Fuel cell system and method
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorKatsuya Kobayashi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system provided with a secondary battery supplying electric power to an outer load and a fuel cell supplying power at least to the secondary battery is controlled such that, by calculating charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery and calculating an excess amount of electric power that can be generated by an excess amount of fuel gas produced in the fuel cell system when operation of the fuel cell is stopped, the charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery is equal to or higher than the excess amount of electric power.
Claims19
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a secondary battery configured to supply electric power to an outer load;
- a fuel cell configured to supply electric power to the secondary battery and the outer load;
- a charge allowance amount calculator for calculating charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery;
- an excess electric power calculator for calculating an excess amount of electric power that can be generated by an excess fuel gas remaining in the fuel cell system when a supply of electric power from the fuel cell system to the outer load is stopped;
- and
- a controller connected to the charge allowance amount calculator and the excess electric power calculator.
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a secondary battery configured to supply electric power to an outer load;
- a fuel cell configured to supply electric power to the secondary battery and the outer load;
- first calculating means for calculating charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery;
- second calculating means for calculating an excess amount of electric power that can be generated by an excess fuel gas remaining in the fuel cell system when a supply of electric power from the fuel cell system to the outer load is stopped;
- and
- controlling means for controlling the charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery.
A method of controlling a fuel cell system, the fuel cell system having a secondary battery configured to supply electric power to an outer load and a fuel cell configured to supply electric power to the secondary battery and the outer load, the method comprising:
- calculating charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery;
- calculating an excess amount of electric power that can be generated by an excess fuel gas remaining in the fuel cell system when a supply of electric power from the fuel cell system to the outer load is stopped;
- and
- controlling the charge allowance amount level in the secondary battery so as to be equal to or higher than the excess amount of electric power.
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a battery;
- a fuel cell configured to supply electric power to the battery and an outer load;
- a fuel reformer configured to supply fuel to the fuel cell;
- a first calculator configured to calculate a charge allowance amount level in the battery,
- a second calculator configured to calculate an excess amount of electric power that can be generated using excess fuel remaining in the fuel cell system when a supply of reforming material to the fuel reformer is stopped and electric power to the outer load is stopped;
- and
- a controller configured to compare the charge allowance amount level to the excess amount of electric power.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.