Nissan Motor Company Limited

Shinichi Makino

Mitsunori Kumada

Yasushi Ichikawa

Ryouichi Shimoi

Shinichi Miyazaki

Takahiro Fujii

Yoshitomo Asai

Daigo Iwasaki

Hayato Chikugo

Michihiko Matsumoto

Masashi Sato

Masatoshi Iio

Susumu Maeshima

Satoshi Takaichi

The fuel cell system of the present invention comprises: an electric motor, a fuel cell stack, a fuel supply unit, and a controller that controls a power-plant including the fuel cell stack and the fuel supply unit. The controller comprises further: a stack output-response request computing unit to compute a stack output-response request requested for the fuel cell stack; a stack voltage setup unit during idle-stop to set up a lower limit of stack setup-voltage during idle-stop that is set up as a stack voltage during execution of idle-stop so as to be higher as the stack output-response request is larger, and so as to be lower as the request is smaller; and an operation unit of recovering a stack voltage during idle-stop to execute a recovery operation when an actual stack voltage becomes, during execution of idle-stop, lower than the lower limit of stack setup-voltage during idle-stop.

Fuel cell system including controller to prevent over-discharge of battery and lowering in drivability upon recovering from idle stop

In a fuel cell system which executes a stop process of stopping an output from a fuel cell when a required power generation amount for the fuel cell is smaller than a predetermined power generation amount and supplies oxidant during a stop process period, fuel gas is intermittently supplied to a fuel electrode at a basic supply interval, which is set in advance and at which carbon dioxide is not generated in an oxidant electrode, during the stop process period.

Fuel cell system and control method of fuel cell system

In a fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell that generates power in response to an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen contained in air, and a compressor that supplies air to the fuel cell, in which an idle stop is executed to stop power generation by the fuel cell when a required load falls to or below a predetermined value, and during the idle stop, air is supplied in accordance with a voltage condition between a cathode and a anode of the fuel cell, regardless of the required load, air is supplied during the idle stop while detecting an air supply amount, and when the air supply amount reaches a predetermined value, the air supply is stopped.

Fuel cell system and control method for fuel cell system

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a control valve and a controller. The fuel cell is configured to receive anode gas and cathode gas to generate electric power. The control valve is configured to control pressure of the anode gas being fed to the fuel cell through an anode flow channel. The controller controls the control valve to periodically increase and decrease the pressure of the anode gas flowing through the anode flow channel in an area downstream of the control valve. The controller sets an anode pressure differential value for the anode gas resulting from periodic increasing and decreasing of the pressure of the anode gas based on a requested fuel cell output. The controller determines a quantity of liquid in the anode flow channel. The controller decreases the anode pressure differential value that was set based on the requested fuel cell output.

Fuel cell system

A fuel cell system () of the present invention includes a fuel cell stack () including plural single fuel cells () stacked on each other, each single fuel cell being supplied with hydrogen gas and air to an anode electrode () and a cathode electrode (), respectively, to generate electricity. The system () further includes a voltage applying device (C) that applies voltage to the fuel cell stack () after oxygen present in the cathode electrode () is reduced. The system () further includes a cross-leakage diagnosis device (C) that diagnoses, based on voltage of the single fuel cells () when the voltage applying device (C) applies the voltage to the fuel cell stack (), whether hydrogen gas in the anode electrode () is cross-leaked to the cathode electrode () in each single fuel cell ().

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a control valve and a controller. The controller controls the control valve to periodically increase and decrease the anode gas pressure downstream of the control valve. The controller executes a shutdown/restart operation of the fuel cell by closing the control valve to stop the anode gas and shutting down power generation of the fuel cell upon receiving a shutdown command, and restarting feeding of the anode gas and restarting the power generation upon a prescribed operation restart condition being met. The controller estimates an anode gas concentration at a location where the anode gas concentration is locally lower within a power generation region of the fuel cell based on a control state of the anode gas when the shutdown command is issued. The controller sets the prescribed operation restart condition for executing the shutdown/restart operation based on the anode gas concentration.

Fuel cell device comprising a controller including an execution condition setting section

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a control valve and a controller. The controller controls the control valve to periodically increase and decrease the anode gas pressure downstream of the control valve. The controller executes a shutdown operation of the fuel cell by closing the control valve to stop the anode gas and shutting down power generation of the fuel cell upon receiving a shutdown command. The controller estimates an anode gas concentration at a location where the anode gas concentration is locally lower within a power generation region of the fuel cell based on a control state of the anode gas at a time the shutdown command is issued. The controller determines whether to permit or prohibit shutting down the power generating operation based on the anode gas concentration.

A fuel cell system includes a controller that estimates or detects an air replacement state of a fuel electrode and a hydrogen circulation path while the operation of the fuel cell system is stopped. Upon starting the fuel cell system, the controller changes the order in which the operation of a hydrogen circulation pump is started and a hydrogen pressure regulator is opened to start the supply of hydrogen gas on the basis of the estimated or detected air replacement state, thereby preventing deterioration caused by uneven distribution of air and hydrogen in the fuel electrode.

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Vancouver, Canada

Shinichi Makino