Cooling control system and control method of fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11387474-B2
Application number	US-202016902469-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2020
Priority date	Oct 11, 2019
Publication date	Jul 12, 2022
Grant date	Jul 12, 2022

Abstract

A cooling control system includes: a fuel cell stack formed with a cooling flow path in which hydrogen and oxygen are received and reacted, respectively, and coolant flows between separators; a coolant circulation line connected with the cooling flow path of the fuel cell stack, and having the coolant flowing therein; a cooling pump connected to the coolant circulation line to circulate the coolant to cool the fuel cell stack; a heat generation amount estimator for estimating the heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack; a coolant estimator for estimating an amount of the coolant to cool the fuel cell stack based on the heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack; and a driving controller for controlling the operation of the cooling pump based on the estimated amount of the coolant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cooling control system of a fuel cell, comprising:
a fuel cell stack formed with a cooling flow path in which hydrogen and oxygen are received and reacted, respectively, and coolant flows between separators;
a coolant circulation line connected with the cooling flow path of the fuel cell stack, and having the coolant flowing therein;
a cooling pump connected to the coolant circulation line and configured to circulate the coolant to cool the fuel cell stack;
a heat generation amount estimator configured to estimate a heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack;
a coolant estimator configured to estimate an amount of coolant to cool the fuel cell stack based on the estimated heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack; and
a driving controller configured to control an operation of the cooling pump based on the estimated amount of the coolant,
wherein the heat generation amount estimator is configured to estimate the heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack based on a ratio between a theoretical voltage and an average cell voltage of the fuel cell stack, and an output of the fuel cell stack.

2. The cooling control system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first temperature sensing sensor installed at an inlet of the cooling flow path of the fuel cell stack; and
a second temperature sensing sensor installed at an outlet of the cooling flow path of the fuel cell stack.

3. The cooling control system of claim 1 ,
wherein the heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack is estimated by variably applying a value between a low-grade theoretical voltage in a low-grade heat generation amount state and a high-grade theoretical voltage in a high-grade heat generation amount state as the theoretical voltage.

4. The cooling control system of claim 3 ,
wherein the theoretical voltage is set by the heat generation amount estimator based on an internal humidity of the fuel cell stack.

5. The cooling control system of claim 3 ,
wherein the theoretical voltage is set by the heat generation amount estimator based on a coolant average temperature and an output value of the fuel cell stack.

6. The cooling control system of claim 3 ,
wherein the theoretical voltage is set by the heat generation amount estimator based on a discharge cycle of condensate collected in a water trap.

7. The cooling control system of claim 1 ,
wherein the coolant estimator is configured to estimate the amount of coolant to cool the fuel cell stack based on a heat generation amount calculated by subtracting an air cooling amount by air from the estimated heat generation amount of the fuel cell stack, and
wherein the driving controller is configured to control the operation of the cooling pump based on the estimated amount of coolant to cool the fuel cell stack.

8. The cooling control system of claim 7 ,
wherein the driving controller is configured to estimate a coolant required flow rate based on the amount of the coolant estimated by the coolant estimator, a coolant specific heat, and a target value of a coolant temperature difference between an inlet and an outlet of the cooling flow path.

9. The cooling control system of claim 8 ,
wherein the driving controller is configured to control the cooling pump with a pre-mapped revolutions per minute (RPM) determined based on the coolant required flow rate.

10. The cooling control system of claim 9 ,
wherein the pre-mapped RPM is pre-mapped based on the coolant required flow rate, an average temperature of the coolant, and opening of a bypass valve of the coolant circulation line.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Lee Hyun Jae
• Jeong Seong Cheol
• Kim Hyo Seop

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04029 Primary

  Heat exchange using liquids · CPC title

• H01M8/04619

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/04358

  of the coolant · CPC title

• H01M8/04768 Primary

  of the coolant · CPC title