Patent ID: 7381489

Claim:
A method of operating a fuel cell power plant in which each fuel cell of a stack includes a membrane electrode assembly having a proton exchange membrane between a cathode catalyst and an anode catalyst, an anode support plate adjacent said anode catalyst, a cathode support plate adjacent said cathode catalyst, said method comprising: providing, in each cell a fuel reactant gas flow field adjacent to one of said anode support plates, and providing, in each cell, an oxidant reactant gas flow field adjacent to one of said cathode support plates, at least one of said fuel reactant gas flow field and said oxidant reactant gas flow field in each cell comprising a porous, hydrophilic water transport plate with a porosity of at least 50%, the pores of which contain water when said power plant is shut down, at least one said water transport plate in each cell having water flow channels; providing an indication that said power plant is about to be shut down; and in response to said indication, causing said fuel cell stack to achieve, prior to shutdown, a temperature either (a) at which the sensible heat of said fuel cell stack is 20% to 40% above the sensible heat of the fuel cell stack when said fuel cell power plant is operating at normal operating temperature, or (b) between 15° C. and 25° C. above the temperature of the fuel cell stack when said fuel cell power plant is operating at normal operating temperature.