Fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11094949-B2
Application number	US-201916718402-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 25, 2018
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell; a supply device; and a control unit configured to lower output voltage of the fuel cell to a target value so as to execute recovery processing to recover power generation performance of the fuel cell. In a case of having an execution request of the recovery processing, the control unit restarts power generation of the fuel cell when open circuit voltage of the fuel cell is lowered to or smaller than a threshold value higher than the target value by controlling a flow rate of a cathode gas while the power generation of the fuel cell is paused, and the control unit executes the recovery processing while controlling an output current value of the fuel cell to be smaller than an idle current value that is an output current value of the fuel cell in an idle operation state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell;
a supply device configured to supply a cathode gas to the fuel cell and adjust a flow rate of the cathode gas supplied to the fuel cell; and
a control unit configured to lower output voltage of the fuel cell to a target value so as to execute recovery processing to recover power generation performance of the fuel cell, wherein:
the control unit is configured to, in a case of having an execution request of the recovery processing,
i) restart power generation of the fuel cell when open circuit voltage of the fuel cell is lowered to or smaller than a threshold value higher than the target value by controlling the flow rate of the cathode gas while the power generation of the fuel cell is paused, and
ii) execute the recovery processing while controlling an output current value of the fuel cell to be smaller than an idle current value that is an output current value of the fuel cell in an idle operation state.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein an output current value of the fuel cell is smaller than the idle current value, the output current value corresponding to the target value and determined by current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell corresponding to the threshold value.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to execute the recovery processing by restarting power generation of the fuel cell so as to increase the output current value of the fuel cell within a range in which the output current value is smaller than the idle current value, and then decreasing the output current value.

4. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to execute the recovery processing while limiting the flow rate of the cathode gas to or less than a flow rate of the cathode gas at which the open circuit voltage becomes lowered.

5. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to execute the recovery processing while setting the flow rate of the cathode gas to zero.

6. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control unit is configured to, when a request output to the fuel cell is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, execute an intermittent operation for pausing the power generation of the fuel cell and controlling increase and decrease of the flow rate of the cathode gas so as to converge the open circuit voltage within a target range;
the threshold value is within the target range; and
the control unit is configured to, during the intermittent operation in a case of having the execution request of the recovery processing, stop the intermittent operation and execute the recovery processing when the open circuit voltage is lowered to or smaller than the threshold value.

7. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein:
the control unit is configured to, when a request output to the fuel cell is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, execute an intermittent operation for pausing the power generation of the fuel cell and controlling increase and decrease of the flow rate of the cathode gas so as to converge the open circuit voltage within a target range;
the threshold value is smaller than a lower limit value of the target range; and
during the intermittent operation in a case of having the execution request of the recovery processing, the control unit does not increase the flow rate of the cathode gas so as to increase the open circuit voltage even when the open circuit voltage is lowered to the lower limit value, and stops the intermittent operation and executes the recovery processing when the open circuit voltage is lowered to or smaller than the threshold value.

8. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein
the fuel cell system is mounted in a vehicle;
the supply device includes a compressor configured to supply the cathode gas to the fuel cell, and a switching mechanism configured to switch a state from a supply state to a bypass state, the cathode gas being supplied from the compressor to the fuel cell in the supply state, the fuel cell being bypassed in the bypass state such that the cathode gas is not supplied to the fuel cell and discharged to an outside of the fuel cell; and
the control unit is configured to, when a regenerative power amount of a power generator mounted in the vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, execute a regenerative operation for switching the state from the supply state to the bypassing state and pausing the power generation of the fuel cell while consuming the regenerative power of the power generator by driving of the compressor, and
the control unit is configured to, during the regenerative operation in a case of having the execution request of the recovery processing, execute the recovery processing while continuing the regenerative operation when the open circuit voltage is lowered to or smaller than the threshold value.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kaneko Tomohiko
• Ito Masayuki

Classifications

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M8/0488 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/04552

  of the individual fuel cell · CPC title

• H01M8/04791

  Concentration; Density (H01M8/04828 takes precedence) · CPC title