Output prediction device for fuel cell, output prediction method for fuel cell and fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10647212-B2
Application number	US-201815861356-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2018
Priority date	Jan 27, 2017
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

An output prediction device for a fuel cell includes: a first acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a first required output of the fuel cell, the first required output being calculated based on a predicted vehicle speed or a predicted acceleration of a vehicle on a scheduled traveling route for the vehicle, the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell as a dynamic power source; a second acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a second required output of the fuel cell, the second required output being required by an air-conditioning device of the vehicle; and a calculation circuitry configured to calculate a parameter correlated with a predicted output value of the fuel cell, based on the first required output and the second required output, the predicted output value being predicted as an output on the scheduled traveling route.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An output prediction device for a fuel cell comprising:
a first acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a first required output of the fuel cell, the first required output being calculated based on predicted vehicle speeds or predicted accelerations of multiple vehicles including a vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell as a dynamic power source, the multiple vehicles traveling on a scheduled traveling route for the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell;
a second acquisition circuitry configured to acquire a second required output of the fuel cell, the second required output being required by an air-conditioning device of the vehicle; and
a calculation circuitry configured to calculate a parameter correlated with a predicted output value of the fuel cell, based on the first required output and the second required output, the predicted output value being predicted as an output on the scheduled traveling route.

2. The output prediction device for the fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein
the first required output is calculated further based on a grade of the scheduled traveling route.

3. The output prediction device for the fuel cell according to claim 1 , further comprising
a charging amount alteration circuitry configured to alter a target charging amount of a secondary battery, the secondary battery compensating a shortfall of the output of the fuel cell, wherein
when the parameter is higher than a threshold, the charging amount alteration circuitry previously increases the target charging amount compared to when the parameter is equal to or lower than the threshold.

4. The output prediction device for the fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein
the predicted vehicle speeds are calculated based on average vehicle speeds that are an average value of traveling velocities of the multiple vehicles when the multiple vehicles travel on the scheduled traveling route.

5. The output prediction device for the fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein
the predicted accelerations are calculated based on average accelerations that are an average value of accelerations of the multiple vehicles when the multiple vehicles travel on the scheduled traveling route.

6. The output prediction device for the fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein
the first required output is calculated based on the predicted vehicle speeds or the predicted accelerations that are acquired from a server by wireless communication, the server being disposed outside the vehicle.

7. An output prediction method for a fuel cell comprising:
acquiring a first required output of the fuel cell, the first required output being calculated based on predicted vehicle speeds or predicted accelerations of multiple vehicles including a vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell as a dynamic power source, the multiple vehicles traveling on a scheduled traveling route for the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell;
acquiring a second required output of the fuel cell, the second required output being required by an air-conditioning device of the vehicle; and
calculating a parameter correlated with a predicted output value of the fuel cell, based on the first required output and the second required output, the predicted output value being predicted as an output on the scheduled traveling route.

8. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell; and
a control circuitry configured to control an output of the fuel cell, based on a parameter correlated with predicted output value of the fuel cell, the predicted output value being predicted as the output of the fuel cell on a scheduled traveling route for a vehicle and being calculated based on a first required output of the fuel cell and a second required output of the fuel cell, the first required output being calculated based on a predicted vehicle speeds or a predicted accelerations of multiple vehicles including the vehicle on the scheduled traveling route for the vehicle, the multiple vehicles traveling on a scheduled traveling route for the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell, the second required output being required by an air-conditioning device of the vehicle, the vehicle traveling by using the fuel cell as a dynamic power source.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Matsusue Masaaki
• Araki Yasushi
• Ito Masayuki

Classifications

• B60L2240/14

  Acceleration · CPC title

• H01M8/04305

  Modeling, demonstration models of fuel cells, e.g. for training purposes · CPC title

• B60L2240/68

  Traffic data · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M16/006

  of fuel cells with rechargeable batteries · CPC title