Patent ID: 7875397

Claim:
A fuel cell power plant ( 9 ), comprising: a plurality of fuel cells ( 13 ), each of said fuel cells having at least one fuel flow field ( 58 ), each fuel flow field having a fuel inlet and a fuel outlet; a fuel gas supply pipe ( 24 , 83 ); a fuel gas inlet manifold ( 12 , 53 , 63 ) in fluid communication with all of said fuel flow field inlets; a fuel gas inlet chamber interconnected with said fuel supply pipe and including a permeable baffle ( 39 , 54 , 60 ) through which fuel from said chamber is flowed into said fuel gas inlet manifold; an exhaust valve ( 30 , 57 ) in fluid communication with said fuel inlet chamber upstream from said fuel gas inlet manifold, said exhaust valve being located at a distance from the interconnection of said fuel gas inlet chamber with said fuel gas supply pipe; a controller ( 21 , 79 ) configured to cause said valve to be open during startup of the flow of fuel from said fuel gas supply pipe into said fuel gas inlet chamber, whereby to purge gas that is within said fuel gas inlet chamber prior to the flow of fuel gas; and a fuel recycle system ( 22 , 23 , 77 , 78 ) for providing recycle fuel from said fuel outlets into said fuel gas inlet manifold downstream of said permeable baffle.