Appeal 2007-0285
Application 10/064,808
at least one fuel cell stack disposed within said housing and
defining at least one direct flow channel, said at least one fuel cell stack
comprising at least one fuel cell, and said direct flow channel being
configured to be in fluid communication with said inlet and outlet; and
a control system, which is configured to control an oxidant flow
from said inlet to said direct and bypass flow channels.
The Examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of
obviousness:
Scheffler US 4,859,545 Aug. 22, 1989
Spaeh US 5,688,610 Nov. 18, 1997
Gillett US 6,764,784 B2 Jul. 20, 2004
Buswell EP 0,374,368 Jun. 27, 1990
Masahiro JP 07-249419 Sep. 26, 1995
Asano JP 09-223512 Aug. 26, 1997
Katsukuni JP 10-255827 Sep. 25, 1998
Appellant’s claimed invention is directed to a fuel cell assembly
comprising at least one fuel cell stack disposed within a housing having an
inlet and an outlet which define at least one bypass flow channel. Also, the
fuel cell stack defines at least one direct flow channel that is in fluid
communication with the inlet and outlet of the housing. In addition, the
assembly comprises a control system that controls an oxidant flow from the
inlet to the direct and bypass flow channels. According to Appellant, “the
thermal management system is configured to monitor a parameter value,
such as temperature, compare the parameter value with a predetermined
parameter value and generate a feedback signal output for actuating flow
regulator 250” (Br. 3, third paragraph).
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Last modified: November 3, 2007