A pump for a fuel cell includes a pump portion, a motor, a controller, a housing, and a temperature detector. The controller executes an activation control and a sensorless vector control. In the activation control, the controller executes a cold activation mode process when the outside air temperature is less than or equal to a set temperature. In the cold activation mode process, the controller executes at least one of increasing a value of an activation current supplied to the motor relative to when a normal activation mode process is executed or setting a supply duration of the activation current to the motor to be longer than that of when the normal activation mode process is executed.

The invention relates to a control device (10) for a fuel cell stack (14), the control device being set up to actuate the fuel cell stack (14) using a predetermined current (I.sub.V) and to measure the resulting voltage (U) and to compare this with a reference voltage (U.sub.R). The predetermined current (I.sub.V) depends on the reference voltage (U.sub.R) by means of a sum of at least two exponential functions whose argument in each case contains the reference voltage (U.sub.R). The control device (10) is designed to ascertain the reference voltage (U.sub.R) by approximately reversing the correlation between the predetermined current and the reference voltage (U.sub.R) using an iterative approximation algorithm.

The invention relates to a control device (10) for a fuel cell stack (14), the control device being set up to actuate the fuel cell stack (14) using a predetermined current (I.sub.V) and to measure the resulting voltage (U) and to compare this with a reference voltage (U.sub.R). The predetermined current (I.sub.V) depends on the reference voltage (U.sub.R) by means of a sum of at least two exponential functions whose argument in each case contains the reference voltage (U.sub.R). The control device (10) is designed to ascertain the reference voltage (U.sub.R) by approximately reversing the correlation between the predetermined current and the reference voltage (U.sub.R) using an iterative approximation algorithm.

An electric energy supply system having at least one cell element, which contains at least one galvanic cell, and having a measuring circuit, which is configured to ascertain at least one parameter of the at least one cell element by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The disclosure provides that the energy supply system comprises an electrochemical gas sensor and the gas sensor is connected to the measuring circuit via a toggle switch, wherein the measuring circuit is configured to apply an electric variable as the excitation variable in the gas sensor and to detect another electric variable as the measured variable at the gas sensor and to ascertain a gas concentration in the surroundings of the gas sensor.

An electric energy supply system having at least one cell element, which contains at least one galvanic cell, and having a measuring circuit, which is configured to ascertain at least one parameter of the at least one cell element by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The disclosure provides that the energy supply system comprises an electrochemical gas sensor and the gas sensor is connected to the measuring circuit via a toggle switch, wherein the measuring circuit is configured to apply an electric variable as the excitation variable in the gas sensor and to detect another electric variable as the measured variable at the gas sensor and to ascertain a gas concentration in the surroundings of the gas sensor.

A method of determining a preconditioning status of a vehicle component or system.

The method includes receiving a preconditioning status request for a vehicle component or system;

determining the preconditioning status by a preconditioning model estimating the preconditioning status without activating the corresponding vehicle component or system.

A linear time varying model predictive control (LTV-MPC) framework is developed for degradation-conscious control of automotive polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems. A reduced-order nonlinear model of the entire system is derived first. This nonlinear model is then successively linearized about the current operating point to obtain a linear model. The linear model is utilized to formulate the control problem using a rate-based MPC formulation. The controller objective is to ensure offset-free tracking of the power demand, while maximizing the overall system efficiency and enhancing its durability. To this end, the fuel consumption and the power loss due to auxiliary equipment are minimized. Moreover, the internal states of the fuel cell stack are constrained to avoid harmful conditions that are known stressors of the fuel cell components.

A linear time varying model predictive control (LTV-MPC) framework is developed for degradation-conscious control of automotive polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems. A reduced-order nonlinear model of the entire system is derived first. This nonlinear model is then successively linearized about the current operating point to obtain a linear model. The linear model is utilized to formulate the control problem using a rate-based MPC formulation. The controller objective is to ensure offset-free tracking of the power demand, while maximizing the overall system efficiency and enhancing its durability. To this end, the fuel consumption and the power loss due to auxiliary equipment are minimized. Moreover, the internal states of the fuel cell stack are constrained to avoid harmful conditions that are known stressors of the fuel cell components.

A fuel cell recovery control system and method are provided to supply hydrogen to the cathode of a fuel cell stack to remove an oxide film formed on a platinum surface of the cathode. The performance of the fuel cell stack is recovered in accordance with the oxide film removal. In addition, electric power generated during the performance recovery of the fuel cell stack is consumed in an inverter and, as such, overcharge of a battery is prevented.

A fuel cell recovery control system and method are provided to supply hydrogen to the cathode of a fuel cell stack to remove an oxide film formed on a platinum surface of the cathode. The performance of the fuel cell stack is recovered in accordance with the oxide film removal. In addition, electric power generated during the performance recovery of the fuel cell stack is consumed in an inverter and, as such, overcharge of a battery is prevented.