Fuel cell system and control method thereof
AssigneeYamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYasuyuki Muramatsu, Masatsugu Oishi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell which has an anode. A fuel supplying device circulates a supply of aqueous methanol solution to the anode in the fuel cell. The fuel supplying device includes an aqueous solution tank for storing the aqueous methanol solution. By moving aqueous methanol solution from the aqueous solution tank to a water tank, the amount of aqueous methanol solution which is in circulation at the time of start-up is made smaller than the amount for normal operation. The fuel cell system and a control method therefore are capable of shortening a time that is necessary for heating aqueous fuel solution to be supplied to the fuel cell to a predetermined temperature without reducing fuel utilization efficiency.
Claims12
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell including an anode;
- a fuel supplying device arranged to circulate a supply of aqueous fuel solution to the anode of the fuel cell;
- and
- an aqueous solution amount adjusting device programmed to set an amount of the aqueous fuel solution stored in the fuel supplying device and circulated within the fuel cell system for a start-up to an amount smaller than an amount for a normal operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.