Fuel cell system and control method for fuel cell system
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasashi Sato, Mitsunori Kumada, Shinichi Makino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell that generates power in response to an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen contained in air, and a compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell, in which an idle stop is executed to stop power generation by the fuel cell when a required load falls to or below a predetermined value, and during the idle stop, air is supplied in accordance with a voltage condition between a cathode and a anode of the fuel cell, regardless of the required load, air is supplied during the idle stop while detecting an air supply amount, and when the air supply amount reaches a predetermined value, the air supply is stopped.
Claims19
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell that generates power by an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen contained in air;
- a compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell;
- and
- a controller that is programmed to
- execute an idle stop that is to stop power generation by the fuel cell when a required load falls to or below a predetermined value, and
- supply, during the idle stop, air in accordance with a voltage condition between a cathode and an anode of the fuel cell, regardless of the required load,
- wherein the controller is further programmed to
- detect a cell voltage or a cell group voltage,
- calculate the voltage condition on the basis of a result of the detection,
- determine as a calculation result determination, on the basis of a result of the calculation, whether a previous value of an air supply amount supplied intermittently to a cathode during the idle stop is excessive or insufficient,
- decide to reduce or increase the air supply amount relative to a preset fixed value or a previous supply amount in accordance with a result of the calculation result determination, and
- stop the air supply performed during the idle stop when the air supply amount reaches a predetermined value.
A control method of a fuel cell system having a fuel cell that generates power by an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen contained in air, a compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell, and a controller, the method comprising:
- executing, by the controller, an idle stop to stop power generation by the fuel cell when a required load falls to or below a predetermined value;
- supplying, by the controller during the idle stop, air in accordance with a voltage condition between a cathode and an anode of the fuel cell, regardless of the required load;
- detecting, by the controller, a cell voltage or a cell group voltage;
- calculating, by the controller, the voltage condition on the basis of the detecting;
- determining, by the controller, as a calculation result determination, on the basis of a result of the calculating, whether a previous value of an air supply amount supplied intermittently to the cathode during the idle stop is excessive or insufficient;
- deciding, by the controller, to reduce or increase the air supply amount relative to a preset fixed value or a previous supply amount in accordance with a result of the calculation result determination;
- and
- stopping, by the controller, the air supply performed during the idle stop when the air supply amount reaches a predetermined value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.