Patent ID: 6884529

Claim:
A method of heating a fuel cell, wherein the fuel cell comprises an anode comprising an anode flow field plate, an anode diffusion layer and an anode catalyst layer, a cathode comprising a cathode flow field plate, a cathode diffusion layer and a cathode catalyst layer, and a proton conductive membrane, the method comprising the steps of: (a) operating the fuel cell at an open circuit state, wherein the fuel cell is at an initial temperature; (b) feeding at a fuel feed rate aqueous fuel solution to the anode and feeding at an oxidant food rate an oxidant to the cathode; (c) allowing fuel in the fuel solution to diffuse through the proton conductive membrane from the anode to the cathode; (d) oxidizing the fuel at the cathode to generate heat, thereby heating the fuel cell to an intermediate temperature above the initial temperature; (e) varying the oxidant feed rate so as to control the heating of the fuel cell; and (f) connecting an external circuit to the fuel cell thereby ceasing to operate the fuel cell in the open circuit.