Fuel cell system and method of controlling the same
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsSatoshi Watanabe, Norihiro Fukaya
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel cell system includes a control unit that is configured to perform pressure reduction control for increasing a flow rate of cathode gas supplied to a fuel cell from a turbo compressor, by controlling a pressure adjusting valve such that a pressure in the fuel cell is lower when a pressure reduction condition is fulfilled than when the pressure reduction condition is not fulfilled. The pressure reduction condition is a condition that an outside air pressure determined based on outside air pressure-associated information is lower than an outside air pressure threshold determined in advance and that an amount of water determined based on water amount-associated information is equal to or larger than a water amount threshold determined in advance.
Claims7
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell that is configured to generate electric power through an electrochemical reaction between anode gas and cathode gas;
- a cathode gas supply flow passage that is configured to supply the cathode gas to the fuel cell;
- a cathode gas discharge flow passage that is configured to discharge the cathode gas from the fuel cell;
- a turbo compressor that is provided in the cathode gas supply flow passage;
- a pressure adjusting valve that is provided in the cathode gas discharge flow passage;
- an outside air pressure acquisition unit that is configured to acquire outside air pressure-associated information that is associated with an outside air pressure;
- a water amount acquisition unit that is configured to acquire water amount-associated information that is associated with an amount of water in the fuel cell;
- and
- a control unit that is configured to perform pressure reduction control for increasing a flow rate of the cathode gas supplied to the fuel cell from the turbo compressor, by controlling the pressure adjusting valve such that a pressure in the fuel cell is lower when a pressure reduction condition is fulfilled than when the pressure reduction condition is not fulfilled, the pressure reduction condition being a condition that the outside air pressure determined based on the outside air pressure-associated information is lower than an outside air pressure threshold determined in advance and that the amount of water determined based on the water amount-associated information is equal to or larger than a water amount threshold determined in advance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.