Claims
- 1. A method for operating direct methanol fuel cells, which comprises the steps of:
interrupting a supply of a gaseous oxidizing agent to cathodes of the fuel cells after a load has been disconnected; removing the gaseous oxidizing agent present in cathode chambers by use of a residual anode gas; feeding electrical energy to the fuel cells resulting in a generation of hydrogen; storing the hydrogen formed at the cathodes; interrupting a supply of the electrical energy; resupplying the cathodes with the gaseous oxidizing agent for start-up, and feeding the hydrogen previously stored to anodes of the fuels cells, and operating the fuels cells in a short-circuit mode for heating up the fuel cells; and switching to a methanol mode, after an operating temperature has been reached, and connecting the fuel cells to the load.
- 2. The method according to claim 1, which comprises using air as the gaseous oxidizing agent.
- 3. The method according to claim 1, which comprises using one of a battery and a capacitor for supplying the electrical energy.
- 4. The method according to claim 1, which comprises storing the hydrogen under pressure.
- 5. The method according to claim 1, which comprises changing over to the methanol mode at a temperature >60° C.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
199 18 885.8 |
Apr 1999 |
DE |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of copending International Application No. PCT/DE00/01162, filed Apr. 13, 2000, which designated the United States.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
PCT/DE00/01162 |
Apr 2000 |
US |
Child |
10012167 |
Oct 2001 |
US |