Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100068567 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A system voltage indicated by an intersection of a graph of an FC maximum output characteristic of the output voltage/output power characteristic of a fuel cell and a graph of a load device maximum output characteristic is output so as to obtain optimal output power, thereby matching an output current-output voltage characteristic of a fuel cell and a maximum output characteristic of a load. Thus, a fuel cell system which has high operating efficiency and which is free of physical failures is provided. | 03-18-2010 |
20100112390 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND ACTIVATING COMPLETION DEGREE DISPLAYING METHOD OF THE SAME - The progress of activation of a fuel cell is appropriately transmitted in accordance with the rise of the temperature of the fuel cell, and an estimated time till the completion of the activation is displayed with higher accuracy. To realize this, the current percentage of a fuel cell temperature is displayed on a gauge (G) which displays, as a starting point, the temperature of the fuel cell at the start of the activation and which displays, as an end point, the temperature of the fuel cell at the completion of the activation. The percentage of the temperature is displayed as the estimated time till the completion of the activation, whereby an adverse effect due to a low accuracy in the case of the estimation of the time is eliminated. When the fuel cell is activated for a failure check, the percentage of an actually elapsed time with respect to a time required to complete the failure check may be displayed on the gauge (G). After comparing the percentage of the actually elapsed time with respect to the time required to complete the failure check with the percentage of the temperature of the fuel cell, the smaller value is preferably displayed. | 05-06-2010 |
20100119898 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - Provided is a fuel cell system capable of ensuring that the fuel cell system can start next time and preventing scavenging processing from being continued for an unnecessarily long time. An impedance comparator | 05-13-2010 |
20100207559 | ROTARY ELECTRIC MACHINE CONTROL APPARATUS - It is possible to suppress vibration of a rotary machine in a rotary machine control apparatus. A drive control system of a fuel cell vehicle having a rotary machine includes a control unit having: a drive permission power calculation module which calculates the rotary machine drive permission power according to the states of a fuel cell and an accumulator as power sources of the rotary machine: a limit torque calculation module which calculates a limit torque of the rotary machine according to the drive permission power; and a filter processing module which performs a low-pass process on the limit torque calculation. A storage device of the control unit stores a filter processing region map indicating the region where the filter process is executed by correlating the region with the drive permission power and the rpm. | 08-19-2010 |
20100209792 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - Provided is a fuel cell system that can change the number of active phases in a DC/DC converter in order to prevent overcurrent from flowing through one point (e.g., a reactor of the DC/DC converter) in the system. In step S | 08-19-2010 |
20100233557 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND FUEL CELL ACTIVATION METHOD - Whether a gas leakage occurs or not is accurately determined in a simple configuration. When receiving a request for activation of a fuel cell, a control unit opens a main shutoff valve to start hydrogen gas supply from a hydrogen tank to the fuel cell. The control unit thereafter performs gas leakage determination processing for a hydrogen piping system. If it is determined in the gas leakage determination processing that a gas leakage occurs, a gas leakage alert is output to stop the activation of the fuel cell. If it is determined in the gas leakage determination processing that a gas leakage does not occur, a compressor is activated to start oxidant gas supply to the fuel cell, and the fuel cell continues being operated. | 09-16-2010 |
20100235031 | OUTPUT CONTROLLER FOR FUEL CELL - In a drive control system for a fuel cell-equipped vehicle including a rotating electrical machine, a control unit includes a rapid warm-up processing module for performing rapid warm-up by the low-efficiency power generation of a fuel cell, a torque command value limiting module | 09-16-2010 |
20100239930 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - In the event that at least a portion of unit cells in a fuel cell stack have experienced a significant drop in voltage, the fuel cell system will execute a voltage recovery process allowing them to recover generating capability. In the voltage recovery process, a controller measures impedance of the fuel cell stack, and based on these measurements, determines the hydration condition of the electrolyte membrane inside the fuel cell. If, during the determination of hydration condition, the controller has determined that the hydration level is low, a current limiting process for temporarily limiting output of the fuel cell in order to recover generating capability will be triggered under more lenient conditions, as compared to if determined that the hydration level is high. | 09-23-2010 |
20100255393 | FUEL CELL OUTPUT CONTROL DEVICE - It is possible to suppress over-discharge of an accumulator even when the accumulator is in charge-limited state in a fuel cell output control device. A vehicle drive control system including a fuel cell and an accumulator uses a control unit having: an FC output instruction value calculation module which calculates an output instruction value of a fuel cell according to a power required by a rotary machine; a regeneration limit judgment module which judges whether regeneration is limited for the rotary machine; a battery limit judgment module which judges whether charge of the accumulator is limited; and a required power correction module which corrects the required power of the fuel cell when the charge of the accumulator is limited and neither of the fuel cell or the rotary machine generates power, so as to limit discharge from the accumulator. | 10-07-2010 |
20100266914 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system is turned off without using up the electric power of a secondary battery in the case where a fuel cell fails to start up, while reducing the startup time of the fuel cell system. When an ignition key is turned on, a controller calculates allowable waiting time for a fuel cell to start up on the basis of the electric power stored in a secondary battery. If the fuel cell fails to start up during the period of time from the instant the ignition key was turned on until the allowable waiting time elapses, then the controller turns on an alarm lamp which indicates the startup failure of the fuel cell. Meanwhile, in the case where the fuel cell starts up, the controller begins a normal operation in which a traction motor and the like are actuated by using the electric power generated by the fuel cell and the electric power stored in the secondary battery. | 10-21-2010 |
