Control method and system of a fuel cell electric vehicle stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022402363-A1
Application number	US-202017638280-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 9, 2020
Priority date	Aug 30, 2019
Publication date	Dec 22, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A control method and system of a fuel cell electric vehicle stack. The control method comprises obtaining insulation resistance of the stack, comprising at least two sub-stacks connected in parallel; and disconnecting a sub-stack with insulation failure from a DC bus and then causing the stack to enter a failure mode when it is determined that the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a first preset threshold. The stack is determined to have an insulation failure when it is determined that the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than the first preset threshold. The sub-stack with the insulation failure is located and disconnected the sub-stack with insulation failure from a DC bus, and the stack is then caused to run in a failure mode to perform failure protection, avoid deterioration of the insulation failure and burnout of the stack and improve the safety performance of the stack.

First claim

1 . A control method of a fuel cell electric vehicle stack which comprises at least two sub-stacks connected in parallel and a DC bus, the method comprising:
obtaining insulation resistance of the stack; and disconnecting a sub-stack with insulation failure from the DC bus and then causing the stack to enter a failure mode when it is determined that the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a first preset threshold.

2 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of disconnecting a sub-stack with insulation failure from the DC bus comprises:
stopping input of air, fuel gas, and water into the stack; disconnecting the stack from vehicle loads; and ceasing discharge of the stack when it is determined that the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than the first preset threshold; detecting whether each of the sub-stacks has an insulation failure; and controlling the sub-stack with insulation failure to disconnect the DC bus, and the remaining sub-stacks to connect the DC bus.

3 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein the stack comprises at least three sub-stacks, and the step of detecting whether each of the sub-stacks has an insulation failure comprises:
obtaining a first insulation resistance of the stack when all of the sub-stacks are connected to the DC bus; obtaining a second insulation resistance of the stack by disconnecting one of the sub-stacks from the DC bus and obtaining the second insulation resistance of the stack composed of the sub-stacks remaining connected to the DC bus; determining from the first insulation resistance and the second insulation resistance whether the disconnected sub-stack has an insulation failure; obtaining a third insulation resistance of the stack by disconnecting another sub-stack from the DC bus and obtaining a third insulation resistance of the stack composed of the sub-stacks remaining connected to the DC bus; and determining from the second insulation resistance and the third insulation resistance whether the disconnected sub-stack has an insulation failure.

4 . The control method according to claim 3 , wherein the stack comprises more than three sub-stacks, the method comprising repeating the steps of disconnecting a sub-stack and obtaining an insulation resistance of the stack composed of the sub-stacks remaining connected to the DC bus until the determination on whether any sub-stack has an insulation failure is completed.

5 . The control method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of detecting whether each of the sub-stacks has an insulation failure comprises:
selecting any one of the sub-stacks as a present sub-stack; controlling the present sub-stack to connect the DC bus and disconnecting the remaining sub-stacks from the DC bus so that the stack is composed of only the present sub-stack; detecting the insulation resistance of the stack; and determining that the present sub-stack has an insulation failure if the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a second preset threshold.

6 . The control method of claim 5 , wherein the stack comprises at least three sub-stacks, the method comprising selecting each sub-stack in turn as the present sub-stack and determining the resistance of the stack composed of only the present sub-stack until the sub-stack with the insulation failure has been detected.

7 . The control method according to any preceding claim 1 , wherein the failure mode comprises:
obtaining the number of the sub-stacks in normal operation; calculating the current maximum output power of the stack according to the number of the sub-stacks in normal operation; and obtaining the required output power of the stack, and adjusting the flow, pressure and temperature of the air, the flow, pressure and temperature of the fuel gas, the flow, pressure and temperature of the water and the output current of the stack according to the current maximum output power of the stack when the required output power of the stack is greater than the current maximum output power of the stack, to ensure that the actual output power of the stack is the same as the current maximum output power of the stack.

8 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the sub-stacks is connected in series to an electronic power switch, which is used for controlling the connection between the connected sub-stack and the DC bus.

9 . The control method according to claim 1 , wherein a first power diode is connected in series between an anode of each of the sub-stacks and an anode of the DC bus, and a second power diode is connected in series between a cathode of each of the sub-stacks and a cathode of the DC bus.

10 . A control system for a fuel cell electric vehicle stack, comprising:
an insulation monitor, a stack comprising at least two sub-stacks connected in parallel, and a fuel cell control unit; wherein the insulation monitor is configured to obtain an insulation resistance of the stack; and the fuel cell control unit is configured to disconnect a sub-stack with insulation failure from a DC bus and then control the stack to enter a failure mode when the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a first preset threshold.

11 . The control system according to claim 10 , wherein the control system further comprises:
an air control unit; a fuel gas control unit; a water control unit; and a stack pre-charge unit; wherein the air control unit is configured to provide air for the stack and control the flow, pressure and temperature of the air; the fuel gas control unit is configured to provide fuel gas for the stack and control the flow, pressure and temperature of the fuel gas; the water control unit is configured to provide water for the stack and control the flow, pressure and temperature of the water; the stack pre-charge unit is configured to pre-charge the current output by the stack, output the current to a DC voltage converter after completion of the pre-charging process, and control the connection between the stack and vehicle loads; and wherein the fuel cell control unit is configured to: cut off the connection between a sub-stack with insulation failure and a DC bus when the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a first preset threshold; and control the air control unit, the fuel gas control unit, and the water control unit to stop working and at the same time, control the stack pre-charge unit to cut off the connection between the stack and the vehicle loads and stop discharge of the stack when the insulation resistance of the stack is smaller than a first preset threshold; and control a sub-stack to disconnect from the DC bus, and the remaining sub-stacks to connect the DC bus after the fuel cell control unit detects that the sub-stack has an insulation failure.

12 . The control system according to claim 11 , wherein:
the insulation monitor is configured to obtain a first insulation resistance of the stack when all of the sub-stacks are connected to the DC bus; the fuel cell control unit is configured to control disconnection between one of the sub-stacks and the DC bus and the insulation monitor is configured to obtain a second insulation resistance of the stack composed of the sub-stacks connected to the DC bus; the fuel cell control unit is configured to determine from the first insulation resistance and the second insulation resistance whether the disconnected sub-stack has an insulation failure; the fuel cell control unit is configured to control disconnection between another sub-stack and the DC bus and the insulation monitor is configured to obtain a third insulation resistance of the stack c

Assignees

• Ceres Ip Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sun Lei
• Yu Chao
• Chen Youpeng
• Hu Gangyi

Classifications

• B60L50/70

  using power supplied by fuel cells (in combination with batteries B60L50/75) · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• B60L3/0053 Primary

  relating to fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04634 Primary

  Other electric variables, e.g. resistance or impedance · CPC title

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title