Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Delphi Technologies, Inc.

Sergio E Garcia

Manish Sinha

Jun Cai

Xiaofeng Wang

Chad Dubois

John C Fagley

Victor W Logan

Derek R Lebzelter

Andrew J Maslyn

Todd Kenneth Preston

Edward George Himes

Megan J Quick

Rodney J Rhodes

Krishnendu Kar

William R Robertson

Balasubramanian Lakshmanan

Steven R Falta

Andrew Paul Bagnasco

Matthew C Kirklin

Daniel C Di Fiore

Joseph A Berg

Philip Allen Karau

Jeffrey J Gagliardo

Joe C Machuca

J Michael Ellenberger

Mark P Adams

Craig A Carlson

Elizabeth Dicocco

Kevin M Foley

Stephen D Pace

Biju Edamana

Christopher L Koppen

Carol A Galskoy

Karthikeyan Rajagopal

Brian David Neilson

Daniel W Smith

Vijay Ramappan

Brian R Lovegrove

Joseph Castelluccio

Darrell W Burleigh

A computer is provided for a fuel cell propulsion system of a motor vehicle. The computer includes one or more processors receiving a temperature signal from one or more temperature sensors and a pressure signal from one or more pressure sensors. The computer further includes a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions, such that the processor is programmed to determine a feedback correction based on the temperature of the coolant and the pressure drop of the coolant across the fuel cell stack. The processor is further programmed to generate a pump command signal based on the feedback correction and a nominal pump command, with the pump command signal actuating a pump to pump coolant at a target pump speed.

Fuel cell propulsion system with a fuel cell stack for a motor vehicle and process for controlling a temperature of the fuel cell stack

Presented are intelligent fuel cell systems (FCS) with logic for evacuating water from anode headers of a fuel cell stack, methods for making/using such systems, and vehicles equipped with such systems. A method of operating an FCS includes a system controller confirming the FCS is running and, once confirmed, receiving a bleed request to remove exhaust gas from exhaust output by the anode. Responsive to the bleed request, the controller determines a total bleed valve use (TBVU) indicating prior bleed requests completed by an anode bleed valve, and thereafter determines if the TBVU is less than a maximum bleed valve use (MBVU). If so, the controller responsively commands the bleed valve to bleed the exhaust gas from the anode exhaust. If TBVU is not less than MBVU, the controller commands a header drain valve to bleed the exhaust gas from the anode exhaust and drain water from the anode header.

Intelligent fuel cell systems and control logic for smart use of anode header drain valves for FCS bleed and drainage

A method for controlling a fuel cell system having a hydrogen fuel injector/ejector and a control system, includes determining a hydrogen fuel consumption rate associated with a selected power level at steady state, determining a modeled hydrogen fuel flow rate associated with the selected power level and the injector/ejector, determining a modeled effective flow area associated with the injector/ejector, determining a true effective flow area of the injector/ejector, and using the effective flow area to calculate or adjust a command signal, an estimation or an estimation error of at least one of a hydrogen fuel flow rate, an anode leak rate and an anode exhaust valve flow rate.

Method for controlling a fuel cell system having a hydrogen fuel injector/ejector

A method of operating a fuel cell stack is described. The fuel cell stack includes a cathode, an anode, a sump configured for collecting water from the anode, and a temporarily disabled drain valve that is otherwise configured to transition from a first position to a second position and thereby modulate water drained from the sump. The method includes increasing a first pressure in the anode via a controller. The method also includes, concurrent to increasing, decreasing a second pressure in the cathode via the controller and, concurrent to decreasing, maintaining a relative humidity of less than a threshold relative humidity in the cathode via the controller.

Method of operating a fuel cell stack having a temporarily disabled drain valve

Systems, methods, and devices which optimize fuel-cell stack airflow control are described. According to aspects of the present disclosure, actuation of at least one cathode-flow actuator is initialized to an initial state based on a desired oxygen flowrate to operate the fuel-cell stack in a voltage-controlled mode, a stack current produced by the fuel-cell stack is determined that corresponds to operation at the actuation of the cathode-flow actuators, a flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack is calculated based on the stack current, the flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack is compared to the desired oxygen flowrate exiting the fuel-cell stack, and actuation of at least one of the cathode-flow actuators is modified in response to the flowrate of oxygen being different from the desired oxygen flowrate. The modified actuation reduces the difference between the desired oxygen flowrate and the flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack.

Systems and methods for fuel-cell stack flow control with simultaneous load following

A method of operating a fuel cell stack is described. The fuel cell stack includes a cathode, an anode, and a temporarily disabled bleed valve that is otherwise configured to transition from a first position to a second position and thereby modulate nitrogen drained from the anode. The method includes increasing a first pressure in the anode via a controller and, concurrent to increasing, decreasing a second pressure in the cathode via the controller. A system and a device including the fuel cell stack are also described.

