Hybrid fuel battery system and the operation method thereof
First Claim
1. A hybrid fuel cell system comprising:
- a fuel cell for generating electric power by reacting fuel gas and oxidant gas;
current restricting means for restricting an output current of said fuel cell;
a storage cell connected parallel to a series circuit comprising said fuel cell and said current restricting means for helping the fuel cell to supply electric power to an external load;
external load fluctuation detecting means for detecting a fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load; and
current limitation adjusting means for following the fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load by changing the restriction of the output current of the fuel cell which is made by said current restricting means, with the passage of time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hybrid fuel cell system including a fuel cell for generating electric power by reacting fuel gas and oxidant gas, current restricting structure for restricting an output current of the fuel cell, a storage cell connected parallel to a series circuit comprising the fuel cell and the current restricting structure for helping the fuel cell to supply electric power to an external load, external load fluctuation detecting structure for detecting a fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load and current limitation adjusting structure for following the fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load by changing the restriction of the output current of the fuel cell which is made by the current restricting structure, with the passage of time.
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Citations
14 Claims
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1. A hybrid fuel cell system comprising:
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a fuel cell for generating electric power by reacting fuel gas and oxidant gas; current restricting means for restricting an output current of said fuel cell; a storage cell connected parallel to a series circuit comprising said fuel cell and said current restricting means for helping the fuel cell to supply electric power to an external load; external load fluctuation detecting means for detecting a fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load; and current limitation adjusting means for following the fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load by changing the restriction of the output current of the fuel cell which is made by said current restricting means, with the passage of time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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8. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 7 wherein said voltage limitation adjusting means operates to make the fuel cell charge the storage cell when the current limitation adjusting means make the fuel cell supply the entire current to the external load.
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9. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 8 further comprising a storage cell temperature detecting means, wherein said voltage limitation adjusting means corrects the output voltage of the DC/DC converter according to a temperature of the storage cell detected by the storage cell temperature detecting means.
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10. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 9 wherein said voltage limitation adjusting means operates the following corrections, in which T refers to a detected temperature of the storage cell, T1 a first fixed temperature, and T2 a second fixed temperature (T2 >
- T1);
in the case of T≦
T1, a first voltage value is generated;in the case of T=T2, a second voltage value, which is smaller than the first one, is generated; and in the case of T2 <
T<
T2, the output voltage of the DC/DC converter gradually decreases.
- T1);
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11. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 10 wherein the gate terminal of said DC/DC converter selects the more active control signal of a) said current limitation adjusting means and b) said voltage limitation adjusting means.
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12. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 1 further comprising a channel for supplying fuel gas to the fuel cell comprising a reforming device for reforming fuel gas into gas enriched with hydrogen and a fuel supply valve for controlling a quantity of fuel gas supplied to the reforming device,
wherein an opening of the valve is set in response to an output current value of the fuel cell. -
13. The hybrid fuel cell system of claim 12 further comprising:
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a reforming device temperature detector for detecting a temperature of a catalytic layer of the reforming device; and a fuel supply valve opening correcting means for correcting the opening of said fuel supply valve responding to the result detected by the reforming device temperature detector, wherein fuel supply valve opening correcting means corrects the valve in a direction of opening when the temperature of the catalytic layer is higher than a standard temperature, and corrects in the valve in a direction of closing when the temperature of the catalytic layer is lower than the standard temperature, and holds the valve with a fixed opening when the temperature of the catalytic layer is the same as the standard temperature.
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14. An operation method of a hybrid fuel cell system, the hybrid fuel cell system constructed to supply electric power to an external load including a series circuit of a fuel cell and current restricting means for restricting an output current of the fuel cell to which a storage cell is connected, comprising the steps of:
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detecting a fluctuation in the current demanded by the external load; and changing the restriction of the output current of the fuel cell which is made by said current restricting means, with the passage of time.
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Specification