Power supply system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10431836-B2
Application number	US-201715452740-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2017
Priority date	Mar 9, 2016
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

A power supply system includes a fuel cell, a power storage, and a processor. The fuel cell and the power storage supply electric power to a load. The processor is configured to control the fuel cell and the power storage. The processor is configured to acquire a required system power that is required in the power supply system. The processor is configured to determine a power storage shared power such that power efficiency of the electric power supplied from the power storage to the load is equal to or higher than a first value. The processor is configured to determine a fuel cell shared power such that the electric power supplied from the fuel cell is a difference between the power storage shared power and the required system power.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power supply system comprising:
a fuel cell and a power storage to supply electric power to a load;
a processor configured to
control the fuel cell and the power storage;
acquire a required system power that is required in the power supply system;
determine a power storage shared power of the power storage such that power efficiency of the power storage shared power supplied from the power storage to the load is equal to or higher than a first value; and
determine a fuel cell shared power of the fuel cell such that the fuel cell shared power supplied from the fuel cell is a difference between the power storage shared power and the required system power

a first voltage converter connected between the fuel cell and the load to transform output voltage of the fuel cell; and
a second voltage converter connected between the power storage and the load to transform output voltage of the power storage,
wherein the processor is configured to
control the first voltage converter such that power generated in the fuel cell matches the fuel cell shared power, and
control the second voltage converter such that power generated in the power storage matches the power storage shared power.

2. The power supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor sets the power storage shared power such that the power efficiency by combination of the power storage and the second voltage converter becomes equal to or higher than the first value.

3. The power supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor:
sets a power upper limit value that is power generated by the fuel cell for determining whether the power efficiency of the fuel cell becomes equal to or lower than a second value; and
when the fuel cell shared power is higher than the power upper limit value, sets the power upper limit value as the fuel cell shared power and sets a power that is a difference determined by subtracting the power upper limit value from the required system power as the power storage shared power.

4. The power supply system according to claim 1 , wherein
the processor:
sets a power lower limit value that is power generated by the fuel cell for determining whether the power efficiency of the fuel cell becomes equal to or lower than a third value; and
when the fuel cell shared power is lower than the power lower limit value, sets the power lower limit value as the fuel cell shared power and sets a power that is a difference determined by subtracting the power lower limit value from the required system power as the power storage shared power.

5. The power supply system according to claim 4 , wherein
when a remaining capacity of the power storage is lower than a remaining capacity threshold, the processor sets the power lower limit value to a value equal to or lower than a maximum efficiency power which is a power generated by the fuel cell and with which the power generation efficiency of the fuel cell becomes maximum, and
when the remaining capacity is higher than the remaining capacity threshold, the processor sets the power lower limit value to a value higher than the maximum efficiency power.

6. The power supply system according to claim 1 , wherein the power efficiency corresponds to power efficiency of a power supply path via which the electric power is supplied from the power storage to the load.

7. A power supply system comprising:
a fuel cell and a power storage to supply electric power to a load; and
a processor configured to
control the fuel cell and the power storage;
acquire a required system power that is required in the power supply system;
determine a power storage shared power such that power efficiency of the electric power supplied from the power storage to the load is equal to or higher than a first value; and
determine a fuel cell shared power such that the electric power supplied from the fuel cell is a difference between the power storage shared power and the required system power, wherein

the processor:
sets a power lower limit value that is power generated by the fuel cell for determining whether the power efficiency of the fuel cell becomes equal to or lower than a third value; and
when the fuel cell shared power is lower than the power lower limit value, sets the power lower limit value as the fuel cell shared power and sets a power that is a difference determined by subtracting the power lower limit value from the required system power as the power storage shared power.

8. The power supply system according to claim 7 , wherein
when a remaining capacity of the power storage is lower than a remaining capacity threshold, the processor sets the power lower limit value to a value equal to or lower than a maximum efficiency power which is a power generated by the fuel cell and with which the power generation efficiency of the fuel cell becomes maximum, and
when the remaining capacity is higher than the remaining capacity threshold, the processor sets the power lower limit value to a value higher than the maximum efficiency power.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kazuno Shuichi

Classifications

• H01M2250/402

  Combination of fuel cell with other electric generators · CPC title

• H01M8/0494

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M16/006

  of fuel cells with rechargeable batteries · CPC title

• H01M8/04604 Primary

  Power, energy, capacity or load · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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