Fuel cell vehicle with bypass valve control for clearing exhaust
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsMartin Dale Pryor, Ryan Ma, Craig Michael Mathie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell vehicle includes a bypass valve positioned downstream of a compressor and upstream of a fuel cell stack to selectively direct airflow from the compressor to an exhaust bypassing the fuel cell in an attempt to clear a partially or fully obstructed exhaust pipe. The bypass valve may be opened by a controller when an exhaust throttle valve is at or near a wide-open throttle position. The controller may also increase compressor flow and adjust airflow to the fuel cell stack until compressor pressure, speed, or temperature exceed corresponding limits.
Claims13
A vehicle comprising:
- a compressor;
- a fuel cell stack fluidly coupled to the compressor and configured to receive airflow from an outlet of the compressor;
- a bypass valve disposed between the compressor and the fuel cell stack and selectively coupling airflow from the compressor to an exhaust pipe;
- a throttle valve disposed in an exhaust flow from the fuel cell stack;
- an intercooler downstream of the compressor and upstream of the bypass valve;
- a humidifier downstream of the bypass valve, wherein the bypass valve is configured to selectively direct at least a portion of the airflow from the intercooler to the exhaust pipe downstream of the throttle valve;
- and
- a controller programmed to control the bypass valve to direct at least a portion of the airflow from the compressor to the exhaust pipe in response to position of the throttle valve exceeding a threshold.
A vehicle comprising:
- a compressor;
- a fuel cell stack fluidly coupled to the compressor and configured to receive airflow from an outlet of the compressor;
- a bypass valve disposed between the compressor and the fuel cell stack and selectively coupling airflow from the compressor to an exhaust pipe;
- a throttle valve disposed in an exhaust flow from the fuel cell stack;
- a humidifier having a first inlet coupled to the bypass valve, a first outlet coupled to an inlet of the fuel cell stack, a second input coupled to an outlet of the fuel cell stack, and a second outlet coupled to the throttle valve;
- and
- a controller programmed to control the bypass valve to direct at least a portion of the airflow from the compressor to the exhaust pipe in response to position of the throttle valve exceeding a threshold.
A fuel cell system having a compressor coupled to an inlet of a fuel cell and an exhaust throttle valve disposed between an outlet of the fuel cell and an exhaust pipe, the system comprising:
- a bypass valve positioned downstream of the compressor and upstream of the fuel cell, the bypass valve controllable to open in response to a control signal to allow at least a portion of airflow from the compressor to bypass the fuel cell and flow directly to the exhaust throttle valve or the exhaust pipe;
- an intercooler downstream of the compressor and upstream of the bypass valve;
- and
- a humidifier downstream of the bypass valve, wherein the bypass valve is configured to selectively direct at least a portion of the airflow from the intercooler to the exhaust pipe downstream of the throttle valve.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.