Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Aisan Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyota Technical Development Corporation

Kenji Kurita

Naohiro Yoshida

Hiroaki Mori

Nobuo Fujita

Tadaichi Matsumoto

Kimihide Horio

Katsuhiro Kajio

Shinya Sakaguchi

Kazumasa Takada

Kenji Umayahara

Tetsuya Bono

Yasuhiro Nonobe

Shimpei Miura

Toshiro Makimura

Hideki Kashiwagi

Takaaki Takagi

Koji Kiryu

Norihiko Toyonaga

Akira Matsuoka

Tomonori Yachi

Shiro Yamasaki

Hiroki Ohkawara

A fuel cell system includes a reformer that generates reformed gas using reforming fuel; a fuel cell that generates electric power using the reformed gas generated by the reformer; and a control device. The control device includes a plurality of different stop control modes for stopping operation of the fuel cell system, and selects a specific stop control mode among the plurality of stop control modes, according to the cause of a malfunction of the fuel cell system.

Fuel cell system and method of controlling same

The fuel cell system is provided which detects a freeze among specific components and portions thereof by evaluating various conditions upon starting operation of the fuel cell system. If a freeze is detected through those evaluations, the start of the system is prohibited in order to prevent some deterioration in the fuel cell system.

Fuel cell system and method of controlling the same fuel cell system

An on-board fuel cell system adapted to be installed on a motor vehicle includes a main passage connecting a hydrogen-gas storage device with an inlet of a fuel cell, a circulation passage that connects an outlet of the fuel cell with a first point in the main passage, a pump disposed in the circulation passage, and a bypass passage that connects a second point between the outlet of the storage device and the first point, with a third point located in the circulation passage between the outlet of the fuel cell and the pump. During a normal operation condition of the system, the hydrogen gas flows from the storage device to the fuel cell through the main passage, and hydrogen gas discharged from the fuel cell returns to the main passage through the circulation passage. When the pressure of the hydrogen gas is lower than a reference pressure, the pump operates to draw the hydrogen gas out of the storage device and feed the hydrogen gas from the main passage to the circulation passage through the bypass passage, and to the fuel cell through the main passage.

On-board fuel cell system and method of controlling the same

In a fuel cell system of the invention, a pressure regulator is provided in the pathway of a hydrogen supply conduit that connects a hydrogen tank to a fuel cell stack. An anode off gas discharged from the fuel cell stack is recirculated through a recirculation pipe into the hydrogen supply conduit. A hydrogen pump is provided in the pathway of the recirculation pipe to increase the pressure of the anode off gas. A control unit of the fuel cell system includes a hydrogen pump control module, an abnormality diagnosis module, and an atmospheric pressure-based correction module. The hydrogen pump control module regulates the rotation speed of the hydrogen pump corresponding to a power demand to be output from the fuel cell system. The abnormality diagnosis module detects an abnormal state, based on a result of determination of whether the pressure of the hydrogen supply measured by a pressure sensor is within a certain range defined by two preset threshold values. The atmospheric pressure-based correction module corrects the rotation speed of the hydrogen pump and the threshold values used for abnormality diagnosis according to the atmospheric pressure measured by an atmospheric pressure sensor. Even in the state of unstable output of the pressure regulator with a variation of the atmospheric pressure, such correction compensates for the varying flow rate of the hydrogen supply to the fuel cell stack and thus effectively prevents misjudgment of abnormality diagnosis. Namely the technique of the invention reduces the potential effect of the varying pressure of the hydrogen supply to the fuel cell system with a variation of the atmospheric pressure.

Operation control of fuel cell system

A fuel cell system FC replenishes a fuel cell stack with air or hydrogen by temporarily driving a compressor or a low-pressure valve even during an intermittent operation mode. If air is supplied for replenishment, the amount of air remaining in an air supply system is kept substantially constant, so that the voltage fall during a stop of the fuel cell system can be curbed. If hydrogen is supplied for replenishment, the amount of hydrogen moving to the air supply system is offset, so that a delay in supplying hydrogen can be curbed. Furthermore, the fuel cell system FC inputs signals from a sensor, such as, a brake sensor, a shift selector, or other suitable means and anticipates acceleration of a vehicle equipped with the system FC. On the basis of the anticipation of acceleration, the system FC replenishes the fuel cell stack with air or hydrogen in advance.

