Method for controlling fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9647282-B2
Application number	US-201414147659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 6, 2014
Priority date	Jan 25, 2013
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

Provided is a method of controlling a fuel cell system including a stop command sensing process of sensing a stop command output when the fuel cell system stops, an anode pressure increasing process of increasing pressure so that the pressure of the anode reaches a first predetermined pressure value, and a stop-time discharge process of performing discharge by consuming oxygen remaining within an oxidant off-gas while driving an oxidant off-gas circulation pump.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a fuel cell system, wherein the fuel COD system comprises:
a fuel cell which generates power by supplying a fuel gas to an anode and supplying an oxidant gas to a cathode;
a fuel gas supply path through which the fuel gas supplied to the anode flows;
a fuel off-gas exhaust path through which a fuel off-gas exhausted from the anode flows;
an oxidant gas supply path through which the oxidant gas supplied to the cathode flows;
an oxidant off-gas exhaust path through which an oxidant off-gas exhausted from the cathode flows;
an oxidant off-gas circulation path which connects the oxidant gas supply path and the oxidant off-gas exhaust path;
an oxidant gas supply unit which supplies the oxidant gas to the cathode;
an oxidant off-gas circulation unit which is arranged on the oxidant off-gas circulation path and circulates the oxidant off-gas;
a fuel off-gas circulation path which connects the fuel gas supply path and the fuel off-gas exhaust path; and
a fuel off-gas circulation unit which is arranged on the fuel off-gas circulation path and circulates the fuel off-gas,
wherein the method of controlling the fuel cell system comprises:
a stop command sensing process of sensing a stop command output when the fuel cell system stops;
an anode pressure increasing process of increasing pressure so that pressure of the anode reaches a first predetermined pressure value after the stop command has been sensed in the stop command sensing process; and
a stop-time discharge process of performing discharge by consuming oxygen remaining within the oxidant off-gas while driving the oxidant off-gas circulation unit after the anode pressure increasing process,
wherein in the stop-time discharge process, the discharge continues while adjustment is performed so that the pressure of the anode is set to a second predetermined pressure value less than the first predetermined pressure value and a current value of the discharge is determined in correspondence with the real number of rotations of the fuel off-gas circulation unit, and wherein the stop-time discharge process is performed by driving the fuel off-gas circulation unit.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, when the fuel off-gas circulation unit has failed in the stop-time discharge process, the discharge continues while adjustment is performed so that the pressure of the anode is set to a third predetermined pressure value greater than the second predetermined pressure value.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, in the stop-time discharge process, adjustment is performed to set the pressure of the anode to a fourth predetermined pressure value greater than the first predetermined pressure value after an end of the discharge.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein, when the discharge has been shut off before the end of the discharge, the stop-time discharge process ends without the adjustment of setting the pressure of the anode to the fourth predetermined pressure value.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, when the fuel off-gas circulation unit fails and it is difficult to circulate the fuel off-gas, a current value of the discharge is set to a fixed lower-limit current value in the stop-time discharge process.

6. A method of controlling a fuel cell system, wherein the fuel cell system comprises:
a fuel cell which generates power by supplying a fuel gas to an anode and supplying an oxidant gas to a cathode;
a fuel gas supply path through which the fuel gas supplied to the anode flows;
a fuel off-gas exhaust path through which a fuel off-gas exhausted from the anode flows;
an oxidant gas supply path through which the oxidant gas supplied to the cathode flows;
an oxidant off-gas exhaust path through which an oxidant off-gas exhausted from the cathode flows;
an oxidant off-gas circulation path which connects the oxidant gas supply path and the oxidant off-gas exhaust path;
an oxidant gas supply unit which supplies the oxidant gas to the cathode;
an oxidant off-gas circulation unit which is arranged on the oxidant off-gas circulation path and circulates the oxidant off-gas;
a fuel off-gas circulation path which connects the fuel gas supply path and the fuel off-gas exhaust path; and
a fuel off-gas circulation unit which is arranged on the fuel off-gas circulation path and circulates the fuel off-gas,
wherein the method of controlling the fuel cell system comprises:
a stop command sensing process of sensing a stop command output when the fuel cell system stops;
an anode pressure increasing process of increasing pressure so that pressure of the anode reaches a first predetermined pressure value after the stop command has been sensed in the stop command sensing process; and
a stop-time discharge process of performing discharge by consuming oxygen remaining within the oxidant off-gas while driving the oxidant off-gas circulation unit after the anode pressure increasing process,
wherein in the stop-time discharge process the discharge continues while adjustment is performed so that the pressure of the anode is set to a second predetermined pressure value less than the first predetermined pressure value and a pressure value of the anode in the discharge is determined in correspondence with the real number of rotations of the fuel off-gas circulation unit, and wherein the stop time discharge process is performed by driving the fuel off-gas circulation unit.

7. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the fuel cell system further includes:
an exhaust valve for exhausting the fuel off-gas;
a gas-liquid separator which is arranged on the fuel off-gas exhaust path and separates the fuel off-gas and liquid mixed inside the fuel off-gas to store the liquid; and
a drain valve for draining the liquid stored inside the gas-liquid separator, and
wherein, in the stop-time discharge process, the discharge is performed by closing the exhaust valve and the drain valve.

8. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the fuel cell system further includes:
a first sealing valve arranged on an upstream side of a flow direction of the oxidant gas rather than a connection portion with the oxidant off-gas circulation path in the oxidant gas supply path; and
a second sealing valve arranged on a downstream side of a flow direction of the oxidant off-gas rather than the connection portion with the oxidant off-gas circulation path in the oxidant off-gas exhaust path, and
wherein at least the second sealing valve is closed in the stop-time discharge process.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Furusawa Koichiro
• Yamazaki Kaoru

Classifications

• H01M8/04619

  of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/0447

  of cathode exhausts · CPC title

• H01M8/04225

  during start-up · CPC title

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/04328

  of anode reactants at the inlet or inside the fuel cell · CPC title