Patent ID: 9748006
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G21D,H01M,Y02B,Y02E

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a fuel cell associated with a nuclear reactor; a nuclear reactor monitoring system operably coupled to a core of the nuclear reactor and configured to monitor a temperature of the core nuclear reactor; and a fuel cell control system communicatively coupled to the nuclear reactor monitoring system, wherein the nuclear reactor monitoring system is further configured to transmit the monitored temperature of the core of the nuclear reactor to the fuel cell control system, wherein the fuel cell control system includes a heat transfer system, wherein the heat transfer system includes a heat supply loop, the heat supply loop in thermal communication with a waste heat rejection loop of the nuclear reactor and one or more bipolar plates of the fuel cell, wherein the heat transfer system is configured to selectively transfer thermal energy from the waste heat rejection loop of the nuclear reactor to the one or more bipolar plates of the fuel cell to establish a readiness state of the fuel cell within a set of readiness parameters in response to receipt of the monitored temperature of the core of the nuclear reactor from the nuclear reactor monitoring system by increasing the temperature of the fuel cell, wherein the readiness parameters are a function of the monitored temperature of the core of the nuclear reactor.