Fuel cell system, mobile unit equipped with the system, and control method for the fuel cell system

In a fluid leakage detection apparatus, hydrogen is supplied from a hydrogen tank to an FC stack of a fuel cell via first and second pipes. An inlet valve is provided between the hydrogen tank and the first pipe, and an outlet valve is provided between the first pipe and the second pipe. A controller serves to control valve opening a valve closing operation of the inlet and outlet valves, respectively. Those valves are closed in a state where the pressure within the hydrogen tank is made lower than the pressure within the first pipe, and the pressure within the second pipe is made lower than the pressure within the first pipe by operating those valves. Thereafter, the increase or decrease in the pressure within the first pipe is detected by a pressure gauge such that the leakage in the inlet valve or the outlet valve is determined. This makes it possible to detect the leakage both in the inlet valve and the outlet valve at the same time.

Fluid leakage detection apparatus and fluid leakage detection method

A fuel cell system includes a reforming device for reforming a fuel of hydrocarbon family to a fuel gas whose principal component is hydrogen, a fuel-cell stack for generating electricity by using the fuel gas and an oxidizing agent, a gauge for determining a concentration of CO in a fuel gas exhausted from the reforming device , a burning device for burning the fuel gas, the burning device being independent of the fuel-cell stack , and a switching device for directing the fuel gas to either the fuel-cell stack or the burning device . In such a fuel system control at initiation and cooling down time at termination become easy and shorter.

Fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes a fuel-cell stack which generates electric power by utilizing a fuel gas and an oxidizing agent gas; a combusting device which burns an off gas of the fuel gas emitted from the fuel-cell stack ; an oxidizing agent gas supply device including a turbine and a compressor . The turbine is rotated by the combustion energy of an exhausted gas from the combusting device . The compressor is coupled to the turbine to pressurize the oxidizing agent gas. The oxidizing agent gas supply device is connected to the fuel-cell stack for supplying the pressurized oxidizing agent gas. A reforming device reforms a carbon hydride family fuel into fuel gas and a compressor further pressurizes the pressurized oxidizing agent gas. The compressor is connected between the reforming device and the fuel-cell stack

A fuel cell system includes a fuel-cell stack for generating electricity by using a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas, a combustion device for burning an off-gas of the fuel gas, and a water recovering device for recovering a vapor of an exhaust gas resulting from the burning.

A vehicular mountable fuel cell system constituted by combusting means,for combusting off gas from a fuel cell,supplied with reformed gas from a reformer,and a turbine compressor,for supplying air to the fuel cell,by compressing air at a compressor unit,by operating combustion energy of the combusting means,to a turbine unit,to thereby reduce power of a motor for driving to rotate the turbine compressor by recovering power by effectively using waste gas.

Vehicular mountable fuel cell system

A fuel cell includes a plurality of laminated gas chambers, a plurality of separators that separate the gas chambers, intake passages for supplying fuel gas and oxidizing gas, exhaust passages for emitting the fuel gas and the oxidizing gas, intake ports to supply fuel gas and oxidizing gas from the intake passages to the gas chambers, exit ports to exit the fuel gas and the oxidizing gas from the gas chambers to the exhaust passages, and rectifying plates located at one end of the intake ports and extending across at least one of the gas intake passages. Each of the rectifying plates effectively restricts direct gas flow from one of the intake passages to the intake ports. Therefore, the number of gas chambers can be increased as compared to conventional fuel cells. Even though the number of gas chambers is increased, each gas chamber uniformly receives gas due to the excellent gas distribution achieved by the rectifying plates.

Fuel cell with rectifying plates for uniform gas flow

Gas passages of a gas-passage plate disposed between fuel cells are improved, in order to enhance gas utilization efficiency and output performance. The supply-gas passages formed on the gas-passage plate on a surface to face one gaseous diffusion electrode comprise an inlet-side channel part, an outlet-side channel part, and an intermediate channel part which connects the inlet-side channel part and the outlet-side channel part. The inlet-side channel part and the outlet-side channel part are lattice-shaped passages. The intermediate channel part has the shape of being folded plural times, and comprises groups of a plurality of straight independent passages, and lattice-shaped passages formed at portions returning from one independent-passages group to the next independent-passages group.

Gas-passage plates of a fuel cell

A fuel injector including an injector casing having a fuel inlet at a side portion thereof; a valve housing having a fuel injection hole at a front end thereof and having a guide hole at an axial central portion thereof, the guide hole being communicated with the fuel inlet; a valve reciprocably accommodated in the guide hole, the valve being adjusted to close the fuel injection hole when advancing and open the fuel injection hole when retracting; a valve driving device for driving the valve to advance and retract the valve; and a fuel strainer mounted on an outer circumference of the injector casing, the strainer comprising a synthetic resin frame having annular portions at front and rear ends thereof and a metal ring connected to at least one of the front and rear end portions of the frame by insert molding of synthetic resin, the metal ring being press-fitted with the injector casing. With this construction, the generation of a gap due to the creep of resin between the injector casing and the strainer can be prevented to thereby prevent entry of a foreign matter into the injector.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Kenji Kurita