Power supply control system, power supply control method, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021384531-A1
Application number	US-202117336380-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 2, 2021
Priority date	Jun 4, 2020
Publication date	Dec 9, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a power supply control system includes a state acquirer configured to acquire states of a plurality of fuel cell systems mounted in an electric device that operates using electric power, a power acquirer configured to acquire a required amount of electric power from the electric device, and a power generation controller configured to control power generation of one or more fuel cell systems among the plurality of fuel cell systems so that the required amount of electric power acquired by the power acquirer is satisfied on the basis of the state of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems acquired by the state acquirer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A power supply control system comprising:
a state acquirer configured to acquire states of a plurality of fuel cell systems mounted in an electric device that operates using electric power; a power acquirer configured to acquire a required amount of electric power from the electric device; and a power generation controller configured to control power generation of one or more fuel cell systems among the plurality of fuel cell systems so that the required amount of electric power acquired by the power acquirer is satisfied on the basis of the state of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems acquired by the state acquirer.

2 . The power supply control system according to claim 1 , wherein the state acquirer acquires a deterioration degree in each of the plurality of fuel cell systems on the basis of at least one of a total power generation time period of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems, a power generation time period for each power generation state, the number of activations, and the number of stops.

3 . The power supply control system according to claim 2 , wherein the power generation controller causes the fuel cell system having a lower deterioration degree among the plurality of fuel cell systems to generate the electric power preferentially.

4 . The power supply control system according to claim 2 , wherein the power generation controller causes the fuel cell system having slower progress of deterioration based on the deterioration degree among the plurality of fuel cell systems to generate the electric power preferentially.

5 . The power supply control system according to claim 2 , wherein the power generation controller determines the number of fuel cell systems to be allowed to generate the electric power and an amount of electric power to be generated by each fuel cell system on the basis of the required amount of electric power and one or both of the deterioration degree and the power generation efficiency of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems acquired by the state acquirer.

6 . The power supply control system according to claim 2 , wherein the power generation controller causes one or more fuel cell systems among the plurality of fuel cell systems to generate the electric power so that a difference in deterioration degrees, total power generation time periods, the number of activations, or the number of stops of the plurality of fuel cell systems becomes small on the basis of the required amount of electric power.

7 . The power supply control system according to claim 1 , wherein, when the number of fuel cell systems to be allowed to generate the electric power is increased on the basis of the required amount of electric power, the power generation controller causes the electric power to be generated so that an amount of electric power to be generated by the fuel cell system which is generating the electric power exceeds an amount of electric power to be generated serving as a reference for increasing the number of fuel cell systems.

8 . The power supply control system according to claim 1 , wherein the electric device is a moving object.

9 . A power supply control method comprising:
acquiring, by a computer, states of a plurality of fuel cell systems mounted in an electric device that operates using electric power; acquiring, by the computer, a required amount of electric power from the electric device; and controlling, by the computer, power generation of one or more fuel cell systems among the plurality of fuel cell systems so that the acquired required amount of electric power is satisfied on the basis of the acquired state of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems.

10 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to:
acquire states of a plurality of fuel cell systems mounted in an electric device that operates using electric power; acquire a required amount of electric power from the electric device; and control power generation of one or more fuel cell systems among the plurality of fuel cell systems so that the acquired required amount of electric power is satisfied on the basis of the acquired state of each of the plurality of fuel cell systems.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Taruya Kenji
• Igarashi Daishi

Classifications

• H01M8/04671

  of the individual fuel cell · CPC title

• B60L58/30 Primary

  for monitoring or controlling fuel cells · CPC title

• B60L50/75

  using propulsion power supplied by both fuel cells and batteries · CPC title

• B60L50/50

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

• Y02T90/40

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