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US 12,626,943 B2Granted
Fuel cell system
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorTomoyuki Inoue
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack, a humidifier provided on an oxygen-containing gas supply flow path to humidify an oxygen-containing gas flowing through the oxygen-containing gas supply flow path, a discharge path stop valve provided on an oxygen-containing gas discharge flow path and configured to be opened during power generation by the fuel cell stack, and a pressure regulator provided downstream of the discharge path stop valve to regulate pressure so that it is higher on the upstream side than the downstream side.
Claims5
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell stack configured to generate electric power by chemical reactions between a fuel gas and an oxygen-containing gas;
- an oxygen-containing gas supply flow path connected to the fuel cell stack;
- an oxygen-containing gas discharge flow path connected to the fuel cell stack;
- a humidifier disposed on the oxygen-containing gas supply flow path and configured to humidify the oxygen-containing gas flowing through the oxygen-containing gas supply flow path;
- a discharge path stop valve disposed on the oxygen-containing gas discharge flow path and configured to be opened while the fuel cell stack is generating electric power;
- a pressure regulator disposed downstream of the discharge path stop valve and configured to regulate a pressure on an upstream side to be higher than a pressure on a downstream side;
- an oxygen-containing gas supplier configured to supply the oxygen-containing gas to the fuel cell stack through the oxygen-containing gas supply flow path;
- a bypass channel branching off from the oxygen-containing gas supply flow path and merged with the oxygen-containing gas discharge flow path at a point between an upstream of the pressure regulator and a downstream of the discharge path stop valve;
- a bypass valve disposed on the bypass channel and configured to adjust a flow rate of the oxygen-containing gas flowing through the bypass channel;
- and
- a controller comprising one or more processors that are configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the controller to:
- set a target supply amount of the oxygen-containing gas supplied to the fuel cell stack based on a target pressure at an oxygen-containing gas flow field inside the fuel cell stack and a target generated power amount of the fuel cell stack;
- control the oxygen-containing gas supplier to supply the oxygen-containing gas in the target supply amount;
- and
- adjust an opening degree of the bypass valve corresponding to the target supply amount.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.