Transportation device equipped with fuel cell system
AssigneeSawafuji Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorTomonori Miura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a transportation device which is capable of continuously travelling without being supplied with hydrogen from the outside. According to the present invention, a transportation device is provided with an ammonia storage means, a hydrogen production device, a fuel cell, a motor, a battery and a control unit. The hydrogen production device produces hydrogen by decomposing ammonia; and the fuel cell is supplied with hydrogen from the hydrogen production device and generates electric power. The motor operates by being supplied with some or all of the electric power generated by the fuel cell. The battery is supplied with some or all of the electric power generated by the fuel cell, and supplies electric power to the motor and the hydrogen production device.
Claims7
A transportation device comprising:
- an ammonia storage means;
- a hydrogen production device configured to produce a hydrogen-containing gas by decomposing ammonia;
- a fuel cell configured to generate power using hydrogen-containing gas produced by the hydrogen production device;
- a motor configured to be supplied with part or all of the power generated by the fuel cell;
- a battery configured to be supplied with part or all of the power generated by the fuel cell and to supply power to the motor and the hydrogen production device;
- and
- a control unit configured to monitor a charge level of the battery and control a power generation amount of the fuel cell,
- wherein the control unit stores a threshold value of the charge level of the battery corresponding to a minimum amount of power required to start up the hydrogen production device, a function of the hydrogen production amount relative to power consumption of the hydrogen production device, and a function of output power relative to hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell, and
- wherein on start-up the hydrogen production device is supplied with power from the battery to start up.
A method for operating a transportation device, the transportation device comprising:
- an ammonia storage means;
- a hydrogen production device configured to produce a hydrogen-containing gas by decomposing ammonia introduced from the ammonia storage means by plasma discharge;
- a fuel cell configured to generate power using hydrogen-containing gas produced by the hydrogen production device;
- a motor configured to be supplied with part or all of the power generated by the fuel cell;
- a battery configured to be supplied with part or all of the power generated by the fuel cell and to supply power to the motor and the hydrogen production device;
- and
- a control unit that stores a threshold value of the charge level of the battery corresponding to a minimum amount of power required to start up the hydrogen production device, a function of the hydrogen production amount relative to power consumption of the hydrogen production device, and a function of output power relative to hydrogen consumption of the fuel cell, the control unit configured to monitor a charge level of the battery and control a power generation amount of the fuel cell,
- the method comprising the following steps:
- monitoring, by the control unit, the charge level of the battery;
- when the charge level of the battery is less than the threshold value, increasing, by the control unit, the power supplied from the battery to the hydrogen production device;
- and
- upon receipt of a command from outside to increase a number of revolutions of the motor, increasing, by the control unit, the power supplied from the battery to the motor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.