20110260544 | POWER SUPPLY UNIT HAVING PLURALITY OF SECONDARY BATTERIES - The power supply unit includes a lead secondary battery (first battery) that is capable of being charged with power generated by an alternator (power generator); a lithium secondary battery (second battery) that is electrically connected in parallel to the lead secondary battery, capable of being charged with power generated by the alternator (power generator), and has higher output density or higher energy density than the lead secondary battery; and a switching means that is electrically connected between the alternator and the lead secondary battery, and the lithium secondary battery, and switches between conduction and blocking. The switching means is configured by a plurality of MOS-FETs (semiconductor switches) being connected in series such that respective parasitic diodes present in the semiconductor switches face opposite directions. | 10-27-2011 |
20120007545 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a secondary cell, and a control portion that controls the amount of electricity generated when the fuel cell is started. A start-time target voltage is set so as to avoid the overcharged state of the secondary cell. A voltage adjustment portion that adjusts the output voltage of the fuel cell between an open-circuit voltage and a high-potential-avoiding voltage adjusts the amount of electricity generated at the time of starting the fuel cell, on the basis of the start-time target voltage. | 01-12-2012 |
20120013183 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes: a secondary cell; a voltage converter provided between the secondary cell and a load; a fuel cell; an FC relay that turns on and off electrical connection between the fuel cell and the shared electrical path; an electrical-leakage detector that detects electrical leakage in an electrical system; and a control portion that performs determination regarding electrical leakage. The control portion has: start means for starting the fuel cell by raising voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to an operation voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage; and electrical leakage determination means for performing the determination regarding electrical leakage after a predetermined time elapses, when the FC relay is closed while a voltage difference between the voltage of the fuel cell and voltage supplied from the voltage converter to the load is greater than a predetermined threshold value. | 01-19-2012 |
20120013289 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system starts a fuel cell by setting the voltage supplied to a secondary cell from a voltage transformer at an open-circuit voltage of the fuel cell, and raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to the open-circuit voltage, in the case where the secondary cell is expected to be overcharged if the secondary cell receives electric power. In the case where the secondary cell is not expected to be overcharged if the secondary cell receives electric power, the system starts the fuel cell by setting the voltage supplied from the voltage transformer at a high-potential-avoiding voltage that is lower than the open-circuit voltage of the fuel cell at or after the elapse of a predetermined time following the output of a command to close an FC relay, and raising the voltage of the fuel cell from the starting voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage. | 01-19-2012 |
20120015267 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell that has a plurality of fuel unit cells, and a control portion that controls voltage of the fuel cell. The control portion has: start means for starting the fuel cell by raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to a high-potential-avoiding voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage; and command means for further raising the voltage of the fuel cell beyond the high-potential-avoiding voltage if cell voltage of at least one of the plurality of fuel unit cells is lower than or equal to a certain voltage after a certain time elapses after the voltage of the fuel cell is raised to the high-potential-avoiding voltage. | 01-19-2012 |
20120015268 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas, and a control portion that determines whether there is leakage of the fuel gas. The control portion has start means for starting the fuel cell by raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to an operation voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage, and leakage determination means for determining whether there is leakage of the fuel gas before the voltage of the fuel cell reaches the operation voltage when the fuel cell is started. | 01-19-2012 |
20120019191 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas, and a control portion that controls amount of electricity generation at a time of starting the fuel cell, characterized in that the control portion has voltage drop control means for controlling speed of dropping a starting voltage of the fuel cell from an open-circuit voltage to a high-potential-avoiding voltage according to an initial voltage of the fuel cell and to a pre-determined threshold voltage that is lower than the high-potential-avoiding voltage, when the starting voltage of the fuel cell is dropped from the open-circuit voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage. | 01-26-2012 |
20120021257 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, CONTROL METHOD FOR THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM, AND VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH THE FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a secondary cell, a voltage transformer, and a control portion. The control portion charges the secondary cell with surplus electric power at the time of starting the fuel cell, and adjusts voltage of the fuel cell between an open-circuit voltage and a high-potential-avoiding voltage in the case where the secondary cell is expected to become overcharged while the output voltage of the fuel cell is decreased from the open-circuit voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage. The foregoing case is at least one of the case where a passage electric power that passes through the voltage transformer exceeds a secondary cell-charging-purpose permitted-to-pass electric power, the case where the input electric power restriction value for the secondary cell is exceeded, and the case where amount of regeneration by the mover that is charged is not restricted. | 01-26-2012 |