Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Denso Corporation

Toyota Technical Development Corporation

Naohiro Yoshida

Osamu Yumita

Toshiyuki Kondo

Masahiko Hibino

Yoshihiro Funayama

Kenji Kurita

Hiroaki Mori

Nobuo Fujita

Tadaichi Matsumoto

Kimihide Horio

Shinya Sakaguchi

Kenji Umayahara

Tetsuya Bono

Shimpei Miura

Hideki Kashiwagi

Kazunari Shirai

Atsufumi Kimura

Tomonori Yachi

Yoshiyuki Miki

Disclosed is a vehicle with a fuel cell system mounted thereon, the fuel cell system including: a fuel cell; a plurality of tanks for storing therein fuel gas to be used for power generation of the fuel cell, each tank having an opening/closing valve for switching over between execution and halt of supply of the fuel gas; a plurality of supply flow paths connected to the opening/closing valves in the plurality of tanks to feed the fuel gas supplied from the plurality of tanks, respectively; a merging flow path for merging together the plurality of supply flow paths to feed the fuel gas to the fuel cell; and a controller for controlling opening and closing of the opening/closing valves. The merging flow path is fastened to a vehicle body of the vehicle, and at a start-up of the fuel cell system, the controller exerts such control as to open an opening/closing valve that is longest in total length out of the opening/closing valves in the plurality of tanks, the total length being a total sum of lengths of the merging flow path and the relevant supply flow path located within a range from a fastening position, at which the merging flow path is fastened to the vehicle body, to each opening/closing valve. Thus, it becomes possible to suppress the possibility that noise caused by vibrations due to discharge of hydrogen gas may be recognized by a passenger of the vehicle.

Vehicle with fuel cell system mounted thereon

A moving body, such as a vehicle, having one or more fuel cells mounted thereon. The fuel cells, which power the moving body, generate electricity and release water as a by-product. Accordingly, the moving body includes a water discharge module that releases water produced by the fuel cells to the atmosphere using a water outlet. The water outlet may be located in a front section of the moving body. The moving body may further include a water tank that temporarily stores water before releasing the water to the atmosphere.

Moving body

Water contained in exhaust gas discharged from a fuel cell stack is separated by a gas-liquid separator and is accumulated in a recovery tank. The procedure of the invention sets a release amount of water and selects one or multiple positions for water release, based on the driving conditions including the vehicle speed and the acceleration, the turning state, activation or non-activation of skid reduction control, the distance from any object detected by clearance sonars, a distance from a subsequent vehicle measured by an extremely high frequency radar, and the presence of raindrops detected by a raindrop detection sensor, and releases the water accumulated in the recovery tank from water outlets at the selected one or multiple positions among water outlets at multiple different locations. This arrangement ensures adequate release of the water produced by the fuel cell stack to the atmosphere.

Moving body with fuel cells mounted thereon

The present invention provides a fuel cell system that controls a pressure for a fuel gas supplied to a fuel cell so that the anode-cathode differential pressure between an anode and a cathode of a fuel cell is maintained within a predetermined range, in order to provide a desired generation amount while reducing the amount of fuel gas discharged to the exterior of the system even if it is difficult to provide an appropriate fuel gas supply amount for a fuel cell load (the generation requirement on the cell). If the system determines that the amount of fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell is less than an appropriate required gas amount for the load (generation requirement) (step S: NO), for example, if the concentration of nitrogen in the fuel gas reaches a predetermined value or greater, the open and close state of shut-off valves H, HA is switched to increase the pressure for the fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell(step S).

Fuel cell system with control of the pressure of the reactants within the system

The present invention provides a fuel cell system capable of accurately controlling the pressure of fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell, the fuel cell system comprising: a fuel gas supply line (SL) which supplies the fuel gas from a fuel gas supply source () to the fuel cell (); pressure-regulating means (RG) provided on the fuel gas supply line (SL) and for regulating the pressure of the fuel gas supplied from the fuel gas supply source (); and a circulation route (R) which returns the fuel gas discharged from the fuel cell () to the fuel gas supply line (SL), wherein the circulation route (R) is connected to the fuel gas supply line (SL) such that the fuel gas is returned thereto in the upstream of the pressure-regulating means (RG).

