Apparatus and method for controlling temperature of coolant in fuel cell stack

A vehicle comprising:

• a fuel cell stack configured to generate power;
• a battery configured to be charged by the power generated by the fuel cell stack;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory storing at least one instruction that, when executed by the processor communicating with the memory, is configured to cause the vehicle to:
• after an ignition of the vehicle is off, determine, based on a state of charge (SOC) of the battery and a temperature of a coolant in the fuel cell stack, one of a plurality of temperature increase modes of the fuel cell stack, wherein the temperature increase modes comprise a first mode of waiting until a wake-up of the vehicle, a second mode of operating the fuel cell stack, and a third mode of operating a cathode oxygen depletion (COD) heater, and
• control, based on the determined one of the plurality of temperature increase modes, the temperature of the coolant in the fuel cell stack.

A method performed by an apparatus of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• obtaining information about a state of charge (SOC) of a battery of the vehicle and a temperature of a coolant in a fuel cell stack of the vehicle after an ignition of the vehicle is off;
• determining, based on the information about the SOC of the battery and the temperature of the coolant in the fuel cell stack, one of a plurality of temperature increase modes of the fuel cell stack;
• and
• based on the determining of the one of the plurality of temperature increase modes, performing one of:
• operating the fuel cell stack, or
• standing by without operating the fuel cell stack and a cathode oxygen depletion (COD) heater until a wake-up of the vehicle.