. myFC develops hybrid technology solutions combining batteries and hydrogen-based micro fuel cells for extended usage and reduced carbon footprint. The company was founded in 2005 and was listed on NASDAQ First North Growth Market in 2014. Its headquarters are in Stockholm. For more information, visit myFC.se
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks
