Fuel cell system and method for operating the same
AssigneeHonda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsToshiaki Shimada, Yoshio Nuiya, Takahiro Kuriiwa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a fuel cell system 4 in which electricity is generated by a fuel cell 4 supplied with the hydrogen gas created from a reforming reaction and the electricity is supplied to an external load 12, an electric buffer CAPA for storing surplus electricity or supplementing insufficient electricity is located between the fuel cell 4 and the external load 12, and a hydrogen buffer MHB for accommodating surplus hydrogen gas and supplementing insufficient hydrogen gas is located between a reforming device 2 and the fuel cell. Where electricity consumption in the load 12 increases abruptly, necessary electricity is supplied with the assistance of the electric buffer CAPA and hydrogen buffer HMB.
Claims7
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell supplying to a load an electricity generated by an electrochemical reaction of a hydrogen gas and an oxygen gas;
- a reforming device for generating the hydrogen gas to be supplied to the fuel cell by a reforming reaction;
- a hydrogen buffer for accommodating a part of the hydrogen gas supplied from the reforming device;
- and
- an electric buffer for charging a part of the electricity supplied from the fuel cell,
- wherein the hydrogen gas necessary for generating the electricity in the fuel cell is served by a hydrogen gas supplied from the hydrogen buffer and the reforming device, and
- the electricity necessary for the load is served by a electricity supplied from the electric buffer and the electricity from the fuel cell.
A method of operating a fuel cell system, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) supplying an electricity generated by an electrochemical reaction of a fuel cell by a hydrogen gas and an oxygen gas to a load, the hydrogen gas being obtained from a reforming reaction in a reforming device;
- (b) charging or discharging in an electric buffer a electricity corresponding to an excess/shortage of a electricity supplied from the fuel cell and a necessary electricity consumed by the load;
- (c) charging or discharging the hydrogen gas corresponding to an excess/shortage in a necessary quantity of a hydrogen gas for the fuel cell and a quantity of a hydrogen gas supplied from the reforming device in a hydrogen buffer accommodating a hydrogen occluding alloy;
- and
- (d) increasing a quantity of the hydrogen gas supplied from the hydrogen buffer to the fuel cell after increasing the electricity from the electric buffer to the load, when the necessary electricity increases, to thereby increase a electricity generated by the fuel cell for serving the necessary electricity.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.