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 |
20100068577 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM, ELECTRODE CATALYST DEGRADATION JUDGMENT METHOD, AND MOVING BODY - When an output voltage of a fuel cell is lowered to carry out a catalyst activation process so as to activate a catalyst during an intermittent operation of the fuel cell, if generated power P | 03-18-2010 |
20100092819 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - When a request power for a fuel cell is smaller than a predetermined value, a fuel cell system stops the supply of an oxidizing gas to the fuel cell and lowers the output voltage of the fuel cell from a use upper limit voltage to a reduction voltage to perform catalyst activation processing. When the output voltage of the fuel cell lowers to an air blow voltage because of the shortage of the oxidizing gas, the fuel cell system re-supplies the oxidizing gas to recover the output voltage of the fuel cell. | 04-15-2010 |
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 |
20100159341 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - In the present invention, after the initial setting of the FC entry target pressure, the FC entry target pressure is maintained at this initial-setting value until the concentration of impurities in the gas supplied to the anode in the fuel cell falls below a certain value. This initial-setting value is set to a pressure higher than the FC entry target pressure set in response to the FC electric current during normal power generation. If the concentration of impurities in the gas supplied to the anode in the fuel cell has fallen below the certain value, then the FC entry target pressure is sought using a map showing the relationship between the FC electric current detected in step S | 06-24-2010 |
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 |
20100233556 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - There is provided a fuel cell system capable of suppressing the increase of a control error of a motor. The system includes a fuel cell which generates a power by an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas, a motor driven by the generated power of the fuel cell, and a control unit which controls the generation state of the fuel cell. The control unit performs high-potential avoiding control to prevent the total voltage of the fuel cell from exceeding a predetermined high-potential avoiding voltage threshold value. In a vehicle velocity region where the control switching of the traction motor is caused, the high-potential avoiding volume is inhibited. | 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 |
20100248053 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system is provided which can extend the time during which a high-potential avoidance control is performed as much as possible, thereby reducing deterioration of a fuel cell. The fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell that generates electric power upon a supply of a reaction gas; a power storage device that is charged with at least a part of power generated by the fuel cell; and a controller that controls an output voltage of the fuel cell with, as an upper limit, a high-potential avoidance voltage lower than an open end voltage thereof. The controller variably sets the high-potential avoidance voltage in accordance with the amount of charge SOC of the power storage device. | 09-30-2010 |
20100253529 | GAS LEVEL DISPLAY CONTROLLER, GAS LEVEL DISPLAY DEVICE, AND GAS LEVEL DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD - A gas level display controller includes a mass computation module, a reference value setting module, and a display control module. The mass computation module obtains a pressure and a temperature of compressed hydrogen stored in a hydrogen tank and calculates a mass of the compressed hydrogen in the hydrogen tank, for example, according to a known gas state equation. The reference value setting module sets a reference value, which is used for display of a remaining amount of the compressed hydrogen in the hydrogen tank on a display device, to the mass of the compressed hydrogen calculated by the mass computation module on the occasion of filling the compressed hydrogen into the hydrogen tank to limitation of the hydrogen filling The display control module calculates a ratio of the mass of the compressed hydrogen to the reference value and makes the remaining amount of the compressed hydrogen in the hydrogen tank displayed on the display device, based on the calculated ratio. This arrangement enables a symbol ‘FULL’ to be reliably displayed on a display device on the occasion of filling a compressed gas into a tank to limitation of the gas filling. | 10-07-2010 |
20100261084 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system is provided which can accurately detect an insulation resistance even during a high-potential prevention control. The fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell that generates electric power through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas; an insulation resistance measurement unit that measures an insulation resistance between the fuel cell and an outer conductor; and a control unit that controls a power generation state of the fuel cell, and the control unit carries out a high-potential prevention control that avoids a voltage of the fuel cell becoming equal to or higher than a predetermined high-potential prevention voltage threshold lower than an open circuit voltage of the fuel cell, and changes the high-potential prevention voltage threshold during an insulation resistance detection performed by the insulation resistance measurement unit. | 10-14-2010 |
20100280696 | VEHICLE SKID CONTROL DEVICE - Provided is a vehicle skid control device that avoids a skid erroneous judgment in a high revolution range of a motor. The vehicle skid control device detects the number of revolutions of the motor. When the number of revolutions of the motor is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value Nm, the vehicle skid control device prohibits a skid judgment. When the number of revolutions of the motor is smaller than the predetermined threshold value Nm, the vehicle skid control device permits the skid judgment. When the number of revolutions of the motor is equal to or larger than the threshold value Nm, the skid judgment is prohibited. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid the skid erroneous judgment in the high revolution range with the number of revolutions equal to or larger than Nm. | 11-04-2010 |
20100316921 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - A fuel cell system capable of providing a suitable power distribution is provided. A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell that generates electric power through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas; a motor that can be driven upon the supply of electric power and can generate regenerative power; a power storage unit which can be charged with power generated from the fuel cell and regenerative power of the motor and can discharge charge power to the motor; an auxiliary apparatus used for operating at least the fuel cell; and a control unit that controls a power distribution between the above components. The control unit determines the power distribution using a power generation command value based on power required to be generated during a normal operation, while the control unit determines the power distribution using a power generation measured value of the fuel cell instead of the power generation command value during a high-potential prevention control that avoids a voltage of the fuel cell becoming equal to or higher than a predetermined high-potential prevention voltage threshold lower than an open circuit voltage of the fuel cell. | 12-16-2010 |
20110111317 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - It is possible to prevent excessive power generation of a fuel cell when a failure has occurred. When a start signal is input, a fuel cell system sets an open end voltage of the fuel cell as an initial value of the output voltage of the fuel cell corresponding to the output current zero of the fuel cell. When the failure is detected, the fuel cell system reads out the open end voltage of the preset initial value as the output voltage corresponding to the output current zero and controls the voltage so that the output voltage of the fuel cell coincides with the open end voltage. | 05-12-2011 |
20120225330 | FUEL CELL SYSTEM - When a request power for a fuel cell is smaller than a predetermined value, a fuel cell system stops the supply of an oxidizing gas to the fuel cell and lowers the output voltage of the fuel cell from a use upper limit voltage to a reduction voltage to perform catalyst activation processing. When the output voltage of the fuel cell lowers to an air blow voltage because of the shortage of the oxidizing gas, the fuel cell system resupplies the oxidizing gas to recover the output voltage of the fuel cell. | 09-06-2012 |