Fuel cell system, control method therefor, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in which a program is stored

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11498455-B2
Application number	US-201916654036-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2019
Priority date	Oct 18, 2018
Publication date	Nov 15, 2022
Grant date	Nov 15, 2022

Abstract

A fuel cell system includes an air pump configured to supply air to a fuel cell, and a discharge flow rate determination unit which determines a discharge flow rate of the air pump when warming up the fuel cell, in accordance with a speed of a vehicle in which the fuel cell and the air pump are installed, or a required drive output of the vehicle. The discharge flow rate determination unit increases the discharge flow rate in the case that the speed or the required drive output is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, and decreases the discharge flow rate in the case that the speed or the required drive output is less than the predetermined threshold value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell;
an air pump configured to supply air to the fuel cell; and
one or more processors that execute computer-executable instructions stored in a memory,
wherein the one or more processors execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the fuel cell system to:
determine a discharge flow rate of the air pump when warming up the fuel cell, in accordance with a speed of a vehicle in which the fuel cell and the air pump are installed, or a required drive output of the vehicle,
control the air pump on a basis of the discharge flow rate determined by the discharge flow rate determination unit,
in determining the discharge flow rate, increase the discharge flow rate in a case that the speed or the required drive output is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, and decrease the discharge flow rate in a case that the speed or the required drive output is less than the predetermined threshold value,
in a first determination, determine, on a basis of the speed, a warm-up discharge flow rate, which is a discharge flow rate determined form among the discharge flow rates of the air pump that is used for warming up the fuel cell,
in a second determination, determine the warm-up discharge flow rate on a basis of the required drive output,
in determining the discharge flow rate, determine the discharge flow rate of the air pump based on the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the first determination and the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the second determination,
in the first determination, determine that the warm-up discharge flow rate is a first flow rate in a case that the speed is less than a first threshold value, and determine that the warm-up discharge flow rate is a second flow rate that is larger than the first flow rate in a case that the speed is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and
in the second determination, determine that the warm-up discharge flow rate is a third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is less than a second threshold value, and determine that the warm-up discharge flow rate is a fourth flow rate that is larger than the third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is greater than or equal to the second threshold value.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a selection unit configured to select a larger one from among the warm-up discharge flow rate determined by the first determination unit and the warm-up discharge flow rate determined by the second determination unit;
wherein the discharge flow rate determination unit determines the discharge flow rate of the air pump based on the warm-up discharge flow rate selected by the selection unit.

3. A control method for a fuel cell system including a fuel cell, and an air pump configured to supply air to the fuel cell, the control method comprising:
a step of determining a discharge flow rate of the air pump when warming up the fuel cell, on a basis of a speed of a vehicle in which the fuel cell and the air pump are installed, or a required drive output of the vehicle; and
a step of controlling the air pump on a basis of the discharge flow rate determined in the step of determining the discharge flow rate;
wherein, in the step of determining the discharge flow rate, the discharge flow rate is increased in a case that the speed or the required drive output is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, and the discharge flow rate is decreased in a case that the speed or the required drive output is less than the predetermined threshold value,
the control method further comprising:
a first determination step of determining, on a basis of the speed, a warm-up discharge flow rate, which is a discharge flow rate determined from among the discharge flow rates of the air pump that is used for warming up the fuel cell; and
a second determination step of determining the warm-up discharge flow rate on a basis of the required drive output,
wherein in the step of determining the discharge flow rate, the discharge flow rate of the air pump is determined based on the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the first determination step and the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the second determination step,
wherein in the first determination step, the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a first flow rate in a case that the speed is less than a first threshold value, and that the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a second flow rate that is larger than the first flow rate in a case that the speed is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and
wherein in the second determination step, the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is less than a second threshold value, and the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a fourth flow rate that is larger than the third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is greater than or equal to the second threshold value.

4. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in which a program is stored, wherein a computer is provided in a fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell and an air pump configured to supply air to the fuel cell, and the program serves to execute in the computer:
a step of determining a discharge flow rate of the air pump when warming up the fuel cell, on a basis of a speed of a vehicle in which the fuel cell and the air pump are installed, or a required drive output of the vehicle; and
a step of controlling the air pump on a basis of the discharge flow rate determined in the step of determining the discharge flow rate of the air pump;
wherein, in the step of determining the discharge flow rate, the discharge flow rate is increased in a case that the speed or the required drive output is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value, and the discharge flow rate is decreased in a case that the speed or the required drive output is less than the predetermined threshold value,
the program further comprising:
a first determination step of determining, on a basis of the speed, a warm-up discharge flow rate, which is a discharge flow rate determined from among the discharge flow rates of the air pump that is used for warming up the fuel cell; and
a second determination step of determining the warm-up discharge flow rate on a basis of the required drive output,
wherein in the step of determining the discharge flow rate, the discharge flow rate of the air pump is determined based on the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the first determination step and the warm-up discharge flow rate determined at the second determination step,
wherein in the first determination step, the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a first flow rate in a case that the speed is less than a first threshold value, and that the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a second flow rate that is larger than the first flow rate in a case that the speed is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and
wherein in the second determination step, the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is less than a second threshold value, and the warm-up discharge flow rate is determined as a fourth flow rate that is larger than the third flow rate in a case that the required drive output is greater than or equal to the second threshold value.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sakai Ryoji
• Matsui Akihiro
• Ojima Kuniaki

Classifications

• B60L50/50

  using propulsion power supplied by batteries or fuel cells · CPC title

• B60H1/00385

  for vehicles having an electrical drive, e.g. hybrid or fuel cell · CPC title

• B60L58/34 Primary

  by heating · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T90/40

  Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells · CPC title