Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Atsushi Imai

Michio Yoshida

Kenji Umayahara

Takeshi Maenaka

Tomoya Ogawa

Hiroshi Tamura

Shigenori Saito

Takashi Ushijima

Hideji Yoshida

Teruhiko Kameoka

Shinya Iwasaki

Tadaichi Matsumoto

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Tsuyoshi Nishiwaki

Tetsuya Nagata

Shuhei Oki

Haruyoshi Yamashita

Takao Suenaga

Jiro Nohara

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: implanting charged particles into a first range and a second range in a semiconductor substrate from at least one of a first surface of the semiconductor substrate and a second surface of the semiconductor substrate located on an opposite side of the first surface so as to increase crystal defect densities in the first range and the second range; implanting n-type impurities into the first range from the first surface so as to make a region amorphous, the region being in the first range and disposed at the first surface; irradiating the first surface with first laser after the implantation of the charged particles and the implantation of the n-type impurities so as to heat the first range and the second range; and crystallizing the region which has been made amorphous in or after the irradiation of the first laser.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor device

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.

Fuel cell system and method of controlling the same

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.

Fuel cell system, control method for the fuel cell system, and electric vehicle equipped with the fuel cell system

A power source apparatus mounted to a vehicle is equipped with a lead-acid battery and a lithium battery. An open circuit voltage and an internal resistance of each of the batteries are determined to satisfy the following conditions (a), (a), and (a): (a) In the use range of SOC of the lead-acid battery and the use range of SOC of the lithium battery, there is an equal voltage point Vds at which the open circuit voltage V(Pb) of the lead-acid battery becomes equal to the open circuit voltage V(Li) of the lithium battery; (a) The relationship of V(Li)&#x3e;V(Pb) is satisfied in the upper limit side of the use range of SOC of the battery; and (a) A terminal voltage Vc (Li) of the lithium battery is not more than a set voltage Vreg of a regulator when a maximum current flows in the lithium battery.

Power source apparatus for vehicle

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 modulefor limiting the torque command value in accordance with the change of a system voltage caused by rapid warm-up processing, and an FC output command value calculating module for calculating the output command value of the fuel cell in accordance with the limited torque command value. In a storage device connected to the control unit, a system voltage characteristic map which shows the torque-rotation speed characteristics of the rotating electrical machine corresponding to the system voltage is stored.

Output controller for fuel cell

A manufacturing method of a semiconductor device includes placing a mask having an opening on an external region of a top face of a substrate to locate an end portion of the opening of the mask just above a concave portion formed on the top face of the substrate, the external region being located outside the concave portion. The manufacturing method further includes: growing a conductive film on part of the top face of the substrate through the mask after the mask is placed on the substrate, the part of the top face containing the concave portion; and removing the mask from the substrate after the conductive film is grown.

Semiconductor device and manufacturing method of semiconductor device

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.

Power supply unit having plurality of secondary batteries

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.

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.

Fuel cell system and fuel cell activation method

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.

Fuel cell system and activating completion degree displaying method of the same

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.

Fuel cell system comprising voltage adjustment portion, 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.

Fuel cell system, control method for the fuel cell system, and 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.

Fuel cell system, and electric vehicle equipped with the fuel cell system

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.

Fuel cell output control device

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.

Growing community of inventors

Gamagori, Japan

Atsushi Imai