Patent ID: 7343251

Claim:
A method of detecting a hydrogen leak in a hydrogen fuel cell system comprising the steps of: a) calculating a mass, HTnew of hydrogen in a fuel tank at a time step; b) calculating a mass, HFcpnew of the hydrogen consumed by the fuel cell at the time step; c) calculating a total amount of hydrogen that has left the tank from a start to the time step, HTcons; d) calculating a total amount of hydrogen consumption, HFcpcons; e) calculating a difference between HTcons and HFcpcons at the time step; f) determining if the difference is above a predetermined threshold; g) performing an action based on the determination of step f) wherein the action includes generating an error signal indicating a hydrogen leak, shutting down the fuel cell system, or indicating a hydrogen leak is occurring when the difference is above the predetermined threshold and repeating steps a) through f) when the difference is below the predetermined threshold.