Fuel cell system and method for controlling same

A fuel cell system is provided with a judgment unit which makes a gas leak judgment based on a pressure drop of fuel gas in a gas leak detection portion by consuming the fuel gas in the gas leak detection portion of the fuel gas supply system by electric power generation of a fuel cell and causing auxiliary devices to consume the electric power generated by the fuel cell, and comprises a control unit which increases consumption of the fuel gas in the gas leak detection portion by increasing the electric power consumption of the auxiliary devices. With this arrangement, where the electric power generation of the fuel cell and the electric power consumption of the auxiliary devices result in an insufficient consumption of the fuel gas, the consumption of the fuel gas can be accelerated by increasing the electric power consumption of the auxiliary devices. Thereby, a rapid gas leak judgment can be achieved.

Fuel cell system and fuel cell system failure judgment method

A fuel cell system () of the present invention comprises determination means () for consuming a fuel gas present at a gas leak detection portion of a fuel gas supply system () through the power generation of a fuel cell (), and performing a gas leak determination on the basis of a pressure decrease margin of the fuel gas present at the gas leak detection portion, and comprises discharge means (H) for reducing the pressure at the gas leak detection portion by purging the fuel gas present at the gas leak detection portion to the outside of the fuel gas supply system (). By not only consuming the fuel gas present at the gas leak detection portion through power generation, but also purging the fuel gas to the outside of the fuel gas supply system, the pressure at the gas leak detection portion can be brought close to a target pressure within a short time period, and the gas leak determination can be performed in a short period of time and with a high level of precision.

Fuel cell system and gas leak determination method for fuel cell system

The accuracy of detecting gas leakage in a fuel battery system is improved. A fuel battery system includes a fuel battery to which a reactive gas is supplied to generate power, and a gas passage (a fuel gas supply path and a fuel gas circulation path) connected to this fuel battery, this gas passage is provided with a plurality of adjoining closed spaces, and the system includes a detecting unit (a control section) to detect gas leakage in one closed space in a state in which at least a pressure of another closed space adjoining the one closed space as a gas leakage detection target on a downstream side is lowered.

Fuel battery system, method for detecting gas leakage in such system, and mobile object

A movable body includes a fuel cell, a fuel supply means which supplies fuel containing hydrogen to the fuel cell, a limit means which limits the amount of the supplied fuel, a body which includes a space in which an occupant is housed, a conversion means which converts the supplied electric power from the fuel cell to driving force for driving the body, a control portion which controls the operation of the conversion means, and an operating member. The operating member is disposed at a position where the operating member can be operated by the occupant housed in the body, and provides an instruction to execute a control that limits the amount of the supplied fuel using the limit means, without stopping the operation of the control portion.

Fuel cell vehicle

A fuel cell system is provided with a fuel cell () which generates electricity by a chemical reaction between a fuel gas supplied to an anode side of the fuel cell and an oxidization gas supplied to a cathode side of the fuel cell; estimating means () for estimating whether there is a possibility that a chemical short is occurring in the fuel cell when supply of the fuel gas and the oxidization gas to the fuel cell is stopped; and scavenging means () for supplying a scavenging gas to the cathode side when it has been estimated that there is a possibility that the chemical short is occurring.

Fuel cell system and control method thereof for detecting a chemical short

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell which has a catalyst layer therein and which receives supply of a reactive gas to generate power, and a refrigerant system which supplies a refrigerant to the fuel cell to control its temperature. A method for stopping an operation of the system is also provided. When operated in a low-temperature environment, the system cannot be restarted due to freezing in the fuel cell. When the temperature of the fuel cell during the next system start is a predetermined temperature or less, the supply of the refrigerant is stopped during the system stop, and the supply of the refrigerant is resumed after elapse of a predetermined time.

Fuel cell system and its operation stop method

This invention provides a moving object having a fuel cell system, which is capable of preventing the entry of fuel gas into a cabin even if the leakage of the fuel gas occurs. The moving object, having the fuel cell system (), has an air introduction mechanism () for introducing air from the outside of the moving object into a cabin space inside the moving object, wherein an air introduction port () for the air introduction mechanism () is formed a given distance apart from the fuel cell system (), so that gas leaking from the fuel cell system () does not reach the air introduction port ().

Growing community of inventors

Nisshin, Japan

Naohiro Yoshida