Fuel cell management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9299998-B2
Application number	US-201414288025-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2014
Priority date	Dec 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

A fuel cell management method includes removing droplets remaining in a fuel cell stack using air supplied to a cathode and hydrogen supplied to an anode. Hydrogen and oxygen remaining are removed in the fuel cell stack by stopping the supply of the hydrogen and the air, and the hydrogen and the oxygen in the fuel cell stack are chemically reacted to remove residual hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is generated in the cathode of the fuel cell stack after removing the residual hydrogen and oxygen. The residual oxygen is additionally removed using the generated hydrogen, the generated hydrogen is absorbed on a surface of a catalyst layer formed on the anode and cathode and accelerating the chemical reaction of hydrogen and air.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell management method, comprising steps of:
removing, by a controller, droplets remaining in a fuel cell stack using air supplied to a cathode and hydrogen supplied to an anode;
removing hydrogen and oxygen remaining in the fuel cell stack by stopping the supply of hydrogen and air and chemically reacting the hydrogen and oxygen in the fuel cell stack to remove the residual hydrogen and oxygen;
generating hydrogen in the cathode of the fuel cell stack after removing the residual hydrogen and oxygen; and
additionally removing the residual oxygen using the generated hydrogen and adsorbing the generated hydrogen on a surface of a catalyst layer formed on the anode and the cathode and accelerating the chemical reaction of the air and the hydrogen.

2. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , wherein, in the step of removing the droplets, the droplets are removed by supplying dry air to the cathode and the dry air is warmed by heat generated by the application of an electric current to a stack load.

3. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , wherein, in the step of generating the hydrogen in the cathode of the fuel cell stack, the hydrogen is generated by applying, by the controller, a static electric current to a stack load connected to the fuel cell stack.

4. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , wherein hydrogen is further purged to the cathode.

5. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , wherein, in the step of adsorbing the generated hydrogen on the surface of the catalyst layer, the generated hydrogen is chemically adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst layer.

6. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of sealing the anode and the cathode after the step of adsorbing the hydrogen.

7. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , further comprising, before the step of removing the droplets, supercharging, by the controller, the hydrogen and the air to the anode and the cathode.

8. The fuel cell management method of claim 1 , wherein, in the step of removing the droplets, the controller controls a hydrogen supply valve and an air blower to stop the supply of the hydrogen and the air.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Chun Dae Keun
• Shin Hwan Soo
• Choo Hyun Suk
• Lee Sung Keun
• Lee Jae Hyuk

Classifications

• H01M8/04231 Primary

  Purging of the reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/0606

  with means for production of gaseous reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04947

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

• H01M8/04828

  Humidity; Water content · CPC title

• H01M8/04917

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