Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Hiroshi Umeno

Shigeru Toda

Haruo Nakamura

Koji Okazaki

Tsutomu Hatsugai

Go Muto

In a cogeneration apparatus, a heat exchanger includes an exhaust gas passageway for passage therethrough of exhaust gas, a heat medium passageway for passage therethrough of a heat medium that gives heat energy to a water heater etc., and a water passageway for taking heat from the exhaust gas and giving the heat to the heat medium. Cooling water for a water-cooled engine is given to the water passageway. The cogeneration apparatus requires reduced numbers of the heat exchanger and pipes, and hence a reduced number of necessary component parts, so that the cogeneration apparatus can be reduced in cost.

Cogeneration apparatus

A fuel-cell system with a fuel battery comprising more than one fuel cell having a purge gas passage connecting the fuel battery to a purge gas cylinder, a discharge passage connecting the fuel battery to the exterior, solenoid valves each installed in the passages, and an electronic control unit that opens the solenoid valves to open the passages to supply the purge gas to the fuel battery such that residue in the fuel battery is purged to the exterior by the purge gas. The control unit opens the valves at a time interval determined from an output of a current sensor to conduct purge at optimum timing for the battery operating state so as to prevent accumulation of residue in the fuel battery, while preventing repetition of unnecessary purges. Alternatively, manual valves are provided to be manually opened by an operator to open a fuel gas supply passage to supply the fuel gas such that residue is purged by the fuel gas through the discharge passage, thereby enabling fuel supply and purge of residue at starting of power generation, without using an external power source.

Fuel-cell system

A fuel cell stack includes a first separator and a second separator. A reactant air flow channel is formed on one surface of the second separator. A fuel gas flow channel is formed on one surface of the first separator. Further, a coolant air flow channel is formed on the first separator, on the other surface opposite to the fuel gas flow channel. The reactant air flow channel is connected between a reactant air inlet and a reactant air outlet. A coolant air flow channel is connected between a coolant air inlet and a coolant air outlet. The reactant air flow channel and the coolant air flow channel are configured such that the pressure loss of the reactant air between the reactant air inlet and the reactant air outlet and the pressure loss of the coolant air between the coolant air inlet and the coolant air outlet are substantially the same.

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Wako, Japan

Hiroshi Umeno