Arthur D Kaufman

6727014, Apr 27, 2004

Aug 13, 2001

09/928719

James D. Wilson - Brooklyn NY
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M 804

429 26, 429 32, 429 34, 429 38, 429 39, 429 19, 429 20, 429 13

A fuel cell having a novel configuration including a segmented gas diffusion medium (GDM) or a non-segmented GDM and a separator plate, in which the reactant flow field and liquid coolant field are integrated into one side of a single plate element. The separator plate, in one embodiment, allows for the hydration of the polymer electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell.

6730424, May 4, 2004

Mar 14, 2002

10/097216

Chunzhi He - Westfield NJ
Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M 804

429 13

A method is described for improving the performance of fuel cells such as H /air PEM fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells. It has been discovered that H evolution can significantly improve the performance of air cathodes and direct methanol fuel cell anodes. The improvement of air cathodes applies to both H /air PEM fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells.

6805983, Oct 19, 2004

Feb 11, 2002

10/072592

Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M 800

429 13, 429 19, 429 26, 429 34, 429 35, 429 40, 429 41, 429 42, 429 30, 429 39, 429 12

A membrane-electrode assembly for electrochemical cells such as proton exchange membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells operating at ambient conditions are activated first by exposing them at a temperature higher than ambient temperature and with the gaseous reactants back-pressurized. The performance of the membrane-electrode assemblies, especially those whose electrodes are of low catalyst loadings made using supported catalysts, improves dramatically after the activation.

6836123, Dec 28, 2004

Apr 15, 2002

10/122170

Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ
Chunzhi He - Westfield NJ
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

G01N 2702

324446, 324663, 324664, 324686, 324689

A sensing device is featured that electrochemically measures methanol concentration. The sensing device has a flexible composite of layered materials wrapped about a flexible tube having aperture contact with a methanol flow stream. The layered materials sequentially wrapped on the tube are: a polytetrafluoroethylene insulation sheet; an electrically conducting mesh representing the anode current collector; a carbon-based material representing an anode diffusion medium; a catalyst-coated membrane with both sides coated by catalysts such as Pt/Ru and Pt; a carbon-based material serving as the cathode diffusion medium; and an electrically conducting mesh representing the cathode current collector.

6869704, Mar 22, 2005

Mar 5, 2002

10/092145

Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ, US
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ, US

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M008/04

429 13, 429 12

Electrodes for an electrochemical cell such as a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell are treated with steam or a hot solution before they are bonded to a membrane to form a membrane-electrode assembly. Such a treatment effectively increases the performance of the electrodes when they are subsequently tested within the PEM fuel cell. Improved performance is also observed using this technique with a catalyst-coated membrane and a membrane-electrode assembly.

7049014, May 23, 2006

Mar 5, 2002

10/091624

Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ, US
Mark Hollett - Parsippany NJ, US
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ, US

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M 8/00
H01M 8/10

429 12, 429 30

A fuel cell using a secondary alcohol such as 2-propanol as fuel is disclosed. The fuel is oxidized directly at the anode without any reforming. Such a direct secondary alcohol fuel cell (D2AFC) possesses a much higher performance than a direct methanol fuel cell, especially at current densities less than 200 mA/cm. In addition, fuel loss due to crossover in a direct 2-propanol fuel cell (D2PFC) is less than one-sixth of that in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC).

7108930, Sep 19, 2006

Dec 17, 2003

10/739723

Zhiqiang Xu - Bloomfield NJ, US
Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ, US
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ, US

Plug Power, Inc. - Latham NY

H01M 8/04
H01M 8/00
H01M 8/10

429 13, 429 17, 429 32

In one aspect, the invention features a method including sorbing carbon monoxide to a catalyst layer of a fuel cell, and oxidizing the carbon monoxide. The method can be used to pre-condition or activate the catalyst layer.

7141322, Nov 28, 2006

Jun 27, 2002

10/187082

Zhigang Qi - North Arlington NJ, US
Arthur Kaufman - West Orange NJ, US

H Power Corporation - Belleville NJ

H01M 8/10

429 13, 429 17, 429 30

A fuel cell using a neat alcohol such as neat 2-propanol, as its fuel is described. The fuel that is purposely not mixed with any amount of water is oxidized directly at the fuel cell anode. The fuel cell can support a higher current density than a fuel cell using 1 M 2-propanol aqueous solution. The energy density of a fuel cell using a neat fuel is much higher than that of one using dilute fuel aqueous solutions.