A power conditioning system includes a fuel cell connected to a load, a fuel cell converter connected between the fuel cell and the load and converting an output voltage of the fuel cell at a predetermined required voltage ratio, and a battery connected to the load in parallel to the fuel cell and serving as a power supply source different from the fuel cell. The power conditioning system includes an impedance measuring device configured to measure an impedance of the fuel cell by outputting alternating currents between a positive electrode and an intermediate point of the fuel cell and between the intermediate point and a negative electrode of the fuel cell, and a current bypass path configured to couple the fuel cell and the load while bypassing the fuel cell converter. The power conditioning system includes a current cut-off unit configured to provide on the current bypass path, the current cut-off unit electrically cutting off the current bypass path when the impedance of the fuel cell is measured by the impedance measuring device.

In one embodiment, a redox flow battery includes an electrochemical cell in fluid communication with anolyte and catholyte working electrolytes, and a primary OCV cell to measure the potential difference between the positive and negative working electrolyte, and a reference OCV cell to measure the potential difference between the reference cell working electrolyte, which is one of the anolyte and catholyte working electrolytes, and a reference electrolyte, wherein the reference electrolyte has a known potential. In another embodiment, a method of operating a redox flow battery includes calculating the potential values of the anolyte and catholyte working electrolytes based on the known potential values of the reference electrolyte and the first and second potential difference values obtained from the primary OCV cell and the reference OCV cell.

An electric power control apparatus is for a fuel cell system including an impedance measurement unit that measures an impedance of the fuel cell based on a current and a voltage measured when alternating-current electric power is superimposed on output electric power of the fuel cell. A processor of the electric power control apparatus: estimates a remaining capacity of the electric power storage device after execution of a process of measuring the impedance; performs charging and discharging of the electric power storage device before start of the process of measuring the impedance, to make the estimated remaining capacity fall within a predetermined range from a lower limit value to an upper limit value; and controls electric power generation of the fuel cell to make a generated current of the fuel cell constant, during the execution of the process of measuring the impedance.

Disclosed is a method of controlling operation of a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell stack provided with a reversal tolerance anode (RTA), in which a reaction state in the fuel cell stack is diagnosed based on cell voltage behavior of the fuel cell stack, and operation according to the diagnosed reaction state is executed upon a cold start of the fuel cell stack, so as to prevent damage to the fuel cell stack and degradation of performance of the fuel cell stack.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell including an electrolyte membrane, a sensor configured to measure a temperature of the fuel cell, and a controller. The controller is configured to cause the fuel cell to perform a wet operation to increase a water balance at a cathode of the fuel cell to a value higher than a water balance at the cathode during a normal operation of the fuel cell, when the temperature of the fuel cell measured by the sensor is maintained at a first threshold temperature or higher for a prescribed period of time or longer and then the temperature of the fuel cell decreases to below a second threshold temperature that is equal to or lower than the first threshold temperature.

A state detection device for fuel cell includes a supposed high-frequency impedance value setting unit configured to set a supposed high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to an arc region of an impedance curve of the fuel cell, an actually measured high-frequency impedance value calculation unit configured to obtain an actually measured high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to a non-arc region of the impedance curve of the fuel cell, and an ionomer resistance estimation unit configured to estimate a value obtained by subtracting the actually measured high-frequency impedance value from the supposed high-frequency impedance value as an ionomer resistance value. The supposed high-frequency impedance value setting unit sets a value of an intersection of an equivalent circuit impedance curve set on the basis of the impedance measurement value belonging to the arc region and a real ads as the supposed high-frequency impedance value.

In the present disclosure, a method, an apparatus, and a system for collecting carbon using a fuel cell principle are disclosed. More specifically, the carbon capture device may comprise an air cartridge in which a gas including a carbon component is introduced; a fuel cartridge in which a fuel is injected; a fuel cell stack; a fuel supply line for supplying the fuel between the fuel cartridge and the fuel cell stack; and a controller, wherein the fuel cell stack may include: an anode unit including a fuel electrode for performing an oxidation reaction of the fuel supplied from the fuel supply line; a cathode unit including an air electrode for performing a reduction reaction of the gas introduced from the air cartridge; and an electrolyte unit including an electrolyte for transferring metal ions generated by the oxidation reaction of the fuel between the anode unit and the cathode unit. Various embodiments for collecting carbon and generating energy are disclosed.

In order to make a power generation quantity of a cell for fuel cell increase in a short time when a drop in moistness of the cell causes the power generation quantity of the cell to decrease, a cathode of the cell includes a conductive material, catalyst, and ionomer which covers the conductive material and catalyst. If an output voltage value of the cell is lower than a predetermined threshold voltage value and an electrical resistance value of the cell is higher than a predetermined threshold resistance value, control for increasing an oxidizing gas amount which increases an amount of oxidizing gas sent to the cell is performed.

A fuel cell system includes: a low-frequency superimposition section superimposing a the low-frequency signal on a fuel cell; and an impedance computation section configured to compute low-frequency impedance of the fuel cell at a time when the low-frequency superimposition section superimposes the low-frequency signal on the fuel cell. The fuel cell system includes: a diagnosing section diagnosing a degree of dryness inside the fuel cell on the basis of low-frequency impedance; and an oxidant gas amount adjustment section configured to adjust an amount of oxidant gas in the fuel cell. The diagnosing section is configured to diagnose the degree of dryness inside the fuel cell on the basis of the low-frequency impedance when the oxidant gas amount adjustment section adjusts the amount of the oxidant gas to be equal to or smaller than a reference gas amount.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell for generating electrical power upon being supplied with anode gas and cathode gas. The fuel cell system includes a wetness control state determination unit that determines whether or not a wetness control of controlling a degree of wetness of an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell is normally executed, a combined capacitance calculation unit that calculates a combined capacitance of the fuel cell, and an anode gas concentration control unit that determines the occurrence of decrease in an anode gas concentration in the fuel cell or executes a control for increasing the anode gas concentration if the combined capacitance of the fuel cell is smaller than a predetermined value when the wetness control is determined to be normally executed.