Polyelectrolytic fuel cell and the method of controlling the operation thereof
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorSeiji Mizuno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
When at least either one of the output voltage and internal resistance of a plurality of stacked unit cells and the humidity of oxidizing gas being discharged has deviated from the tolerance, the supply conditions of oxidizing gas to the polyelectrolytic fuel cell are changed. Specifically, when output voltage had decreased, when internal resistance has increased, or when the humidity of discharge gas has increased, the flow rate of oxidizing gas is increased, or its pressure increases, or the humidity of oxidizing gas is reduced. As a result, moisture inside the cell is removed and flooding and the resulting falls in output voltage are prevented. In addition, the generation of hydrogen gas in the passages for oxidizing gas is contained.
Claims6
A system for generating electric power, comprising:
- a polyelectrolytic fuel cell having a plurality of stacked unit cells capable of generating electric power by causing chemical reactions between a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas through a polyelectrolytic film;
- an oxidizing gas supply line connected to said fuel cell and having an oxidizing gas control device which controls a characteristic of the oxidizing gas being supplied to said fuel cell;
- an output voltage detector positioned to determine an output voltage of the electric power generated by said fuel cell;
- and
- a controller receiving an input from said output voltage detector and having first means for comparing the determined output voltage to a predetermined voltage corresponding to flooding of said fuel cell, and for controlling said characteristic of the oxidizing gas being supplied to said fuel cell, when the comparison of said first means for comparing indicates the presence of flooding, such that the flooding tends to diminish.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.