Fuel cell system
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorKuniaki Ojima
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system includes a battery, a fuel cell, an air pump, and a processor. The battery stores electric power. The fuel cell supplies electric power to the battery. The air pump is driven with the electric power supplied from the battery to supply air to the fuel cell. The processor, when starting the fuel cell system, is configured to compare an amount of the electric power stored in the battery with a threshold electric power. If the amount of the electric power is higher than or equal to the threshold electric power, the air pump is driven. If the amount of the electric power is lower than the threshold electric power, the air pump is prohibited to drive.
Claims13
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell;
- a battery device;
- an air pump device configured to start driving with power supplied from the battery device to supply air to the fuel cell;
- and
- a control unit programmed to control the drive of the air pump device based on information related to an amount of power acquired from the battery device,
- wherein at the time of activation, the control unit is programmed to:
- compare an acquired value obtained from the information related to the amount of power and threshold values held by the control unit with each other, the threshold values including a first threshold value and a second threshold value that is lower than the first threshold value;
- cause the air pump device to drive when the acquired value is higher than or equal to the second threshold value;
- and
- not cause the air pump device to drive when the acquired value is lower than the second threshold value,
- wherein the control unit is programmed to calculate an air pump power upper limit value as the acquired value, the air pump power upper limit value being an upper limit of power supplied to the air pump device, and
- wherein the control unit is programmed to:
- detect failure of the air pump device when the air pump power upper limit value is higher than or equal to the first threshold value and drive of the air pump device is failed;
- and
- detect that power is limited when the air pump power upper limit value is lower than the first threshold value and higher than or equal to the second threshold value, and drive of the air pump device is failed.
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a battery to store electric power;
- a fuel cell to supply electric power to the battery;
- an air pump to be driven with the electric power supplied from the battery to supply air to the fuel cell;
- and
- a processor, when starting the fuel cell system, programmed to:
- compare an amount of the electric power stored in the battery with a first threshold value and a second threshold value that is lower than the first threshold value;
- drive the air pump when the amount of the electric power is higher than or equal to the second threshold value;
- and
- prohibit driving of the air pump when the amount of the electric power is lower than the second threshold value,
- wherein the processor is programmed to calculate an air pump power upper limit value as the amount of the electric power, the air pump power upper limit value being an upper limit of power supplied to the air pump, and
- wherein the processor is programmed to:
- detect failure of the air pump when the air pump power upper limit value is higher than or equal to the first threshold value and when drive of the air pump is failed;
- and
- detect that power is limited when the air pump power upper limit value is lower than the first threshold value and higher than or equal to the second threshold value, and when drive of the air pump is failed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.