Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Yoshihiro Funayama

Osamu Yumita

Naohiro Yoshida

Toshiyuki Kondo

Masahiko Hibino

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

Water contained in exhaust gas discharged from a fuel cell stackis separated by a gas-liquid separatorand 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 sonarsthrough, 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 tankfrom water outlets at the selected one or multiple positions among water outletsthroughat multiple different locations. This arrangement ensures adequate release of the water produced by the fuel cell stackto the atmosphere.

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Toyota, Japan

Yoshihiro Funayama