Fuel cell vehicle and control method of vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024157803-A1
Application number	US-202318135422-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 17, 2023
Priority date	Nov 14, 2022
Publication date	May 16, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fuel cell vehicle includes a fuel cell stack and a battery; an air compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell stack and is able to generate power during regenerative braking; a drive motor that provides driving force to a vehicle and is able to generate power during the regenerative braking; and a controller that controls operation of the air compressor so that a sum of power generation of the fuel cell stack and power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor is close to a chargeable amount of the battery.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fuel cell vehicle, comprising:
a fuel cell stack and a battery; an air compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell stack and generates power during regenerative braking; a drive motor that provides driving force to the fuel cell vehicle and generates power during the regenerative braking; and a controller that controls operation of the air compressor so that a sum of power generation of the fuel cell stack and power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor is close to a chargeable amount of the battery.

2 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the operation of the air compressor by calculating a target speed of the air compressor so that the sum of the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor is close to the chargeable amount of the battery.

3 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 2 , wherein the controller calculates the target speed of the air compressor so that the sum of the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor is less than or equal to the chargeable amount of the battery.

4 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller sets a current speed of the air compressor as an upper limit value, sets a maximum reduced speed after unit time as a lower limit value, calculates multiple index values that exist between the upper limit value and the lower limit value, and selects one of the multiple index values as a speed of the air compressor to control the operation of the air compressor.

5 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the controller calculates values by summing the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor based on the multiple index values, each of the calculated values corresponding to each of the multiple index values, obtains each total power generation by adding the each of the calculated values and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the drive motor, calculates a difference value between the each total power generation and the chargeable amount of the battery, and selects an index value at which the difference value among the calculated difference values has a value smaller than 0 and closest to 0 as the speed of the air compressor to control the operation of the air compressor.

6 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the controller controls the operation of the air compressor by selecting one of the multiple index values including the upper limit value and the lower limit value as the speed of the air compressor.

7 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the controller corrects the selected speed of the air compressor if a difference value between the selected speed of the air compressor and a current speed of the air compressor exceeds a predetermined value.

8 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 7 , wherein the controller corrects the selected speed of the air compressor so that the selected speed of the air compressor is close to the current speed of the air compressor.

9 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the controller calculates values by summing the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor based on the calculated multiple index values, and adds the calculated values and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the drive motor to obtain total power generation, and selects an index value at which a difference value between the total power generation and the chargeable amount of the battery is 0 or smaller than 0 as the speed of the air compressor to control the operation of the air compressor.

10 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 9 , wherein if multiple difference values between the total power generation and the chargeable amount of the battery are smaller than 0, the controller selects an index value at which a difference value among the multiple difference values is closest to 0 as the speed of the air compressor to control the operation of the air compressor.

11 . The fuel cell vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the controller controls the operation of the air compressor so that a difference value between the sum of the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor and the chargeable amount of the battery is smaller than 0.

12 . A method for controlling a fuel cell vehicle including a fuel cell stack, a battery, an air compressor supplying air to the fuel cell stack and generating power during regenerative braking, a drive motor providing driving force to the fuel cell vehicle and generating power during the regenerative braking and a controller, comprising:
a step of controlling the operation of the air compressor by the controller so that the sum of the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor and drive motor is close to the chargeable amount of the battery.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of controlling the operation of the air compressor by the controller includes the steps of:
calculating multiple index values which exist between an upper limit value and a lower limit value wherein the upper limit value is a current speed of the air compressor, and the lower limit value is a maximum reduced speed after unit time; selecting one of the multiple index values as a speed of the air compressor; and controlling the operation of the air compressor at the selected speed of the air compressor.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of selecting one of the multiple index values as the speed of the air compressor includes the steps of:
calculating values by summing the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor based on the calculated multiple index values; obtaining total power generation by adding the calculated values and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the drive motor; and selecting an index value at which a difference value between the total power generation and the chargeable amount of the battery is 0 or smaller than 0 as the speed of the air compressor.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of selecting one of the multiple index values as the speed of the air compressor includes the steps of:
calculating values by summing the power generation of the fuel cell stack and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the air compressor based on the calculated multiple index values; obtaining total power generation by adding the calculated values and the power generation of the regenerative braking of the drive motor; and selecting an index value at which a difference value between the total power generation and the chargeable amount of the battery is closest to 0 as the speed of the air compressor if the difference value has multiple values smaller than 0.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Kim Joo Yeon
• Jeong Seong Cheol
• Kim Sung Do
• You Chang Seok

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• Y02T90/40

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

• H01M2250/20

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