1. A method for generating a pricing estimate for a customer of a small business, comprising:
displaying, by a financial application executing on a processor and configured to manage finances for the small business, a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising a GUI widget loaded with a plurality of line items corresponding to an industry of the small business;
receiving, from a user associated with the small business and operating the financial application, a selection of a first line item and a second line item using the GUI widget;
receiving, from the user, a request to generate the pricing estimate for at least the first line item and the second line item;
obtaining, by the financial application and from a pricing server operatively connected to the financial application, a plurality of pricing data comprising a first price for the first line item and a second price for the second line item, wherein the pricing server collects the plurality of pricing data from a plurality of suppliers who agree to share the pricing data;
accessing a pricing rule specifying a profit percentage to be applied to the first price to increase profitability of the small business;
applying, by the financial application, the pricing rule to the first price for the first line item to obtain an adjusted price;
populating the GUI with at least the first price, the second price, and the adjusted price;
calculating, by the financial application, the pricing estimate based on the adjusted price and the second price;
displaying, by the financial application, the pricing estimate within the GUI; and
sending, by the financial application, the pricing estimate to a customer of the small business.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
filtering the plurality of pricing data based on a plurality of qualifying criteria.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of qualifying criteria comprises at least one from a group consisting of a quality, a price, and a rating of a supplier of the plurality of suppliers.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of suppliers agree to share the pricing data via the pricing server.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pricing server collects the plurality of pricing data prior to the request.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the pricing server uses a web crawler to collect the plurality of pricing data from the plurality of suppliers.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of pricing data comprises an expiration date.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first line item is a service.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second line item comprises a quantity and a description.
10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of computer executable instructions for generating a pricing estimate for a customer of a small business, the plurality of computer executable instructions comprising functionality to:
display, using a financial application configured to manage finances for a small business, a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising a GUI widget loaded with a plurality of line items corresponding to an industry of the small business;
receive, from a user associated with the small business and operating the financial application, a selection of a first line item and a second line item using the GUI widget;
receive, from the user, a request to generate the pricing estimate for at least the first line item and the second line item;
obtain, using the financial application and from a pricing server operatively connected to the financial application, a plurality of pricing data comprising a first price for the first line item and a second price for the second line item, wherein the pricing server collects the plurality of pricing data from a plurality of suppliers who agree to share the pricing data;
access a pricing rule specifying a profit percentage to be applied to the first price to increase profitability of the small business;
apply, using the financial application, the pricing rule to the first price for the first line item to obtain an adjusted price;
populate the GUI with at least the first price, the second price, and the adjusted first price;
calculate, using the financial application, the pricing estimate based on the adjusted price and the second price;
display the pricing estimate within the GUI; and
sending, using the financial application, the pricing estimate to a customer of the small business.
11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of computer executable the instructions further comprising functionality to:
filter the plurality of pricing data based on a plurality of qualifying criteria.
12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the plurality of suppliers agree to share the pricing data via the pricing server.
13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the pricing server collects the plurality of pricing data prior to the request.
14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the pricing server uses a web crawler to collect the plurality of pricing data from the plurality of suppliers.
15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of pricing data comprises an expiration date.
16. A system for generating a pricing estimate for a customer of a small business, comprising:
a pricing server configured to collect a plurality of pricing data from a plurality of suppliers; and
a client hardware device executing a financial application configured to manage finances of the small business and comprising functionality to:
display a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising a GUI widget loaded with a plurality of line items associated with an industry of the small business;
receive one or more line items of the pricing estimate, wherein the one or more line items require pricing information;
receive, from a user associated with the small business and operating the financial application, a selection of a first line item and a second line item using the GUI widget;
receive, from the user, a request to generate the pricing estimate for at least the first line item and the second line item;
obtain, in response to receiving the request, the plurality of pricing data comprising a first price for the first line item and a second price for the second line item from the pricing server wherein the pricing server collects the plurality of pricing data from suppliers who agree to share the pricing data;
access a pricing rule specifying a profit percentage to be applied to the first price to increase profitability of the small business;
apply the pricing rule to the first price to obtain an adjusted price;
populate the GUI with at least the first price, the second price, and the adjusted price;
calculate the pricing estimate based on the adjusted price and the second price;
display the pricing estimate within the GUI; and
send the pricing estimate to the customer.
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of suppliers agree to share the data via the pricing server.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein the pricing server is further configured to collect the plurality of pricing data prior to the request.
19. The system of claim 16, wherein the pricing server is further configured to use a web crawler to collect the plurality of pricing data from the plurality of suppliers.
20. The system of claim 16, wherein the plurality of pricing data comprises an expiration date.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell unit;
a humidifier unit for humidifying process gases to be fed to the fuel cell unit; and
heatable water-carrying media conduits which provide water to said humidifier unit.
2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit for extracting water from process gases of said fuel cell unit and providing it to said heatable media carrying conduits.
3. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein said media conduits include an electrically heatable conduit section.
4. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein the heatable media conduits are provided downstream of the fuel cell unit.
5. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein said heatable media conduits are disposed between a water separator for separating water from cathode off-gas of said fuel cell and a metering point for feeding media into a cathode air input.
6. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, further comprising a heatable drain line for discharging water from the fuel cell unit.
7. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell unit;
a first conduit for providing process air to a cathode side input of said fuel cell unit;
a humidifier unit disposed in said first conduit for adding moisture to said process air;
a second conduit for providing water to said humidifier unit;
wherein said second conduit comprises a heatable conduit section for warming said water.
8. The fuel cell system according to claim 7, further comprising a unit for extracting water from process gases of said fuel cell unit and providing it to said second conduit.