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US 11,456,469 B2Granted
Fuel cell system
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsShun Matsumoto, Yoshikatsu Fujimura, Shigeki Hasegawa, Shuya Kawahara, Takeho Aisaka, Hiroyuki Imanishi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system including a fuel cell, an air compressor that supplies oxidant gas to the fuel cell, an upstream supply pipe provided with the air compressor, a downstream supply pipe connected to the upstream supply pipe and the fuel cell, an upstream discharge pipe connected to the fuel cell, a downstream discharge pipe connected to the upstream discharge pipe, a bypass pipe, a valve mechanism configured to be switchable between a supply state and a bypass state, and a controller configured to control the air compressor, the valve mechanism, and a power generation state of the fuel cell.
Claims9
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell;
- an air compressor that supplies oxidant gas to the fuel cell;
- an upstream supply pipe provided with the air compressor;
- a downstream supply pipe connected to the upstream supply pipe and the fuel cell;
- an upstream discharge pipe connected to the fuel cell, the oxidant gas being discharged from the fuel cell to the upstream discharge pipe;
- a downstream discharge pipe connected to the upstream discharge pipe;
- a bypass pipe, one end of the bypass pipe being connected to a first connection part where the upstream supply pipe is connected to the downstream supply pipe, another end of the bypass pipe being connected to a second connection part where the upstream discharge pipe is connected to the downstream discharge pipe;
- a valve mechanism configured to be switchable between a supply state and a bypass state, the supply state being a state where the oxidant gas is supplied to the fuel cell from the upstream supply pipe and the downstream supply pipe and is discharged from the upstream discharge pipe and the downstream discharge pipe, the bypass state being a state where the oxidant gas passes through the bypass pipe from the upstream supply pipe and is discharged from the downstream discharge pipe and where the oxidant gas is restricted from passing through one of the downstream supply pipe and the upstream discharge pipe;
- and
- a controller configured to control the air compressor, the valve mechanism, and a power generation state of the fuel cell,
- wherein the controller is configured to include:
- a voltage obtainer configured to obtain an open-circuit voltage which is a voltage of the fuel cell in a power generation temporarily stopped state;
- an intermittent operation executor configured to execute an intermittent operation for maintaining the open-circuit voltage at a target voltage, by bringing the fuel cell into the power generation temporarily stopped state, by bringing the valve mechanism into the supply state, and by intermittently driving the air compressor, when a power output request to the fuel cell is not made;
- and
- a decrease process executor configured to execute an open-circuit voltage decrease process for accelerating a decrease in the open-circuit voltage, by bringing the valve mechanism into the bypass state and by stopping the air compressor in the power generation temporarily stopped state.
12 more elements
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell;
- an air compressor that supplies oxidant gas to the fuel cell;
- an upstream supply pipe provided with the air compressor;
- a downstream supply pipe connected to the upstream supply pipe and the fuel cell;
- a discharge pipe connected to the fuel cell, the oxidant gas being discharged from the fuel cell to the discharge pipe;
- a bypass pipe, one end of the bypass pipe being connected to a connection part where the upstream supply pipe is connected to the downstream supply pipe, another end of the bypass pipe is exposed to outside air;
- a valve mechanism configured to be switchable between a supply state and a bypass state, the supply state being a state where the oxidant gas is supplied to the fuel cell from the upstream supply pipe and the downstream supply pipe and is discharged from the discharge pipe, the bypass state being a state where the oxidant gas passes through the upstream supply pipe and is discharged from the bypass pipe and where the oxidant gas is restricted from passing through one of the downstream supply pipe and the discharge pipe;
- and
- a controller configured to control the air compressor, the valve mechanism, and a power generation state of the fuel cell,
- wherein the controller is configured to include:
- a voltage obtainer configured to obtain an open-circuit voltage which is a voltage of the fuel cell in a power generation temporarily stopped state;
- an intermittent operation executor configured to execute an intermittent operation for maintaining the open-circuit voltage at a target voltage, by bringing the fuel cell into the power generation temporarily stopped state, by bringing the valve mechanism into the supply state, and by intermittently driving the air compressor, when a power output request to the fuel cell is not made;
- and
- a decrease process executor configured to execute an open-circuit voltage decrease process for accelerating a decrease in the open-circuit voltage, by bringing the valve mechanism into the bypass state and by stopping the air compressor in the power generation temporarily stopped state.
11 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.