Method of operating a fuel cell stack having a temporarily disabled bleed valve

A fuel cell system for a vehicle or other system includes a fuel cell stack, a DC-DC boost converter, and a controller. The stack has a plurality of fuel cells and a stack voltage. The controller regulates the stack voltage during start-up of the fuel cell stack via the boost converter, and is programmed with a plurality of calibrated voltage profiles each having a corresponding magnitude and rate of change. The controller is configured to execute a method which includes detecting an air start of the fuel cell stack in response to a requested start-up of the fuel cell stack. The controller then enforces the stack voltage to the predetermined voltage profiles during an actual start-up of the fuel cell stack, doing so via regulation of the boost converter and using the plurality of calibrated voltage profiles.

Fuel cell system start-up using voltage profile control

A fuel cell voltage recovery system includes a fuel cell stack having a fuel cell stack voltage between fuel cell stack terminals which is at a first voltage during normal fuel cell operation. The system also includes a high voltage electrical system operating at a first DC operating voltage that is generally higher than the first voltage of the fuel cell stack. A boost converter in electrical connection with the fuel cell stack and the high voltage electrical system operates in a normal control mode to transfer electrical power from the fuel cell stack to the high voltage electrical system through regulation and control of average stack output current (boost input current) during normal fuel cell operation. The boost converter can also operate in a voltage control mode to lower the fuel cell stack voltage to a second voltage that is lower than the first voltage. A FCS controller controls the operation of the boost converter.

Stack voltage control for recovery mode using boost converter

A system and method for determining whether a concentration estimation value of hydrogen gas in an anode sub-system of a fuel cell system is within a predetermined threshold of a valid hydrogen gas concentration, and if not, correcting the estimation value. The method includes providing a hydrogen gas concentration sensor value from a virtual sensor and calculating the hydrogen gas concentration estimation value using a gas concentration estimation model. The method also includes determining if a difference between the estimation value and the sensor value is greater than at least one threshold, and if so, causing an extended bleed event to occur that bleeds an anode exhaust gas to force the estimation value to be closer to the sensor value. The method also includes setting a diagnostic if multiple extended bleeds do not cause the estimation value and the sensor value to converge.

Validation and correction of gen 2 anode H2 concentration estimation

A method for determining membrane humidification by determining the membrane protonic resistance of a fuel cell stack at humidified conditions, and normalizing the base resistance of the fuel cell stack against the base resistance of a reference fuel cell stack.

Method for determining membrane protonic resistance of a fuel cell stack

Systems and methods for improving conditions for anion contaminant removal in a cathode of a PEMFC system are presented. A fuel cell system consistent with certain embodiments may include a cathode compartment having a compressor coupled thereto. The compressor may be configured to receive an input cathode gas via a compressor input and supply the input cathode gas to the cathode compartment via a compressor output. The fuel cell system may further include a cathode gas recirculation value coupled to the cathode compartment configured to receive a cathode exhaust gas output and to selectively provide at least a portion of the cathode exhaust gas output to the compressor input. Consistent with certain embodiments disclosed herein, the compressor may be further configured to supply at least a portion of the cathode exhaust gas output to the cathode compartment via the compressor output.

Systems and methods for controlling oxygen concentration in a cathode of a fuel cell system

An apparatus and method to determine the relative humidity of a fuel cell system. A controller is cooperative with a first device and a second device to receive a valve signal and a high frequency resistance value. The controller controls the relative humidity of a fuel cell stack based on the estimation of the relative humidity of the fuel cell stack based on one or more algorithms. The controller modifies the relative humidity of the fuel cell stack through changes in the position of a valve based on at least one of the valve signal and the high frequency resistance value. In one form, the relative humidity of the fuel cell system is determined without the need of a humidity sensor.

Transient inlet relative humidity estimation via adaptive cathode humidification unit model and high frequency resistance

A system and method for detecting an anode pressure sensor failure in a fuel cell system. The system and method include a controller that sets an initial minimum anode pressure sensor value and an initial maximum anode pressure sensor value. The controller determines a desired time interval for sampling anode pressure measurements and determines a total number of samples of anode pressure measurements to be collected by the controller from an anode pressure sensor. The controller also compares a pressure difference between the initial or a measured minimum anode pressure and the initial or a measured maximum anode pressure to a predetermined pressure difference threshold and sets a pressure sensor fault if the pressure difference between the initial or measured minimum anode pressure and the initial or maximum anode pressure is less than the predetermined pressure difference threshold.

Extremum seeking algorithm in a variable time interval to detect anode pressure sensor stuck failure in a fuel cell system

A system and method for determining whether there is a cross-over leak, or other failure, in a WVT unit that humidifies the cathode inlet airflow to a fuel cell stack in a fuel cell system. The fuel cell system includes an HFR circuit that determines the humidity level of the membranes in the fuel cell stack and an RH sensor that measures the relative humidity of the airflow to the cathode side of the fuel cell stack. The HFR humidity calculation is compared to RH measurements from the RH sensor, and if the difference between the two RH values is greater than a predetermined calibration value, then the system may determine that the WVT unit is failing and needs to be serviced or replaced.

Utilization of HFR-based cathode inlet RH model in comparison to sensor feedback to determine failed water vapor transfer unit and utilize for a diagnostic code and message

Auto-learning of base stack resistance for HFR based RH control

Growing community of inventors

Commerce Township, MI, United States of America

Sergio E Garcia