Water drainage device for fuel cell, fuel cell system, moving body and control method of fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016141671-A1
Application number	US-201514937321-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 10, 2015
Priority date	Nov 14, 2014
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An object is to provide a technique that suppresses excessive water drainage from a fuel cell. A water drainage device for fuel cell that drains water from inside of a fuel cell, includes: a purge gas supply system; an operation unit; a water drainage controller; and a water content acquirer. The operation unit receives a water drainage command from a user to give an instruction of purging out water from inside of the fuel cell by the purge gas supply system. When the water content obtained by the water content acquirer is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, the water drainage controller performs either one of: (i) a process of invalidating the water drainage command received by the operation unit; and (ii) a process of changing a processing condition of the purge process to decrease an amount of water drained by the purge process, compared with an amount of water drainage when the obtained water content is higher than the predetermined value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A water drainage device for fuel cell that drains water from inside of a fuel cell, comprising:
a purge gas supply system that is configured to supply a gas to the fuel cell for purging out water from inside of the fuel cell; an operation unit that is configured to receive a water drainage command from a user; a water drainage controller that is configured to perform a purge process of purging inside of the fuel cell to drain water from the fuel cell by controlling the purge gas supply system, when receiving the water drainage command via the operation unit; and a water content acquirer that is configured to obtain a water content representing an amount of water included in the fuel cell, wherein when the obtained water content is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, the water drainage controller performs either one of: (i) a process of invalidating the water drainage command received by the operation unit; and (ii) a process of changing a processing condition of the purge process to decrease an amount of water drained by the purge process, compared with an amount of water drainage when the obtained water content is higher than the predetermined value.

2 . The water drainage device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the water drainage controller terminates the purge process, when receiving an operation that is identical with an operation to give the water drainage command via the operation unit during the purge process.

3 . The water drainage device according to claim 1 , further comprising
a notifier that is configured to notify the user of an execution state of the purge process.

4 . The water drainage device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an environment information acquirer that is configured to obtain environment information regarding an environment condition in which the fuel cell is placed, wherein the water drainage controller changes a processing condition of the purge process according to the obtained environment information.

5 . A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell; the water drainage device according to claim 1 ; and a system controller that is configured to control operation of the fuel cell and serve as the water drainage controller of the water drainage device, wherein the system controller controls the purge gas supply system to perform the purge process which is to be performed, when receiving the water drainage command via the operation unit, as a forced purging process; and the system controller controls the purge gas supply system to perform a post-stop purging process of purging inside of the fuel cell after stop of operation of the fuel cell, in addition to the forced purging process.

6 . The fuel cell system according to claim 5 , further comprising
an environment information acquirer that is configured to obtain environment information regarding an environment condition in which the fuel cell is placed, wherein the system controller changes a processing condition of the forced purging process and a processing condition of the post-stop purging process according to the obtained environment information.

7 . A moving body that comprises a fuel cell mounted thereon as an electric power source,
the moving body being equipped with the fuel cell system according to either claim 5 and a fuel gas tank.

8 . A control method of a fuel cell system, comprising:
a water drainage command receiving step that causes a processor to receive a water drainage command from a user; a water drainage process performing step that causes the processor, when receiving the water drainage command, to control a purge gas supply system to start a purge process of supplying a gas to the fuel cell for purging out water from inside of the fuel cell and thereby drain water from the fuel cell; a water content obtaining step that causes the processor to obtain a water content representing an amount of water included in the fuel cell, when receiving the water drainage command; and a water drainage process controlling step that causes the processor, when the obtained water content is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, to perform either one of: (i) a process of invalidating the water drainage command received by the operation unit; and (ii) a process of changing a processing condition of the purge process to decrease an amount of water drained by the purge process, compared with an amount of water drainage when the obtained water content is higher than the predetermined value.

9 . The control method according to claim 8 , further comprising
a water drainage process stopping step that causes the processor to terminate the purge process, when receiving an operation that is identical with an operation to give the water drainage command after starting the purge process in response to the water drainage command.

10 . The control method according to claim 8 , further comprising
a notifying step that causes the processor to notify the user of an execution state of the purge process via a notifier.

11 . The control method according to claim 8 , further comprising
an environment information obtaining step that causes the processor to obtain environment information regarding an environment condition in which the fuel cell is placed; and a processing condition changing step that causes the processor to change a processing condition of the purge process according to the obtained environment information.

12 . The control method according to claim 8 ,
wherein the water drainage process performing step comprises a forced purging process performing step that performs the purge process as a forced purging process, the control method further comprising a post-stop purging process performing step that causes the processor to control the purge gas supply system to perform a post-stop purging process of supplying the gas to the fuel cell and purging inside of the fuel cell, after stop of operation of the fuel cell.

13 . The control method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
an environment information obtaining step that causes the processor to obtain environment information regarding an environment condition in which the fuel cell is placed; and a processing condition changing step that causes the processor to change a processing condition of the forced purging process and a processing condition of the post-stop purging process according to the obtained environment information.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ogawa Tomohiro
• Oya Ryosuke
• Kaneko Tomohiko
• Nada Mitsuhiro
• Naganuma Yoshiaki

Classifications

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M8/04828 Primary

  Humidity; Water content · CPC title

• H01M8/04179 Primary

  by purging or increasing flow or pressure of reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04291 Primary

  Arrangements for managing water in solid electrolyte fuel cell systems (H01M8/04119 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/0485

  of the electrolyte · CPC title