Nippon Soken, Inc.

Denso Corporation

Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Kunio Okamoto

Akira Fukami

Toshiyuki Kawai

Kazuhiro Inoguchi

Tomonori Imamura

Tomohiro Saito

Mitsuru Asano

Akimasa Osaki

Hiroyasu Kudou

Tomohiko Nakanishi

Hiroki Noguchi

Junzi Mizuno

Haruhiko Kato

Kiyoshi Kawaguchi

Hajime Akado

Tadayoshi Terao

Hisayoshi Oshima

Toshiaki Fukuta

Junichiro Naito

Hideshi Izuhara

Shinya Sakaguchi

Hideki Kashiwagi

Masanori Uehara

Yukiya Sassa

Takeshi Ishii

Atushi Kosaka

Yukio Oikawa

Tomohide Nishino

Naoto Hotta

Takahiro Shibakawa

KenIchi Hanaki

Keiichiro Isomura

Tetsuroh Kikuchi

Makoto Suzuki

Satoru Kadowaki

A fuel cell system, control method and current measuring device for a power unit are disclosed. The fuel cell system includes a fuel cell having local areas, a current measuring device associated with at least one of the local areas to measure localized current related to a specified operating characteristic, and a control section for diagnosing an operating condition of the fuel cell in response to localized current to enable optimum control of the fuel cell depending upon a specified operating characteristic determined by localized current. The control method controls the operating condition of the fuel cell in response to localized current indicative of the specified operating characteristic of the fuel cell. The current measuring device includes an electrical conductor formed with a recessed portion, a localized current conductor received in the recessed portion, and a current sensor for detecting current flowing across the localized current conductor.

Fuel cell system, related method and current measuring device for fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell constructed by plural stacked cells, a circulation path through which a thermal medium is circulated into each cell, a heater for heating the thermal medium, a bypass path through which the thermal medium is circulated into a part of each cell while bypassing the other part thereof, and a flow control valve for controlling a flow amount of the thermal medium circulated in the bypass path. The thermal medium can be circulated into only the part of each cell in a warm-up operation, so that the part of each cell is collectively heated. An amount of the thermal medium circulated into the other part of each cell is controlled, so that all of each cell is finally warmed up in the warm-up operation.

Fuel cell system with partial heating of each individual fuel cell

A fuel cell system includes a windshield washer containerstoring windshield washer fluid, a permeable membrane unitprovided inside the windshield washer container, and a fuel cell. The permeable membrane unithas the capability of extracting methanol from the windshield washer fluid. The extracted methanol is directly used as the fuel for the fuel cell. The windshield washer containerhas the size comparable with or less than that of a conventional windshield washer container.

Fuel cell system for an automotive vehicle

A measuring method first calculates the conductivity of an electrolyte membrane based on measured output voltage and output current of a fuel cell. The water content of an oxidant channel as an index of present water content (PWC) of the fuel cell is calculated based on the calculated conductivity and the other measured physical quantities of the fuel cell. Further the method calculates the water content of the oxidant channel after the inside of the fuel cell reaches a steady state as an index of future water content (FWC) using the measured physical quantities. The PWC index and FWC index are compared, and it is finally determined, based on the result of the comparison and the difference between the previous and present values of the conductivity, whether the water content of the fuel cell is short or excessive at the present time.

Method for measuring water content of fuel cell based on conductivity of electrolyte

In a fuel cell system, a fuel cell includes plural stacked cells, a circulation passage for circulating a thermal medium to the fuel cell. The fuel cell has therein a plurality of thermal medium passages through which the thermal medium flows, and the thermal medium passages are provided such that the thermal medium from the circulation passage independently flows through the thermal medium passages. The thermal medium passages in the fuel cell have inlet portions from which the thermal medium is introduced, and outlet portions from which the thermal medium is discharged. In the fuel cell system, at least one-side portions among the inlet portions and the outlet portions are provided independently. Accordingly, a circulation area of the thermal medium in the fuel cell can be selectively changed, and a part of the fuel cell can be effectively heated to generate electrical power in this part.

Fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes a heat-generation amount detection device for detecting a heat generation amount in a fuel cell, and an evaporation amount controller for controlling an evaporation amount of water in the fuel cell based on the detected heat generation amount. The heat generation amount is detected based on an output electric power of the fuel cell, an output current thereof or a temperature thereof. The evaporation amount of water in the fuel cell is controlled by adjusting at least one humidification amount of hydrogen and oxygen to be supplied to the fuel cell, or by adjusting at least one flow amount of hydrogen and oxygen to be supplied to the fuel cell.

Water control for a fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell (FC stack), an inflow passage valve provided in a hydrogen inflow passage through which hydrogen is supplied to the FC stack, and a discharge passage valve provided in a hydrogen discharge passage through which hydrogen containing gas is discharged from the FC stack as exhaust gas. In the fuel cell, hydrogen is supplied to the FC stack intermittently in accordance with an amount of hydrogen consumed in the FC stack, by controlling opening and closing of the inflow passage valve and the hydrogen discharge valve.

Fuel cell system including fuel cell for generating electric energy by chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen

A fragrance supplying apparatus for a vehicle for supplying an interior of an air-conditioning duct of the vehicle with a fragrance or deodrant so that the fragrance or deodrant is carried by a flow of air from a blower of the air-conditioning system into the cabin of the vehicle, the fragrance supplying apparatus including a fragrance supplying apparatus having control valves for controlling the supply of the fragrance or deodorant into the air-conditioning duct; a random number producing unit for producing random numbers; and a control unit for controlling the control valves of the fragrance supplying unit based on the random numbers to set varying patterns of supply and cessation of the fragrance or deodorant.

Fragrance supplying apparatus for vehicle

Disclosed is an active carbon for deodorization, which comprises a deodorizing functional group fixed to a graphitic six-membered ring on the surface of the active carbon, through a silanol bond.

Active carbon for deodorization and process for preparation thereof

A carbon-based adsorbent comprising active carbon provided with electron-donative surface functional groups which are bonded directly and chemically to graphite constructing the surface of the active carbon and are coordinated with metallic ions to form chelate structures, which has adsorbing power similar to that of common active carbon and additionally the ability to remove specific harmful gas molecules and smelling gas molecules from air, thus being especially effective for gas filters.

Carbon-based adsorbent and process for production thereof

A ventilating device for an automotive vehicle mounted in a rear portion of the vehicle comprises an atmospheric air passageway for introducing atmospheric air from the outside of the vehicle into a vehicle compartment, and an internal air passageway provided in a manner to cross the atmospheric air passageway for leading the air in the rear portion of the vehicle compartment to the outside of the vehicle. The atmospheric air passageway is arranged to cause the atmospheric air to be blown from the rear to the front of the vehicle compartment, so as to improve ventilation performance in the rear portion of the compartment. Further, a total heat exchanger is mounted at the crossing portion of the two passageways for effecting exchange of both sensible heat and latent heat between the atmospheric air flowing through the atmospheric air passageway and the air flowing through the internal air passageway.

Ventilating device for automotive vehicle

A moisture sensitive element including a sheet made from a mixture of electrically insulating fibers having the property to expand upon adsorbing the moisture (e.g., cellulose fiber) and electroconductive fibers (e.g., activated carbon fiber). The moisture sensitive element is capable of sensing the humidity of the air by determining the electric resistance which varies according to the change of the humidity of the air, and can also be applied as a condensation sensor which can sense, for example, dew condensation on windowpanes.

Moisture sensitive element

A total heat exchanger for exchanging both heat and humidity is made, using partition plates of a laminate of a carbon-fiber-based paperlike material and a hydrophilic material, resulting in improving the humidity exchange ability while both the permeability and the heat conductivity are high.

Total heat exchanger

A method for producing a cordierite body having no anisotropic property in coefficient of thermal expansion comprises the steps of preparing a raw material containing kaolin mineral and talc as main ingredients, and preformed cordierite particles formed from the raw material, mixing and kneading the raw material together with the preformed cordierite particles into a slurry, forming the slurry into a formed body and firing the formed body.

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Okazaki, Japan

Kunio Okamoto