Power generation unit and control method of the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019273274-A1
Application number	US-201716320575-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 25, 2017
Priority date	Jul 27, 2016
Publication date	Sep 5, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Power is generated efficiently using fuel. A power generation unit includes a power generation module that generates power using fuel, a supply unit that supplies fuel to the power generation module, a power converter that converts DC power supplied by the power generation module into AC power, and a controller that controls the supply unit and the power converter. The controller controls the supply unit or the power converter so that the output power supplied to a load with fluctuating power consumption becomes greater than the power consumption of the load by a predetermined margin.

First claim

1 . A power generation unit comprising:
a power generation module configured to generate electric power using fuel; a supply unit configured to supply fuel to the power generation module; a power converter configured to convert DC power supplied by the power generation module into AC power; and a controller configured to control the supply unit and the power converter so that an output power supplied to a load with fluctuating power consumption becomes greater than the power consumption of the load by a predetermined margin.

2 . The power generation unit of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply unit or the power converter so that when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is less than a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption, and an increase rate of the power consumption exceeds a constant prescribed value, the output power increases by the constant prescribed value until the output power reaches the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

3 . The power generation unit of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply unit or the power converter so that when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is less than a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption, and an increase rate of the power consumption is below a prescribed value, the output power increases at an increase rate below the prescribed value until the output power reaches the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

4 . The power generation unit of claim 3 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply unit or the power converter to increase the output power increases at the same increase rate as the power consumption until the output power reaches the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

5 . The power generation unit of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control the supply unit or the power converter so that when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is greater than a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption, the output power decreases until reaching the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

6 . The power generation unit of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to
detect an overload condition when the output power is less than the power consumption of the load, and suspend power supply from the power generation unit to the load in response to detecting an overload condition.

7 . A control method of a power generation unit, the power generation unit comprising a power generation module configured to generate electric power using fuel, a supply unit configured to supply fuel to the power generation module, and a power converter configured to convert DC power supplied by the power generation module into AC power, the control method comprising:
controlling the supply unit or the power converter so that an output power supplied from the power generation unit to a load with fluctuating power consumption becomes greater than the power consumption of the load by a predetermined margin.

8 . The control method of a power generation unit of claim 7 , further comprising controlling the supply unit or the power converter to increase the output power by a constant prescribed value until the output power reaches a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is less than the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption and an increase rate of the power consumption exceeds the constant.

9 . The control method of a power generation unit of claim 7 , comprising controlling the supply unit or the power converter to increase the output power at an increase rate below a prescribed value until the output power reaches a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is less than the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption; and an increase rate of the power consumption is below a prescribed value.

10 . The control method of a power generation unit of claim 9 , comprising controlling the supply unit or the power converter to increase the output power increases at the same increase rate as the power consumption until the output power reaches the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

11 . The control method of a power generation unit of claim 7 , comprising controlling the supply unit or the power converter to decrease the output power until reaching a value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption when the output power supplied from the power generation unit to the load is greater than the value yielded by addition of the predetermined margin to the power consumption.

12 . The control method of a power generation unit of claim 7 , further comprising:
detecting an overload condition when the output power is less than the power consumption of the load, and suspending power supply from the power generation unit to the load when an overload condition is detected.

Assignees

• Kyocera Corp

Inventors

• Goto Ryo

Classifications

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04947

  of auxiliary devices, e.g. batteries, capacitors · CPC title

• H01M8/04619

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M2250/10

  Fuel cells in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title

• H01M8/04626

  of auxiliary devices, e.g. batteries, capacitors · CPC title