Gas supply system and correction method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10107454-B2
Application number	US-201113817406-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2011
Priority date	Aug 20, 2010
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

In a gas supply system, a control portion acquires a first temperature and a first pressure of a gas in a fuel tank, and a first output signal value of a pressure sensor corresponding to the first pressure before gas supply, acquires a first amount of the gas in the fuel tank using a fuel tank volume, the first temperature, and the first pressure, acquires a second amount after gas supply, through integration of a measurement value obtained by a flowmeter during gas supply, acquires a second temperature, a second pressure, and a second output signal value corresponding to the second pressure after gas supply, calculates a third pressure using the fuel tank volume, the second amount, and the second temperature, and corrects a relationship between an output signal and the pressure using the first pressure, the first output signal value, the third pressure, and the second output signal value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas supply system comprising:
a fuel tank to which a gas is supplied from a gas tank of a gas station;
a gas flowmeter that measures an amount of the gas supplied from the gas tank to the fuel tank;
a temperature sensor that measures a temperature of the gas in the fuel tank;
a pressure sensor that measures a pressure of the gas in the fuel tank and generates an output signal in accordance with the pressure;
a pressure reducing valve is connected to a first side of the fuel tank, the first side of the fuel tank being opposite to a second side of the fuel tank,
the second side of the fuel tank is connected to the gas station,
the pressure sensor is a first pressure sensor that measures the pressure of the gas on a first side of the pressure reducing valve,
the fuel tank is located on the first side of the pressure reducing valve,
the gas supply system further includes a second pressure sensor that measures another pressure of the gas on a second side of the pressure reducing valve, the second side of the pressure reducing valve being opposite to the first side of the pressure reducing valve, and
a control portion programmed to correct a relationship between the pressure and the output signal, wherein
the control portion is programmed to acquire a first temperature of the gas in the fuel tank, a first pressure of the gas in the fuel tank, and a first value of the output signal corresponding to the first pressure before a supply of the gas,
the control portion is programmed to acquire a first amount of the gas in the fuel tank before supply of the gas using a volume of the fuel tank, the first temperature, and the first pressure,
the control portion is programmed to acquire a second amount of the gas in the fuel tank, through an integration of a measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter during the supply of the gas and adding the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter to the first amount of the gas after supply of the gas,
the control portion is programmed to acquire a second temperature of the gas in the fuel tank, a second pressure of the gas in the fuel tank, and a second value of the output signal corresponding to the second pressure after the supply of the gas is terminated,
the control portion is programmed to calculate a third pressure of the gas in the fuel tank after supply of the gas using the volume of the fuel tank, the second amount of the gas, and the second temperature,
the control portion is programmed to correct the relationship between the pressure and the output signal using the first pressure, the first value of the output signal, the third pressure, and the second value of the output signal,
the pressure sensor includes a diaphragm and a sensor chip,
the pressure sensor is configured such that hydrogen dissolving into the diaphragm increases as a pressure of the gas inside the pressure sensor increases, the hydrogen being contained in the gas supplied from the gas tank,
the sensor chip generates the output signal in accordance with an amount of deformation of the sensor chip,
the control portion is programmed to correct a predetermined linear function of the relationship between the pressure and the output signal to pass through a first point and a second point when a ratio of the second pressure to the third pressure is equal to or smaller than a predetermined first ratio being lower than one, so that the second value of the output signal is changed so as to correspond to the third pressure,
the first point corresponds to a combination of the first pressure and the first value of the output signal before the supply of the gas,
the second point corresponds to a combination of the third pressure and the second value of the output signal after the supply of the gas is terminated, and
the control portion is programmed to correct the relationship between the output signal and the pressure using a value of the output signal as the first value of the output signal and a pressure obtained from the second pressure sensor as the first pressure, when the pressure obtained from the first pressure sensor is equal to or lower than a predetermined pressure and a pressure downstream of the pressure reducing valve is equal to a pressure upstream of the pressure reducing valve, the pressure downstream of the pressure reducing valve being a pressure of the gas that has passed through the pressure reducing valve, and the pressure upstream of the pressure reducing valve being a pressure of the gas that has not passed through the pressure reducing valve.

2. The gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein the control portion is programmed to calculate the first amount of the gas using the volume of the fuel tank, the first temperature, and the first pressure, calculates the second amount of the gas using the volume of the fuel tank, the second temperature, and the second pressure, and corrects the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter, when the ratio of the second pressure to the third pressure is equal to or smaller than a predetermined third ratio, or equal to or larger than a predetermined fourth ratio.

3. The gas supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the control portion is programmed to calculate the first amount of the gas using the volume of the fuel tank, the first temperature, and the first pressure, calculates the second amount of the gas using the volume of the fuel tank, the second temperature, and the second pressure, and corrects the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter, when the ratio of the second pressure to the third pressure is equal to or smaller than a predetermined third ratio, or equal to or larger than a predetermined fourth ratio,
the third ratio is smaller than the first ratio, and
the fourth ratio is larger than the first ratio.

4. The gas supply system according to claim 2 , wherein the control portion is programmed to correct the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter by calculating a gas supply amount that is an amount of the gas supplied to the fuel tank using the first amount of the gas and the second amount of the gas, and comparing the gas supply amount with an integrated value of the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter.

5. A correction method for correcting a relationship between a pressure applied to a pressure sensor connected to a fuel tank and an output signal generated by the pressure sensor, wherein a pressure reducing valve is connected to a first side of the fuel tank, the first side of the fuel tank being opposite to a second side of the fuel tank, the second side of the fuel tank is connected to a gas station, the pressure sensor is a first pressure sensor that measures a pressure of a gas on a first side of the pressure reducing valve, the fuel tank is located on the first side of the pressure reducing valve, wherein a second pressure sensor measures another pressure of the gas on a second side of the pressure reducing valve, the second side of the pressure reducing valve being opposite to the first side of the pressure reducing valve, comprising the steps of:
acquiring a first temperature of a gas in the fuel tank, a first pressure of the gas in the fuel tank, and a first value of the output signal corresponding to the first pressure before a supply of the gas;
acquiring a first amount of the gas in the fuel tank before supply of the gas using a volume of the fuel tank, the first temperature, and the first pressure;
acquiring a second amount of the gas in the fuel tank, through an integration of a measurement value obtained by a gas flowmeter during the supply of the gas and adding the measurement value obtained by the gas flowmeter to the first amount of the gas after supply of the gas;
acquiring a second temperature of the gas in the fuel tank, the se

Assignees

• Yahashi Hiroki
• Ishitoya Tsukuo
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yahashi Hiroki
• Ishitoya Tsukuo

Classifications

• F17C2225/036

  Very high pressure, i.e. above 80 bars · CPC title

• F17C2221/012

  Hydrogen · CPC title

• F17C5/007 Primary

  for individual gas tanks or containers, e.g. in vehicles (filling with liquid fuel not under pressure, B60S5/02, B67D7/00) · CPC title

• Y02E60/321

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F17C2270/0168

  by vehicles · CPC title