Method and control unit for conditioning a fuel cell stack
AssigneeBayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
InventorFrank David
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Abstract
A method conditions a fuel cell stack of a fuel cell system during a usage operation of the fuel cell system. The method determines that a conditioning of the fuel cell stack is to be carried out for increasing an electrical power provided by the fuel cell stack during usage operation. In addition, the method adjusts at least one operating parameter of the fuel cell system in order to increase a current flow through the fuel cell stack for conditioning the fuel cell stack during usage operation.
Claims11
A method for conditioning a fuel-cell stack of a fuel-cell system during a usage operation of the fuel-cell system, the method comprising:
- directly installing the fuel cell system in a vehicle, thereby avoiding a break-in procedure on a test stand;
- after directly installing the fuel cell system in the vehicle, determining that a conditioning of the fuel-cell stack is to be carried out to increase an electric power provided by the fuel-cell stack in the usage operation, the fuel cell having a reduced power until completion of the conditioning;
- and
- adapting at least one operating parameter of the fuel-cell system to increase a current flow through the fuel-cell stack during the usage operation for the conditioning of the fuel-cell stack, the adapting at least one operating parameter consisting of:
- reducing a quantity of oxidant supplied to the fuel-cell stack, the quantity of oxidant being reduced such that a stoichiometric ratio of available quantity of oxidant to required quantity of oxidant is less than 1.5,
- cooling an oxidant supplied to the fuel-cell stack by an oxidant conveyor, and/or
- controlling a speed of a compressor of the oxidant conveyor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.