Fuel cell equipped vehicle system and control method for fuel cell equipped vehicle system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10239405-B2
Application number	US-201616062439-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 10, 2016
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A fuel cell equipped vehicle system in which an external power supply is coupled to an electric power supply line, the electric power supply line being coupled to a fuel cell, an electric power being input/output to/from a vehicular battery through the electric power supply line, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system performing an insulation test of the electric power supply line before charging the vehicular battery, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system including an insulation test unit configured to perform the insulation test of the electric power supply line; a switch that couples and cuts off between the fuel cell and the electric power supply line; and a control unit configured to control a coupling and a cutoff to/from the electric power supply line of the vehicular battery and control the switch, wherein the control unit is configured to cut off the vehicular battery from the electric power supply line and control the switch to cut off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line, and then drive the insulation test unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell equipped vehicle system in which an external power supply is coupled to an electric power supply line, the electric power supply line being coupled to a fuel cell, an electric power being input/output to/from a vehicular battery through the electric power supply line, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system performing an insulation test of the electric power supply line before charging the vehicular battery, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system comprising:
an insulation test unit configured to perform the insulation test of the electric power supply line;
a switch that couples and cuts off between the fuel cell and the electric power supply line; and
a control unit configured to control a coupling and a cutoff to/from the electric power supply line of the vehicular battery and control the switch, wherein
the control unit is configured to cut off the vehicular battery from the electric power supply line and control the switch to cut off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line, and then drive the insulation test unit.

2. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit is configured to cut off the vehicular battery from the electric power supply line after cutting off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line.

3. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 2 , wherein:
the fuel cell is coupled to the electric power supply line via a coupling line coupled to the switch,
the fuel cell equipped vehicle system includes an auxiliary machine for the fuel cell coupled to the coupling line, and
the control unit is configured to control the switch to cut off the coupling line from the electric power supply line so as to cut off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line.

4. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the fuel cell is coupled to the electric power supply line via a coupling line coupled to the switch,
the fuel cell equipped vehicle system includes an auxiliary machine for the fuel cell coupled to the coupling line, and
the control unit is configured to control the switch to cut off the coupling line from the electric power supply line so as to cut off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line.

5. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 4 , wherein
the auxiliary machine includes:
a first auxiliary machine that supplies an anode gas to the fuel cell; and
a second auxiliary machine that supplies a cathode gas to the fuel cell, and the control unit includes:
a stop control unit configured to stop the first auxiliary machine and drive the second auxiliary machine for a stop control of the fuel cell; and
a switching control unit configured to perform a switching control that drives the first auxiliary machine while maintaining the driving of the second auxiliary machine before the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line.

6. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 5 , comprising
a fuel cell battery coupled to the coupling line, wherein
the switching control unit is configured to perform the switching control using electric power of the fuel cell and the fuel cell battery.

7. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 6 , wherein
the stop control unit is configured such that a control state in the stop control is maintained using the electric power of the fuel cell battery when an amount of charge of the fuel cell battery is equal to or more than a predetermined amount when the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line, and
the switching control unit is configured such that the switching control is performed when the amount of charge of the fuel cell battery is decreased to lower than a predetermined amount after the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line.

8. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 5 , wherein
the control unit is configured such that the vehicular battery and the external power supply are electrically coupled to the electric power supply line, and then the coupling line is coupled to the electric power supply line and a control state of the auxiliary machine is returned to a state before the switching control after the insulation test of the electric power supply line is performed when the switching control is performed.

9. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 4 , wherein
the auxiliary machine includes:
a first auxiliary machine that supplies an anode gas to the fuel cell;
a second auxiliary machine that supplies a cathode gas to the fuel cell; and
a third auxiliary machine that applies an electromotive force that opposes an electromotive force of the fuel cell to the fuel cell from an outside, and

the control unit includes:
a stop control unit configured to stop the first auxiliary machine and the second auxiliary machine and drive the third auxiliary machine for a stop control of the fuel cell; and
a switching control unit configured to perform a switching control that drives the first auxiliary machine and the second auxiliary machine and stops the third auxiliary machine before the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line.

10. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 4 , wherein
the auxiliary machine includes:
a first auxiliary machine that supplies an anode gas to the fuel cell;
a second auxiliary machine that supplies a cathode gas to the fuel cell; and
a third auxiliary machine that applies an electromotive force that opposes an electromotive force of the fuel cell to the fuel cell from an outside, and

the control unit includes:
a stop control unit configured to drive the second auxiliary machine and the third auxiliary machine and stop the first auxiliary machine for a stop control of the fuel cell; and
a switching control unit configured to perform a switching control that drives the first auxiliary machine and stops the third auxiliary machine while maintaining the driving of the second auxiliary machine before the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line.

11. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 4 , comprising
a fuel cell battery coupled to the coupling line, wherein
the auxiliary machine includes:
a first auxiliary machine that supplies an anode gas to the fuel cell;
a second auxiliary machine that supplies a cathode gas to the fuel cell; and
a third auxiliary machine that applies an electromotive force that opposes an electromotive force of the fuel cell to the fuel cell from an outside, and

the control unit includes:
a stop control unit configured to drive the second auxiliary machine and the third auxiliary machine and stop the first auxiliary machine for a stop control of the fuel cell; and
a switching control unit configured to perform a switching control that stops the second auxiliary machine while maintaining the stop of the first auxiliary machine and the driving of the third auxiliary machine before the coupling line is cut off from the electric power supply line.

12. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 11 , wherein
the switching control unit is configured such that a control to drive the first auxiliary machine and the second auxiliary machine and stop the driving of the third auxiliary machine is performed when an amount of charge of the fuel cell battery is decreased to lower than a predetermined amount after the switching control.

13. The fuel cell equipped vehicle system according to claim 1 , wherein
the control unit is configured such that the vehicular

Assignees

• Nissan Motor

Inventors

• Suzuki Kenta
• Kumada Mitsunori

Classifications

• B60L58/40

  for controlling a combination of batteries and fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2008/1293

  Fuel cells with solid oxide electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/04303

  applied during shut-down · CPC title

• H01M16/006

  of fuel cells with rechargeable batteries · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title