Patent ID: 7781121

Claim:
A direct oxidation fuel cell comprising at least one unit cell, a fuel tank containing a liquid fuel, a first pump, and a second pump, said unit cell including: a membrane-electrode assembly comprising an electrolyte membrane sandwiched between an anode and a cathode; an anode-side separator in contact with said anode, said anode-side separator having a fuel flow path for supplying a fuel to said anode; and a cathode-side separator in contact with said cathode, said cathode-side separator having an oxidant flow path for supplying an oxidant to said cathode, wherein: said fuel flow path comprises a first flow channel and a second flow channel, said first flow channel has a first fuel inlet and a first fuel outlet, said second flow channel has a second fuel inlet and a second fuel outlet, said first fuel inlet and said first fuel outlet are different form said second fuel inlet and said second fuel outlet, said liquid fuel contained in said fuel tank is supplied to said first fuel inlet by said first pump and is supplied to said second fuel inlet by said second pump, an upstream side of said first flow channel is adjacent to a downstream side of said second flow channel, an upstream side of said second flow channel is adjacent to a downstream side of said first flow channel, and the direction of the flow of fuel through said first flow channel is opposite to the direction of the flow of fuel through said second flow channel.