Fuel cell watercraft

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10940926-B2
Application number	US-201916434732-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2019
Priority date	Dec 5, 2016
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A fuel cell watercraft includes: a hull; an electric motor Serving as a power source adapted to generate propulsion of the hull; a fuel cell unit adapted to supply electric power to the electric motor; a hydrogen fuel tank adapted to supply hydrogen fuel to the fuel cell unit; a secondary battery serving as an auxiliary power supply for the fuel cell unit; and power regulation means for regulating the electric power supplied to the electric motor, in which the hull includes first and second storage spaces isolated from each other, the first and second storage spaces include equipment hatches able to be opened and closed by lid members, the fuel cell unit and the hydrogen fuel tank are housed in the first storage space, and the secondary battery and the power regulation means are housed in the second storage space.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell watercraft comprising:
a hull having a deck;
an electric motor serving as a power source adapted to generate propulsion for the hull;
a fuel cell unit adapted to generate electric power to be supplied to the electric motor;
a hydrogen fuel tank adapted to supply hydrogen fuel to the fuel cell unit;
a secondary battery serving as an auxiliary power supply for the fuel cell unit; and
power regulation means for regulating the electric power to be supplied to the electric motor,
wherein the hull has first and second storage spaces adjacent right and left inside a rear part of the hull and isolated from each other, the first and second storage spaces are respectively provided with equipment hatches able to be opened through the deck and closed by lid members, the fuel cell unit and the hydrogen fuel tank are housed in the first storage space, and the secondary battery and the power regulation means are housed in the second storage space, and
wherein a communicating portion is provided between the first storage portion and the second storage portion penetrating adjacent side walls thereof such that the fuel cell unit is connected to at least one of the secondary battery or the power regulation means housed in the second storage portion via wiring inserted through the communicating portion, and a wiring for supplying electric power to the electric motor is routed through the communicating portion between the first storage portion and the second storage portion, and the communicating portion is sealed around the wiring.

2. The fuel cell watercraft according to claim 1 , wherein the electric motor is provided as an electric outboard motor mounted steerably in a center of the rear part of the hull, and the communicating portion is located in a center of a width of the hull.

Assignees

• Suzuki Motor Corp

Inventors

• Sako Kota

Classifications

• H01M50/249

  specially adapted for aircraft or vehicles, e.g. cars or trains (constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles B60L50/64) · CPC title

• H01M8/2475

  Enclosures, casings or containers of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H02P29/40

  Regulating or controlling the amount of current drawn or delivered by the motor for controlling the mechanical load · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M8/04455

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