Monitoring system for fuel cell stack
First Claim
1. A monitoring system for at least a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cell units, comprising:
- a central operator electrically connected to said fuel cell stack to administrate an operation of said fuel cell stack; and
a monitoring device, comprising;
a plurality of monitoring sensors electrically connecting to said fuel cell units of the fuel cell stack respectively so as to measure a voltage of each of said fuel cell units; and
a MCU (Micro-Chip-Unit), which is electrically connected to said monitoring sensors, sequentially and circularly switching each neighboring pair of said monitoring sensors for reading said voltage of said respective fuel cell unit until said voltage of a last one of said fuel cell units is read, wherein said MCU comprises an A/D converter converting said voltage into a digital message, and a CAN (control area network) bus port allowing a CAN bus electrically coupled to said MCU and said central operator to transmit said digital message to said central operator, wherein said central operator is arranged in such a manner that when said digital message of said respective fuel cell unit exceeds a safety range, said central operator generates an alert signal for indicating an abnormal operation of the respective fuel cell unit of the fuel cell stack.
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Abstract
A monitoring system includes a plurality of monitoring devices adjacently provided to a group of integrated fuel cell stacks for measuring a voltage of the fuel cell units. Each of the monitoring devices includes a plurality of monitoring sensors adapted for electrically connecting to a predetermined set of fuel cell units and a MCU (Micro-Chip-Unit) for sequentially and circularly switching each two neighboring monitoring sensors for reading the voltage of each respective fuel cell. A CAN bus is provided for electrically and collectively interconnecting the monitoring devices with a central operator which is arranged in such a manner that when said the voltage of the respective fuel cell unit exceeds a safety range, the central operator generates an alert signal for indicating an abnormal operation of the respective fuel cell.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A monitoring system for at least a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cell units, comprising:
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a central operator electrically connected to said fuel cell stack to administrate an operation of said fuel cell stack; and
a monitoring device, comprising;
a plurality of monitoring sensors electrically connecting to said fuel cell units of the fuel cell stack respectively so as to measure a voltage of each of said fuel cell units; and
a MCU (Micro-Chip-Unit), which is electrically connected to said monitoring sensors, sequentially and circularly switching each neighboring pair of said monitoring sensors for reading said voltage of said respective fuel cell unit until said voltage of a last one of said fuel cell units is read, wherein said MCU comprises an A/D converter converting said voltage into a digital message, and a CAN (control area network) bus port allowing a CAN bus electrically coupled to said MCU and said central operator to transmit said digital message to said central operator, wherein said central operator is arranged in such a manner that when said digital message of said respective fuel cell unit exceeds a safety range, said central operator generates an alert signal for indicating an abnormal operation of the respective fuel cell unit of the fuel cell stack. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A monitoring system for integrated fuel cell stacks each having a plurality of fuel cell units, comprising:
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a central operator electrically connected to said integrated fuel cell stacks to administrate an operation of said fuel cell stacks; and
a plurality of monitoring devices adjacently provided to said integrated fuel cell stacks to measure a voltage of each of said fuel cell units, wherein each of said monitoring devices comprises a plurality of monitoring sensors electrically connecting to said fuel cell units in such a manner that said fuel cell units are respectively monitored by said monitoring devices, and a MCU (Micro-Chip-Unit), which is electrically connected to said monitoring sensor, sequentially and circularly switching each neighboring pair of said monitoring sensors to read said voltage of said respective fuel cell unit until said voltage of a last one of said fuel cell units is read, said MCU comprises an A/D converter converting said voltage into a digital message and a CAN (control area network) bus port; and
a CAN bus electrically and collectively interconnecting said monitoring devices with said central operator for transmitting said digital messages to said central operator, wherein said central operator is arranged in such a manner that when said digital message of said respective fuel cell unit exceeds a safety range, said central operator generates an alert signal for indicating an abnormal operation of the respective fuel cell unit of the fuel cell stack. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of monitoring at least a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cell units, comprising said steps of:
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(a) communicatively connecting a plurality of monitoring sensors to a MCU and said fuel cell units of said fuel cell stack respectively;
(b) sequentially and circularly switching each neighboring pair of said monitoring sensors for reading a voltage of the respective fuel cell unit until said voltage of a last one of said fuel cell unit is read;
(c) digitally converting and processing said voltage of said fuel cell units via said MCU to obtain a digital message;
(d) transmitting the digital message to a central operator via a CAN bus;
(e) diagnosing said digital message of said fuel cell units, wherein when said voltage value of said respective fuel cell exceeds a safety range, said central operator generates an alert signal for indicating an abnormal operation of said respective fuel cell unit of said fuel cell stack. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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Specification