Motor vehicle drive unit including a fuel cell and an energy storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9649951-B2
Application number	US-201314414603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2013
Priority date	Jul 13, 2012
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

An automotive vehicle drive unit, comprising a fuel cell whose control input is a setpoint of the electrical power to be delivered by the fuel cell. There is a reversible electrical energy storage system and an electric motor to propel the wheels of a vehicle. An electrical connection element selectively connects the fuel cell and/or the energy storage system to the electric motor. A control circuit stores a model of the consumption of dihydrogen as a function of the power delivered by this fuel cell, in the form of a second-degree polynomial and is configured to compute a coefficient of power distribution λ 1 between the fuel cell and the electrical energy storage system pursuant to a defined equation. The control circuit controls the electrical connection element to recharge the energy storage system when the value of the power setpoint Pfc* is greater than the power demanded by the electric motor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An automotive vehicle drive unit, comprising:
a fuel cell comprising a flat non-linear control whose control input Pfc* is a setpoint of the electrical power to be delivered by the fuel cell;
a reversible electrical energy storage system;
an electric motor configured to propel the wheels of a vehicle;
an electrical connection element configured to selectively connect the fuel cell and/or the energy storage system to the electric motor;
a control circuit:
storing a model of the consumption of dihydrogen of the fuel cell as a function of the electrical power delivered by this fuel cell, in the form of a second-degree polynomial
g(Pfc*)=a*Pfc* 2 +b*Pfc*+c, with a, b and c being constants;
configured to compute a coefficient of power distribution λ 1 between the fuel cell and the electrical energy storage system

λ
1

=

2
⁢

a
⁡

(

Δ
⁢

⁢

SoE
·

ɛ

ma
⁢

⁢
x

Δ
⁢

⁢
t

-

∑

j
=
t

t
+

T
h

⁢

P
bus

⁢

(
j
)

)

(

T
h

Δ
⁢

⁢
t

)

+
b

with ΔSoE the difference between a target quantity of energy in the storage system and the current quantity of energy of the storage system expressed as a percentage, Pbus(j) are measurement values of electrical power exchanged between the electric motor and the electrical connection element, Δt is a time interval separating two successive measurements of Pbus(j), Th is the electric motor's duration of operation taken into account for the computation of λ 1 , ε max is the maximum quantity of energy that can be stored in the electrical energy storage system;
configured to apply the power setpoint Pfc* to the flat non-linear control of the fuel cell, with Pfc*=(λ 1 −b)/(2a);
configured to control the electrical connection element so as to recharge the electrical energy storage system when the value of the power setpoint Pfc* is greater than the power demanded by the electric motor.

2. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the control circuit is configured to determine an amplitude of variation between values Pbus(j) and configured to lower the value of Th upon an increase in the amplitude of variation and configured to increase the value of Th upon a decrease in the amplitude of variation.

3. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which said duration Th lies between 20 and 600 seconds.

4. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which said interval Δt lies between 1 second and 20 seconds.

5. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the ratio Th/Δt is at least equal to 5.

6. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the control circuit is configured to compute the value ΔSoE with a lower frequency than the frequency of the power measurements Pbus(j).

7. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the target quantity of energy lies between 40 and 80% of the maximum quantity of energy of the electrical energy storage system.

8. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the electrical energy storage system includes an electrochemical accumulator battery.

9. The automotive vehicle drive unit as claimed in claim 1 , in which the fuel cell comprises:
a reactor;
a pump, said pump being configured to compress air at the cathode of the reactor, said pump including an electric motor and a compression rotor rotated by the electric motor of the pump;
a valve for regulating the air flowrate through the reactor;
the flat nonlinear control of the fuel cell being configured to convert the power setpoint Pfc* respectively into a setpoint voltage of the electric motor of the pump and into a setpoint voltage of the valve.

Assignees

• Commissariat L Energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives
• Inst Nat Des Sciences Appliquées De Lyon
• Centre Nat Rech Scient
• Université Lyon 1 Claude Bernard
• Lyon Ecole Centrale
• Inst Français Des Sciences Et Tech Des Transp Réseaux

Inventors

• Gerard Mathias
• Bideaux Eric
• Da Fonseca Ramon
• Desbois-Renaudin Matthieu
• Jeanneret Bruno

Classifications

• Y10S903/944

  Characterized by control of fuel cell · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• B60L11/1887 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• Y02T90/34

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02T90/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic