System, method of controlling system, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11380921-B2
Application number	US-202017031946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2020
Priority date	Oct 3, 2019
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

A system includes an electrical storage device that stores an electric power generated by a fuel cell, an electric load to which the electric power is supplied using the electric power of the fuel cell and/or the electrical storage device, and an electric power control part that controls supply of the electric power to the electric load, and the electric power control part performs warming-up control of the fuel cell when an electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is less than a predetermined value, and causes the fuel cell to generate an electric power that is greater than the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and causes to store excess electric power in the electrical storage device when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a fuel cell configured to generate an electric power by reacting a fuel of an anode with an oxidant of a cathode;
an electrical storage device configured to store electric power generated by the fuel cell;
an electric load to which the electric power is supplied using at least one of the electric power generated by the fuel cell and the electric power stored in the electrical storage device;
an electric power control part configured to control supply of the electric power from the fuel cell and the electrical storage device to the electric load,
a temperature detector configured to detect a temperature of the electrical storage device;
a charged rate detector configured to detect a charged rate of the electrical storage device; and
a heater provided at a position where heat is transferred to the electrical storage device and configured to generate heat using an electric power,
wherein, when warming-up of the fuel cell is necessary, the electric power control part performs,
warming-up control of the fuel cell when an electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is less than a predetermined value, and
when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is greater than the predetermined value, a temperature of the electrical storage device detected by the temperature detector is less than a predetermined temperature, and a charged rate detected by the charged rate detector is less than a predetermined proportion, the electric power control part causes the fuel cell to generate an electric power that is greater than the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and causes to store excess electric power in the electrical storage device, causes to perform heating at the heater by supplying an electric power stored in the electrical storage device, in which the excess electric power has been stored, to the heater until the electrical storage device reaches a predetermined temperature and causes to stop the supplying the electric power stored in the electrical storage device to the heater and to store the excess electric power generated at the fuel cell in the electrical storage device after the electrical storage device has reached the predetermined temperature.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the warming-up control is control of generating an exothermic reaction by supplying the fuel, which is non-reacted, discharged from the anode to the cathode.

3. The system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the electric power control part causes the fuel cell to generate the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and causes to generate heat by supplying the electric power stored in the electrical storage device to the heater when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is greater than the predetermined value, the temperature of the electrical storage device detected by the temperature detector less than the predetermined temperature, and the charged rate detected by the charged rate detector is equal to or greater than a predetermined proportion.

4. The system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the electric power control part causes the fuel cell to generate the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and does not supply the electric power stored in the electrical storage device to the heater when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is greater than the predetermined value, the temperature of the electrical storage device detected by the temperature detector is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature, and a charged rate detected by the charged rate detector is equal to or greater than a predetermined proportion.

5. The system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the electric power control part causes the fuel cell to generate an electric power greater than the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell, causes to store excess electric power in the electrical storage device, and does not supply the electric power stored in the electrical storage device including the excess electric power to the heater when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is greater than the predetermined value, a temperature of the electrical storage device detected by the temperature detector is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature, and a charged rate detected by the charged rate detector is less than a predetermined proportion.

6. A method of controlling a system, which is performed by a control device of a system comprising:
a fuel cell configured to generate an electric power by reacting fuel of an anode with oxidant of a cathode;
an electrical storage device configured to store the electric power generated by the fuel cell;
an electric load to which an electric power is supplied using at least one of an electric power generated by the fuel cell and an electric power stored in the electrical storage device,
a temperature detector configured to detect a temperature of the electrical storage device;
a charged rate detector configured to detect a charged rate of the electrical storage device; and
a heater provided at a position where heat is transferred to the electrical storage device and configured to generate heat using an electric power,
the method comprising:
controlling supply of an electric power from the fuel cell and the electrical storage device to the electric load;
when warming-up of the fuel cell is necessary,
performing warming-up control required for the fuel cell when an electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is less than a predetermined value; and
when the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell is greater than the predetermined value, a temperature of the electrical storage device detected by the temperature detector is less than a predetermined temperature, and a charged rate detected by the charged rate detector is less than a predetermined proportion, causing the fuel cell to generate an electric power greater than the electric power requested to be generated at the fuel cell and causing to store excess electric power in the electrical storage device, causing to perform heating at the heater by supplying an electric power stored in the electrical storage device, in which the excess electric power has been stored, to the heater until the electrical storage device reaches a predetermined temperature and causing to stop the supplying the electric power stored in the electrical storage device to the heater and to store the excess electric power generated at the fuel cell in the electrical storage device after the electrical storage device has reached the predetermined temperature.

7. A computer program product, on which a program is stored, wherein the program is executable by a processor of a system, wherein the system comprises:
a fuel cell configured to generate an electric power by reacting fuel of an anode with oxidant of a cathode;
an electrical storage device configured to store the electric power generated by the fuel cell;
an electric load to which an electric power is supplied using at least one of an electric power generated by the fuel cell and an electric power stored in the electrical storage device,
a temperature detector configured to detect a temperature of the electrical storage device;
a charged rate detector configured to detect a charged rate of the electrical storage device; and
a heater provided at a position where heat is transferred to the electrical storage device and configured to generate heat using an electric power,
and wherein execution of the program by the processor causes the processor to perform:
processing of controlling supply of an electric power from the fuel cell an

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakai Ryoji
• Matsui Akihiro

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• B60L58/40 Primary

  for controlling a combination of batteries and fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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

• B60L50/75

  using propulsion power supplied by both fuel cells and batteries · CPC title

• H01M8/0494 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title