Fuel cell vehicle and prediction method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12397683-B2
Application number	US-202318126704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2023
Priority date	Mar 29, 2022
Publication date	Aug 26, 2025
Grant date	Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

A fuel cell vehicle includes a first current amount calculating unit that calculates a first total amount of current output from a fuel cell during a period from a predetermined timing to the present time, a hydrogen amount calculating unit that calculates a hydrogen total amount output from a hydrogen tank during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time, a remaining amount acquisition unit that acquires a hydrogen remaining amount in the hydrogen tank, and a current amount prediction unit that predicts a current amount that can be supplied by the fuel cell based on the first total amount, the total amount, and the hydrogen remaining amount.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell vehicle that includes a hydrogen tank configured to store hydrogen, a fuel cell configured to generate electric power using the hydrogen, a battery, and a drive source configured to be driven using the electric power generated by the fuel cell or supplied from the battery,
the fuel cell vehicle comprising 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 vehicle to:
calculate a first total amount of output current that is output by the fuel cell during a period from a predetermined timing to present time;
calculate a total amount of hydrogen that is output from the hydrogen tank to the fuel cell during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time;
acquire a remaining amount of hydrogen remaining in the hydrogen tank at the present time;
predict, as a predicted current amount, a current amount that is configured to be supplied by the fuel cell based on the first total amount of the output current, the total amount of hydrogen, and the remaining amount of hydrogen;
calculate a total travel distance that the fuel cell vehicle has traveled during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time;
calculate an electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle based on the first total amount of the output current and the total travel distance, the electric power consumption indicating a travel distance of the fuel cell vehicle per total amount of current supplied to the drive source;
acquire a remaining capacity of the battery; and
calculate a cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel, based on the predicted current amount, the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle, and the remaining capacity of the battery,
wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell vehicle to calculate the cruising distance as a first cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel by the current supplied to the drive source only from the fuel cell, based on the predicted current amount and the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle.

2. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1 ,
wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell vehicle to:
calculate a second total amount of output current that is output by the battery during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time, and
calculate the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle based on the first total amount of the output current, the total travel distance, and the second total amount.

3. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell vehicle to:
calculate the cruising distance as a second cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel only by the battery, based on the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle and the remaining capacity of the battery.

4. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell vehicle to calculate a the cruising distance as a third cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel by the battery and the fuel cell, based on the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle, the predicted current amount, and the remaining capacity of the battery.

5. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors cause the fuel cell vehicle to display the cruising distance.

6. A prediction method for predicting an amount of current that is configured to be supplied by a fuel cell of a fuel cell vehicle, the fuel cell vehicle including a hydrogen tank configured to store hydrogen, a battery, and a drive source configured to be driven using the electric power generated by the fuel cell or supplied from the battery, the prediction method comprising:
calculating a first total amount of output current that is output by the fuel cell during a period from a predetermined timing to present time;
calculating a total amount of hydrogen that is output from the hydrogen tank to the fuel cell during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time;
acquiring a remaining amount of hydrogen remaining in the hydrogen tank at the present time; and
predicting, as a predicted current amount, a current amount that is configured to be supplied by the fuel cell based on the first total amount of the output current, the total amount of hydrogen, and the remaining amount of hydrogen;
calculating a total travel distance that the fuel cell vehicle has traveled during the period from the predetermined timing to the present time;
calculating an electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle based on the first total amount of the output current and the total travel distance, the electric power consumption indicating a travel distance of the fuel cell vehicle per total amount of current supplied to the drive source;
acquiring a remaining capacity of the battery; and
calculating a cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel, based on the predicted current amount, the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle, and the remaining capacity of the battery,
wherein in calculating the cruising distance, the cruising distance is calculated as a first cruising distance that the fuel cell vehicle is configured to travel by the current supplied to the drive source only from the fuel cell, based on the predicted current amount and the electric power consumption of the fuel cell vehicle.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Watanabe Takaharu
• Suzuki Kenta
• Mochizuki Hideki
• Yamanaka Suguru
• Fukunishi Yuki

Classifications

• B60L58/40

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

• B60L2260/54

  Energy consumption estimation · CPC title

• B60L2260/52

  drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance · CPC title

• B60L2250/16

  by display · CPC title

• H01M8/04574 Primary

  Current · CPC title