Fuel cell system and fuel cell automobile

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9799936-B2
Application number	US-201514748235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 24, 2015
Priority date	Jun 25, 2014
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, an electrical storage device, a fuel-cell-side converter, an electrical-storage-device-side converter, and a controller. The fuel cell is to output fuel cell voltage. The fuel-cell-side converter is configured to apply the fuel cell voltage to a load in a direct connection state or configured to apply a stepped-up fuel cell voltage to the load. The electrical-storage-device-side converter is configured to apply a stepped-up electrical storage device voltage to the load. The controller is configured to control duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter so that the fuel cell voltage changes smoothly in a case where a state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to a state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell to output fuel cell voltage;
an electrical storage device to output electrical storage device voltage;
a fuel-cell-side converter configured to apply the fuel cell voltage to a load in a direct connection state and configured to apply a stepped-up fuel cell voltage to the load;
an electrical-storage-device-side converter configured to apply a stepped-up electrical storage device voltage to the load; and
a controller configured to control duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter so that the fuel cell voltage output by the fuel cell changes when a state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to a state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter,
wherein the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter in a transition where the state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to the state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter is controlled in prospect of a voltage drop of the fuel-cell-side converter generated when the fuel-cell-side converter is in the direct connection state.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the voltage drop of the fuel-cell-side converter is stored in a storage device in advance as a characteristic of a function value using fuel cell current as a variable.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 2 ,
wherein a plurality of characteristics of the function value using the fuel cell current as the variable are stored in the storage device with a temperature of the fuel-cell-side converter used as a parameter.

4. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein an amount corresponding to the voltage drop is set as an initial value of an integral term when the electrical-storage-device-side converter is driven via a feedback portion that performs PID processing including at least a proportional term and the integral term using a deviation between target load end voltage and load end voltage.

5. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising the load.

6. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the voltage drop of the fuel-cell-side converter is caused by resistance component of the fuel-cell-side converter and fuel cell current generated by the fuel cell.

7. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to initiate an adjustment of the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter in response to the transition to the state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state.

8. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the controller is configured to control an amount of an adjustment of the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter based on a temperature of the fuel-cell-side converter.

9. A fuel cell automobile comprising:
the fuel cell system according to claim 5 ,
wherein the load includes a drive motor.

10. A fuel cell system with a load driven by two power sources, the fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell that outputs fuel cell voltage;
an electrical storage device that outputs electrical storage device voltage;
the load;
a fuel-cell-side converter that applies the fuel cell voltage to the load in a direct connection state and steps up the fuel cell voltage to apply the stepped-up fuel cell voltage to the load;
an electrical-storage-device-side converter that steps up the electrical storage device voltage to apply the stepped-up electrical storage device voltage to the load; and
a controller that controls operations of the fuel-cell-side converter and the electrical-storage-device-side converter,
wherein the controller controls duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter so that the fuel cell voltage output by the fuel cell changes when a state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to a state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter, and
wherein the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter in a transition where the state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to the state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter is controlled in prospect of a voltage drop of the fuel-cell-side converter generated when the fuel-cell-side converter is in the direct connection state.

11. The fuel cell system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the voltage drop of the fuel-cell-side converter is stored in a storage device in advance as a characteristic of a function value using fuel cell current as a variable.

12. The fuel cell system according to claim 11 ,
wherein a plurality of characteristics of the function value using the fuel cell current as the variable are stored in the storage device with a temperature of the fuel-cell-side converter used as a parameter.

13. The fuel cell system according to claim 10 ,
wherein an amount corresponding to the voltage drop is set as an initial value of an integral term when the electrical-storage-device-side converter is driven via a feedback portion that performs PID processing at least including a proportional term and the integral term to a deviation between target load end voltage and load end voltage.

14. The fuel cell system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the load includes a drive motor of a vehicle.

15. The fuel cell system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the controller initiates an adjustment of the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter in response to the transition to the state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state.

16. The fuel cell system according to claim 10 ,
wherein the controller controls an amount of an adjustment of the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter based on a temperature of the fuel-cell-side converter.

17. A fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell to output fuel cell voltage;
an electrical storage device to output electrical storage device voltage;
a fuel-cell-side converter configured to apply the fuel cell voltage to a load in a direct connection state and configured to apply a stepped-up fuel cell voltage to the load;
an electrical-storage-device-side converter configured to apply a stepped-up electrical storage device voltage to the load; and
a controller configured to control duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter so that the fuel cell voltage output by the fuel cell changes when a state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to a state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct connection state and the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the electrical-storage-device-side converter,
wherein the controller controls the duty of the electrical-storage-device-side converter so that the fuel cell voltage increases linearly when the state in which the fuel cell voltage is controlled by the fuel-cell-side converter is switched to the state in which the fuel-cell-side converter is set to the direct

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kazuno Shuichi

Classifications

• H01M8/04888

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

• H01M8/04873

  of the individual fuel cell · CPC title

• H01M10/425

  Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing (printed circuits H05K1/00) · CPC title

• H01M16/006 Primary

  of fuel cells with rechargeable batteries · CPC title

• B60L11/18

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic