Patent ID: 7405016

Claim:
An apparatus for supplying an oxygen-containing gas to a fuel cell system, the fuel cell system comprising at least one fuel cell and at least one gas generation system having at least one component requiring oxygen during operation, and a compression device to supply oxygen-containing gas to a cathode chamber of the fuel cell, the apparatus comprising: a first supply line connected to the compression device and the cathode chamber; at least one branch line connected to the first supply line for supplying oxygen-containing gas to the at least one component of the gas generation system; and a junction point downstream of the fuel cell at which cathode exhaust from the cathode chamber and anode exhaust from an anode chamber of the fuel cell are combined; wherein, the system further includes components which maintain pressure in the system such that the sum of the pressure drops in components in the first supply line upstream of the junction point is greater than the sum of the pressure drops across components in the gas generation system and the anode chamber upstream of the junction point.