Fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10505210-B2
Application number	US-201715639517-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2017
Priority date	Jul 28, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A fuel cell system uses, as an inlet sealing valve, an eccentric valve having a rubber seat provided with a seal part having such a shape as to increase the surface pressure of a portion in contact with a seal surface of a valve element when pressure in an air supply passage rises. Each of an outlet integration valve and a bypass valve is constituted of an eccentric valve basically identical in structure to the inlet sealing valve. When supply of air to a fuel cell stack is to be stopped during deceleration of a vehicle, a controller closes the inlet sealing valve and opens the bypass valve and, after the inlet sealing valve is fully closed, closes the bypass valve.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system for use in a fuel cell vehicle, the fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell;
an oxidant gas supply passage for supplying oxidant gas to the fuel cell;
a compressor provided in the oxidant gas supply passage and configured to supply the oxidant gas to the fuel cell;
an upstream-side valve provided in the oxidant gas supply passage between the compressor and the fuel cell;
an oxidant gas exhaust passage for exhausting the oxidant gas supplied to the fuel cell;
a downstream-side valve provided in the oxidant gas exhaust passage;
a bypass passage connected to the oxidant gas supply passage and the oxidant gas exhaust passage;
a bypass valve provided in the bypass passage and configured to control a flow rate of the oxidant gas to be allowed to flow in the bypass passage; and
a controller configured to close the upstream-side valve and, before closing control of the upstream-side valve is completed, open the bypass valve, when supply of oxidant gas to the fuel cell is to be stopped during deceleration of the fuel cell vehicle.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein
the upstream-side valve includes:
a valve seat including a valve hole and a seat surface formed at an edge of the valve hole;
a valve element including an outer periphery formed with a seal surface corresponding to the seat surface;
a rotary shaft integrally provided with the valve element to rotate the valve element;
a drive mechanism configured to generate a driving force to rotate the rotary shaft in a valve opening direction;

when the upstream-side valve is to be fully closed during the deceleration, the controller is configured to execute controlled fully-closed opening-degree control to cause the drive mechanism to bring the upstream-side valve into a controlled fully-closed opening degree larger than a mechanical fully-closed opening degree corresponding to an opening degree of 0°.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 2 , wherein
when the system is to be stopped, the controller is configured to execute zero-opening control to cause the drive mechanism to adjust the opening degree of the upstream-side valve to the mechanical fully-closed opening degree and then stop a system.

4. The fuel cell system according to claim 2 , wherein
when a number of execution times the controlled fully-closed opening-degree control is executed exceeds a predetermined number of times, the controller is configured to perform zero-opening control to cause the drive mechanism to forcibly bring the upstream-side valve into the mechanical fully-closed opening degree.

5. The fuel cell system according to claim 2 , wherein
when the upstream-side valve is to be fully closed during deceleration, the controller is configured to close the upstream-side valve to a predetermined opening degree larger than the controlled fully-closed opening degree and, after a front-rear differential pressure of the upstream-side valve becomes smaller than a constant pressure, perform the controlled fully-closed opening-degree control.

6. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein
when the upstream-side valve is to be opened after termination of the deceleration, the controller is configured to open the bypass valve and then open the upstream-side valve to a fully-opened state.

7. The fuel cell system according to claim 6 , wherein the controller is configured to open the upstream-side valve to the fully-opened state after the front-rear differential pressure of the upstream-side valve becomes smaller than a constant pressure.

8. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to close the bypass valve after the upstream-side valve is fully closed.

Assignees

• Aisan Ind

Inventors

• Yoshioka Mamoru
• Ito Naruto
• Fukui Makoto
• Sugiura Hiroshi
• Fujimura Toshiyuki
• Mishima Kasumi

Classifications

• H01M8/043

  applied during specific periods · CPC title

• F16K1/2057

  the sealing being arranged on the valve seat · CPC title

• H01M8/04388

  of anode reactants at the inlet or inside the fuel cell · CPC title

• F16K1/2007

  specially adapted operating means therefor (operating means per se F16K31/00) · CPC title

• H01M8/04089

  of gaseous reactants · CPC title