Air intake device for fuel cell vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9466849-B2
Application number	US-201314365504-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2013
Priority date	Mar 21, 2012
Publication date	Oct 11, 2016
Grant date	Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a cooling structure for vehicle electrical components that is capable of solving problems due to water contained in intake air. Air used in an electricity generation reaction and air necessary for self-cooling is supplied to a fuel cell stack ( 11 ) via an intake duct ( 2 ). Dust and chemical substances in the air are removed by a dust/chemical substance filter ( 3 ) provided on the fuel cell stack ( 11 ) side within the intake duct ( 2 ). Furthermore, air and water are primarily separated by a water filter ( 4 ) provided in the intake duct ( 2 ) upstream by a prescribed distance in the air flow direction from the dust/chemical substance filter ( 3 ). Therefore, water in the intake air does not reach the dust/chemical substance filter ( 3 ) and the fuel cell stack ( 11 ), and various problems due to water contained in the intake air can be solved.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An air intake device for supplying air to be used in an electricity generation reaction within a fuel cell vehicle comprising:
an air duct;
a fuel cell stack;

the air intake device
a water filter rigidly coupled to a vehicle body of the fuel cell vehicle and configured to separate air and water, the water filter having a filtering surface within the air duct, the filtering surface extending in a vertical direction with respect to the vehicle body; and
a dust/chemical substance filter within the air duct and downstream, with respect to air flowing through the air duct, of the water filter and spaced from the water filter by a predetermined distance, the dust/chemical substance filter being configured to remove dust and chemical substances in the air within the air duct.

2. The air intake device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the water filter has a filter material that includes a non-woven fabric having a water repellent finishing and a pleated configuration.

3. The air intake device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the dust/chemical substance filter has a filter material that is configured by a pair of non-woven fabrics that are pleated and an activated carbon that is sandwiched between the pair of non-woven fabrics.

4. The air intake device as recited in claim 1 , wherein a slope portion for leading the water captured by the water filter to an outside of the intake duct is provided at a bottom face on the upstream side in the air flow direction from the filtering surface of the water filter within the air duct.

5. The air intake device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the fuel cell stack is an air cooling type fuel cell stack that is cooled by the air in the air duct.

6. The air intake device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the water filter rigidly coupled to the vehicle body is configured and arranged such that vibrations of the vehicle body shake off water captured by the water filter.

7. The air intake device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the water filter rigidly coupled to the vehicle body is configured and arranged such that vibrations of the vehicle body shake off water captured by the water filter; and
the air intake device further includes a slope portion positioned at a bottom of the water filter, and wherein the slope portion extends on an upstream side of the water filter with respect to the air flow direction, and wherein the slope portion is sloped downwardly and arranged to guide water filtered by the water filter outside of the intake duct.

8. The air intake device according to claim 7 , wherein the water filter comprises a first filter material and the dust/chemical substance filter comprises a second filter material different from the first filter material.

9. The air intake device according to claim 8 , wherein the first filter material comprises a non-woven fabric having a water repellant finishing, and the second material comprises a pair of non-woven fabrics with an activated carbon between the pair of non-woven fabrics.

10. The air intake device according to claim 9 , wherein:
the water filter is positioned within the air duct at an upstream side of the air duct;
the dust/chemical substance filter is positioned within the air duct at a downstream side of the air duct;
the fuel cell stack is positioned downstream of the dust/chemical substance filter; and
a fan is positioned downstream of the fuel cell stack.

Assignees

• Suzuki Motor Corp

Inventors

• Ikeya Kengo
• Matsumoto Shiro
• Davies Damian Patrick
• Grange Nathan

Classifications

• Y02T90/34

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/04156

  with product water removal · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• B01D46/0023

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• Y02E60/521

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic