Vehicle power systems and methods employing fuel cells
AssigneesPACCAR Inc, Eaton Corporation, Cummins Intellectual Properties, Inc.
InventorPaul Stephen Crowe
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Power systems and methods described herein can provide power system management and power delivery, among other functionality. The power systems and methods for a vehicle can employ a fuel cell, such as a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), as a power source in conjunction with another power sources, such as one or more vehicle batteries, capacitors, etc. The fuel cell can be conditionally used to provide power to the electrical system, thereby reducing the load on the vehicle batteries.
Claims10
A vehicle, comprising:
- one or more electrical devices each having a power load;
- a power source comprising one or more power storage devices and a fuel cell configured to supply power to the one or more electrical devices, the one or more power storage devices having an aggregate state of charge (SOC);
- one or more data sources configured to provide data indicative of two or more of:
- vehicle history, vehicle location, vehicle operation, electrical device usage, weather data, and aggregate SOC of the one or more power storage devices;
- and
- a controller configured to conditionally operate the fuel cell, wherein the controller is configured to start the fuel cell based on the data provided by the one or more data sources and fuel cell operational data in order for the power source to meet the power loads of the one or more electrical devices.
A computer implemented method of controlling a fuel cell, the fuel cell being a part of a vehicle power source comprising one or more power storage devices having a state of charge (SOC), the vehicle power source configured to supply power to one or more vehicle loads, the method comprising:
- calculating a power load demand schedule of the one or more vehicle loads over a predetermined time period of vehicle operation;
- calculating a predicted power storage level of the vehicle power source over said predetermined time period;
- determining a start time for the fuel cell based on the calculated power load demand, the calculated predicted power storage level and fuel cell operational data in order for the vehicle power source to meet the power loads of the power load demand schedule over a predetermined time period of vehicle operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.