Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoto Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Hideaki Mizuno

Yoshiaki Naganuma

Yasuhiko Niimi

Tatsuya Fujita

Nobuo Watanabe

Tadaichi Matsumoto

Takashi Kotoh

Mamoru Yoshioka

Noritake Mitsutani

Kenji Umayahara

Kota Manabe

Takashi Yamamoto

Takashi Kato

Masashi Toida

Tomoya Ogawa

Kenichi Harada

Norio Shibata

Hidemi Ohnaka

Kimihide Horio

Yuji Kakeno

Katsuki Ishigaki

Hironori Noto

Tomohiro Fujita

Yuya Kusano

Nobuki Uchitani

Tatsuyoshi Kamohara

Kouichi Satoya

A cathode gas cooling system provided with a heat exchanger having first internal channels into which cathode gas flows and second internal channels to which water discharged from a fuel cell is supplied and cooling cathode gas flowing through the first internal channels by latent heat of vaporization of water flowing through the second internal channels. The first internal channels and second internal channel are are respectively made independent channels inside the heat exchanger so that steam produced inside the second internal channels by heat exchange with cathode gas flowing through the first internal channels does not flow into the first internal channels.

Fuel cell system

If a required voltage which corresponds to a required power has reached a boundary voltage, which is an oxidation-reduction potential of platinum, which constitutes a catalyst of a fuel cell, the fuel cell system performs crossover-avoidance control that holds an FC instruction voltage for the fuel cell at the boundary voltage, and absorbs the gap between the required voltage and the FC instruction voltage by using a secondary battery.

A hydrogen tank is mounted on a roof so that a valve unit mounted to one end in a longitudinal direction of the hydrogen tank is separated as far apart as possible from a front platform and a middle platform of a fuel cell equipped bus and so that the longitudinal direction of the hydrogen tank is in a lateral direction of a vehicle. Thus, even if hydrogen leaks from the valve unit or a fusible plug valve of the valve unit is fused to discharge hydrogen from the tank, the influence of the leaking or discharged hydrogen on the front platform and the middle platform can be reduced.

Vehicle and method of mounting gas fuel tank

Provided is a fuel cell system which can properly control a refresh operation. A controller controls the refresh operation so that an output voltage does not exceed an avoidance voltage even after the refresh operation. Specifically, the controller estimates the output voltage after the refresh operation from the output voltage before the refresh operation and controls execution of the refresh operation so that the estimated output voltage after the refresh operation does not exceed the avoidance voltage. For example, if before the refresh operation, when judging that the estimated output voltage after the refresh operation does not exceed the avoidance voltage, the controller executes the refresh operation.

There is provided a fuel cell system capable of warming up a fuel cell while inhibiting generation of a rush current. A control device switches the connection/disconnection between a fuel cell and a short circuit by a shorting relay. The control device spends, before switching the shorting relay from disconnection to connection during starting at a low temperature, an oxidizing gas remaining in the cathode of the fuel cell by driving auxiliary devices to generate an oxidizing gas-deficient state. Then, the control device switches FC relays from ON to OFF and the shorting relay from OFF to ON to thereby complete the preparation for supplying a short-circuit current.

An output limitation warning lamp is turned on when a possible output Qf of the fuel cell is less than a predetermined value L. The output limitation warning lamp is provided at a combination meter in an instrument panel. The output limitation warning lamp is also turned on when a possible output Qb of the secondary battery is less than a predetermined value L. Furthermore, the output limitation warning lamp is also turned on when an allowable drive output Qh, which is the sum of the possible output Qf of the fuel cell and the possible output Qb of the secondary battery, has been less than a required output Ed* calculated at a step before carrying out output limitation to more than a certain extent for longer than a predetermined length of time.

Power output device with fuel cell and method therefor

A fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell, a supply flow passage for flowing a fuel gas supplied from a fuel supply source to the fuel cell, a variable gas supply device for regulating the state of the gas on the upstream side of the supply flow passage to supply the gas to the downstream side, a discharge flow passage for flowing a fuel off gas discharged from the fuel cell, a discharge valve for discharging the gas from the discharge flow passage to the exterior, and a control part for closing the discharge valve when the discharge amount of the gas calculated while the discharge valve is opened exceeds a predetermined target discharge amount. The control part stops the gas supply from the variable gas supply device and simultaneously closes the discharge valve, when the discharge amount of the gas calculated while the discharge valve is opened exceeds the target discharge amount.

This voltage control system includes a power supply, an accumulator device which is capable of accumulating and discharging electrical power, a voltage control device which is constituted so as, when the electrical power supplied from the power supply is insufficient, to supplement it by discharging electrical power from the accumulator device, so as to keep a system voltage a predetermined value, and a control device which, when it has been recognized that the amount of electrical power required by one electrical power consumption device which is included in the system has decreased, reduces the rate of increase of the system voltage by implementing supply of electrical power from the power supply to the accumulator device.

Voltage control system and vehicle comprising voltage control system

An abnormality detector apparatus for an engine water-cooling apparatus has an electronic control unit (ECU) for precisely and quickly determining and detecting an operation abnormality of a thermostat or a water temperature sensor. After the engine is started, the ECU calculates, over time, an engine heat generation quantity, an estimated cooling water temperature or the like on the basis of various engine operating condition parameters, such as cooling water temperature, intake temperature, engine revolution speed, amount of intake air, and the like. After the elapse of a predetermined time, the ECU compares the estimated cooling water temperature and the cooling water temperature actually detected by the water temperature sensor. If the relationship therebetween meets a predetermined condition, the ECU determines whether there is an abnormality in the operating condition of the thermostat and/or the cooling water temperature sensor.

Abnormality detector apparatus for a coolant apparatus for cooling an engine

A diagnosis device for an exhaust gas recycling device diagnoses whether or not an exhaust gas recycling device is operating normally; the temperature of an exhaust gas recycling passage is detected by a temperature detection means, a decision is made by an exhaust gas recycling operating region detection means whether or not the operating region is such as to carry out exhaust gas recycling, when a decision is made that the operating region is such as to carry out exhaust gas recycling a counter is incremented and when otherwise is decremented, and a decision that the exhaust gas recycling is not being carried out normally, that is that the exhaust gas recycling device has failed, is made when the count value of this counter is at least a certain value and the temperature of the exhaust gas recycling passage is not more than a certain value.

Growing community of inventors

Owariasahi, Japan

Hideaki Mizuno