Method of controlling fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018342749-A1
Application number	US-201815980930-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 16, 2018
Priority date	May 23, 2017
Publication date	Nov 29, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A control unit of a fuel cell system issues an instruction to open/close the drain valve after placing a drain valve provided for a gas liquid separator in an open state and discharging water from the gas liquid separator. Therefore, when the drain valve is opened/closed, the drain valve vibrates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of controlling a fuel cell system, the fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell; a fuel exhaust gas discharge channel including
a gas liquid separator configured to separate water contained in a fuel exhaust gas discharged from an anode of the fuel cell; and
a drain valve configured to discharge the water from the gas liquid separator,
the method comprising the steps of: discharging the water from the gas liquid separator by opening the drain valve; vibrating the drain valve to remove the water attached to the drain valve; and closing the drain valve.

2 . The method of controlling the fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the discharging step, the vibrating step, and the closing step are performed while operation of the fuel cell is stopped and when a condition for expecting freezing is satisfied.

3 . The method of controlling the fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein, in the vibrating step, the drain valve is opened/closed by energization, and a valve member of the drain valve is displaced in a horizontal direction.

4 . The method of controlling the fuel cell system according to claim 3 , wherein, in the vibrating step, opening/closing operation of the drain valve is performed a plurality of times.

5 . The method of controlling the fuel cell system according to claim 1 , wherein the discharging step is performed while a fuel gas is supplied to the anode.

6 . The method of controlling the fuel cell system according to claim 5 , wherein, when pressure of the fuel gas in a fuel gas supply channel, the anode, and the fuel exhaust gas discharge channel becomes a predetermined value or more, the drain valve is placed in an open state, and the water is discharged from the gas liquid separator.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Okamura Yuji
• Takaku Koichi

Classifications

• H01M8/04291

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

• H01M8/043

  applied during specific periods · CPC title

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04843 Primary

  of fuel cell exhausts · CPC title

• H01M8/04253

  Means for solving freezing problems · CPC title