Fuel cell system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9802506-B2
Application number	US-201615095339-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2016
Priority date	Apr 22, 2015
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A fuel cell system mounted on a vehicle, includes: a tank that stores a reactive gas which is to be supplied to a fuel cell; a filling port that fills the reactive gas into the tank and is connected with a supply tube that supplies the reactive gas; a lid that closes the filling port; an open-close sensor that detects open/closed position of the lid; a recorder unit that records a travel history which indicates the fact that the vehicle moves; and a controller unit that controls the vehicle. Upon satisfaction of conditions that the vehicle is in a drivable state, that the recorder unit has no travel history since activation of the fuel cell system and that the open/closed position of the lid detected by the open-close sensor indicates an open position, the controller unit sets the vehicle to a non-drivable state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell system mounted on a vehicle, comprising:
a tank that stores a reactive gas which is to be supplied to a fuel cell;
a filling port that fills the reactive gas into the tank and is connected with a supply tube that supplies the reactive gas;
a lid that closes the filling port;
an open-close sensor that detects open/closed position of the lid;
a recorder unit that records a travel history which indicates the fact that the vehicle moves; and
a controller unit that controls the vehicle, wherein
upon satisfaction of conditions that the vehicle is in a drivable state, that the recorder has no travel history since activation of the fuel cell system and that the open/closed position of the cover portion detected by the open-close sensor indicates an open position, the controller sets the vehicle to a non-drivable state.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 ,
wherein a state that an accelerator operation for accelerating the vehicle is accelerator-off operation and that the vehicle moves only at a speed of not higher than a predetermined speed for a time period of not longer than a predetermined time since activation of the fuel cell system is specified as a state that the recorder has no travel history.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 1 , further comprising
a notification unit that notifies a driver of the vehicle of the lid being in the open position when setting the vehicle to the non-drivable state upon satisfaction of the conditions.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nada Mitsuhiro

Classifications

• B60Y2400/202

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• B60L50/72

  Constructional details of fuel cells specially adapted for electric vehicles · CPC title

• H01M8/04298

  Processes for controlling fuel cells or fuel cell systems · CPC title

• B60L58/30 Primary

  for monitoring or controlling fuel cells · CPC title