Arrangement and method for monitoring galvanic isolation of fuel cell device
AssigneeWäRtsilä Finland Oy
InventorKim Äström
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Abstract
A method is disclosed for monitoring galvanic isolation of a fuel cell device. At least one stack of fuel cells and at least one load circuit for fuel cells are arranged to an electrically freely floating configuration towards at least one structure near fuel cells. A controlled switching is performed via at least two switching points to at least one measurement element having known impedance in connection to the at least one structure. Measurements are performed from the measurement element to form voltage information. The voltage information and at least voltage information between switching points are processed to check floatages of fuel cells in relation to said at least one structure.
Claims10
A measurement arrangement for monitoring galvanic isolation of a fuel cell device having at least one stack of fuel cells, at least one load circuit for fuel cells, and at least one ground potential structure connected to protective grounding near the at least one said stack,
- wherein the measurement arrangement comprises:
- at least one measurement element having known impedance for connection to at least one ground potential structure of at least one stack of fuel cells;
- means for performing measurements from the measurement element to form voltage information of floatage conditions of fuel cells towards said ground potential structure;
- at least two switches for switching at least two switching points of the fuel cells to said measurement element;
- and
- means for monitoring galvanic isolation including at least one signal processor for controlling said switches during measurements, and for processing said formed voltage information and at least voltage information between the switching points to form resistance information and capacitance information of galvanic isolation, wherein the capacitance information is based on a comparability between capacitance values and an exponential constant of a voltage information curve, and said at least one signal processor is provided for combining said resistance and capacitance information to form information on a condition of the galvanic isolation and information on possible alteration of said condition.
A method for monitoring galvanic isolation of a fuel cell device, in which at least one ground potential structure is connected to protective grounding, and a current processor is a load circuit for fuel cells of the fuel cell device, the current processor having power electronics for processing direct current produced by the fuel cells, the method comprising:
- arranging at least one stack of fuel cells and said at least one load circuit for fuel cells to an electrically freely floating configuration towards said at least one ground potential structure near fuel cells;
- performing a controlled switching via at least two switching points to at least one measurement element having known impedance in connection to said at least one ground potential structure, said switching points being in connection to voltage values of the fuel cells;
- performing measurements from the measurement element to form voltage information;
- processing said formed voltage information and at least voltage information between switching points to form resistance information and capacitance information of galvanic isolation, the forming of capacitance information being based on a comparability between capacitance values and an exponential constant of voltage information curve;
- and
- combining said resistance and capacitance information to form information on a condition of galvanic isolation and information on possible alteration of said condition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.