Fuel cell system for exhausting residual power in emergency situation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10756369-B2
Application number	US-201816133555-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2018
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed is a fuel cell system that stops producing electricity and exhausts residual electricity in an emergency situation. The fuel cell system includes a stack receiving a reactive gas including a hydrogen and/or an oxygen to produce the electricity, a pump supplying the reactive gas to the stack, a discharge circuit including a resistor that discharges a residual power in the stack and a first relay that electrically connects or disconnects the resistor to or from the stack, a generator connected to a rotational shaft of the pump to convert a driving energy of the rotational shaft of the pump to an electric energy, and a first controller controlling the first relay. The first controller receives the electric energy from the generator and controls the first relay to electrically connect the stack and the resistor such that the residual electricity in the stack is exhausted in the emergency situation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell control system and configured to stop producing electricity in a fuel cell and further configured to exhaust residual electricity in the fuel cell in an emergency situation, the system comprising:
at least one stack configured to receive a reactive gas including a hydrogen and/or an oxygen to produce the electricity;
a pump configured to supply the reactive gas to the stack;
a discharge circuit including a resistor configured to discharge residual electricity in the stack and a relay that is configured to electrically connect or disconnect the resistor to or from the stack;
a generator connected to a rotational shaft of the pump to convert rotation of the rotational shaft of the pump to electricity; and
a controller configured to control the relay,
wherein, in the emergency situation, the controller is electrically connected to the generator to receive the electricity generated by rotation of the rotational shaft of the pump, the controller being configured to control the relay to electrically connect the stack and the resistor such that the residual electricity in the stack is exhausted.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pump is configured to reduce a supply amount of the reactive gas to the stack when the generator and the controller is electrically connected.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the relay includes a normal open type relay configured to remain in an open state when there is no control signal from the controller.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is referred to as a first controller and the relay is referred to as a first relay, the fuel cell control system further comprising:
a second relay configured to electrically connect or disconnect the generator to or from the first controller; and
a second controller configured to control the second relay, wherein the second controller is configured to control the second relay to electrically disconnect the generator from the first controller in a situation except for the emergency situation.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the second relay includes a normal close type relay that is configured to remain in a closed state when there is no control signal from the second controller.

6. A system of a vehicle comprising:
a fuel cell comprising at least a stack:
a discharge circuit including a resistor configured to discharge electricity in the stack and a first relay that is configured to electrically connect or disconnect the resistor to or from the stack;
a first controller configured to operate the first relay;
a main power supply configured to supply power to the first controller;
an emergency power supply configured to supply the power to the first controller when the main power supply is malfunctioning, and the first controller being configured to control the first relay such that residual electricity in the stack is discharged through the resistor of the discharge circuit in an emergency situation;
a second controller configured to control the first controller and control supply of the power from the main power supply to the first controller; and
a second relay configured to electrically connect or disconnect the emergency power supply to or from the first controller,
wherein the second relay includes a normal close type relay to electrically connect the first controller to the emergency power supply when the main power supply is malfunctioning.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first relay includes a normal open type relay.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first controller and the second controller are electrically connected to each other, and the first controller being configured provide information indicative of a state of the first relay to the second controller in response to a control signal from the second controller.

9. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a pump configured to supply reactive gas to the stack, wherein the emergency power supply includes a generator connected to a rotational shaft of the pump to convert rotation of the rotational shaft of the pump to electricity for supplying the electricity to the first controller in the emergency situation.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Lee Nam Woo

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M8/04947

  of auxiliary devices, e.g. batteries, capacitors · CPC title

• H01M8/0494 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/043

  applied during specific periods · CPC title