Method for diagnosing fault of fuel cell stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9461321-B2
Application number	US-201314134936-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2013
Priority date	Dec 20, 2012
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method for diagnosing a fault of a fuel cell stack, the method including: applying a summed current obtained by summing first and second frequencies to the fuel cell stack; diagnosing whether or not a fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack using a higher frequency of first and second frequencies of output voltages of the fuel cell stack; and reconfirming whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack using the first and second frequencies in the output voltage of the fuel cell stack.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for diagnosing a fault of a fuel cell stack performed by an apparatus for diagnosing a fault of a fuel cell stack, the method comprising:
applying a summed current obtained by summing first and second frequencies to the fuel cell stack;
comparing periods of the first and second frequencies of output voltages of the fuel cell stack with each other to select any one of the first and second frequencies; and
diagnosing whether or not a fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack using a voltage at a point in time at which one period of the selected frequency ends,
wherein a period of the first frequency is shorter than a period of the second frequency.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second frequencies is a frequency used to calculate at least one of a total harmonic distortion (THD) and an impedance.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the comparing of the periods of the first and second frequencies of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack with each other to select any one of the first and second frequencies includes selecting a frequency of which one period ends earlier in the first and second frequencies.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the diagnosing of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack using the first frequency when one period of the first frequency of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack ends before one period of the second frequency of the output voltages.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the diagnosing of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing that an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell stack is in a dry state when an impedance value calculated at a point in time at which one period of the first frequency of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack ends earlier is a specific impedance or more.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising reconfirming whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack using the first and second frequencies when one period of a later frequency in the first and second frequencies of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack ends.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes passing a voltage corresponding to at least one of the first and second frequencies of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack through a plurality of filters,
the plurality of filters including at least one of a band pass filter passing only a specific frequency therethrough and a high pass filter passing a specific frequency to a frequency of the specific frequency or more therethrough.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the passing of the voltage corresponding to at least one of the first and second frequencies of the output voltages of the fuel cell stack through the plurality of filters includes:
passing a voltage corresponding to at least one of the first and second frequencies through the high pass filter to extract a basic wave frequency to a harmonic frequency; and
passing a voltage corresponding to at least one of the first and second frequencies through the band pass filter to extract a specific frequency.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack depending on a ratio of the harmonic frequency to the basic wave frequency extracted by the high pass filter.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing that the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack when the ratio of the harmonic frequency to the basic wave frequency is a specific ratio or more.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing a wetting state of the fuel cell stack using an impedance for the specific frequency extracted by the band pass filter.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing that an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell stack is in a dry state when the impedance for the specific frequency is a specific impedance or more.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the reconfirming of whether or not the fault has been generated in the fuel cell stack includes diagnosing that an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell stack is in a wet state when the impedance for the specific frequency is a specific impedance or less.

Assignees

• Hyundai Autron Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Hyun-Seok
• Kim Uck-Soo
• Kang Sun-Doo

Classifications

• H01M8/04649

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/04559

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/04679 Primary

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title