An output performance recovering device for a fuel cell includes: a diagnosis unit configured to determine whether it is necessary to recover a catalyst of a fuel cell mounted as a power source for traveling in a vehicle from short-term performance deterioration; a recovery unit configured to control a voltage of the fuel cell and to perform recovery processing for recovering the catalyst from the short-term performance deterioration; a calculation unit configured to calculate a parameter correlated with a predicted output value of the fuel cell which has been predicted to be output on a scheduled traveling route of the vehicle based on a gradient of the scheduled traveling route of the vehicle and a predicted vehicle speed of the vehicle on the scheduled traveling route; and a determination unit configured to determine whether the parameter indicates the predicted output value is greater than a first threshold value.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell connected to a main bus through a converter, an auxiliary power supply connected in parallel to the main bus at an output side of the converter, and a controller electrically connected to the converter and configured to control the converter to adjust output of the fuel cell by changing a target input voltage of the converter, configured to increase the target input voltage of the converter when an output voltage of the converter is a set maximum value or more than the set maximum value, and configured to decrease the target input voltage of the converter when the output voltage of the converter is a set minimum value or less the set minimum value. Furthermore, a method of controlling the fuel cell system is disclosed.

The present disclosure relates to a fuel cell system and an aircraft equipped with a fuel cell system. The aircraft may have a fuselage elongated in a front-rear direction, a front horizontal stabilizer towards a front of the fuselage, main wings extending to opposite sides of the fuselage, a rear horizontal stabilizer towards a rear of the fuselage, the fuel cell system rear to the main wings and a controller. The fuel cell system may be configured to provide electrical energy for driving a motor on each of the main wings. The controller may be configured to cause transmission of electrical energy from the fuel cell system to the motor. A center of gravity of the aircraft may be near front edges of the main wings. A flow rate of air into the fuel cell system may be controlled in response to an outside air condition.

A fuel cell system incorporated in a vehicle includes a fuel cell that uses a reaction gas to generate electric power and a controller. When output restriction that restricts the electric power output by the fuel cell is performed, (a) the controller does not store a content of the performed output restriction as a history in a case where a throttle opening of a throttle is smaller than an opening threshold or an output request is smaller than an output threshold, the output request being issued to the fuel cell and set in accordance with the throttle opening, and (b) the controller stores the content of the performed output restriction as a history in a case where a condition specified in advance is satisfied while the throttle opening is greater than the opening threshold and the output request is greater than the output threshold.

Systems, methods, and devices which optimize fuel-cell stack airflow control are described. According to aspects of the present disclosure, actuation of at least one cathode-flow actuator is initialized to an initial state based on a desired oxygen flowrate to operate the fuel-cell stack in a voltage-controlled mode, a stack current produced by the fuel-cell stack is determined that corresponds to operation at the actuation of the cathode-flow actuators, a flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack is calculated based on the stack current, the flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack is compared to the desired oxygen flowrate exiting the fuel-cell stack, and actuation of at least one of the cathode-flow actuators is modified in response to the flowrate of oxygen being different from the desired oxygen flowrate. The modified actuation reduces the difference between the desired oxygen flowrate and the flowrate of oxygen exiting the fuel-cell stack.

The fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell unit including first and second fuel cells connected to each other in parallel; a supply system that supplies a reactant gas to the fuel cell unit; a required output power obtainment unit configured to obtain required output power to the fuel cell unit; a supply system control unit configured to control the supply system such that output power of the fuel cell unit is the required output power; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied; and a performance obtainment unit configured to obtain output power performance of the first fuel cell.

A vehicle structure of a fuel cell vehicle including: hydrogen tanks; a set of cases that house the hydrogen tanks at a roof side and an underfloor side respectively, and that respectively have, in a vehicle longitudinal direction, mouthpieces of a connecting pipe that is connected to the hydrogen tanks; a center module in which the set of cases is provided; a front module that is joined to a vehicle front side of the center module; a rear module that is joined to a vehicle rear side of the center module; a fuel cell stack that is provided at the front module or the rear module, and to which the hydrogen is supplied from a pipe connected to the mouthpieces; a control unit that is provided at the front module or the rear module; and a driving unit that is provided at the front module or the rear module.

A fuel cell system includes: a first fuel cell; a second fuel cell having a greater maximum power output than the first fuel cell; and a controller configured to cause the first fuel cell to generate greater electric power greater than the second fuel cell when the requested power is smaller than a first threshold, cause the second fuel cell to generate greater electric power than the first fuel cell when the requested power is a second threshold, which is the first threshold or greater and smaller than a third threshold that is greater than the second threshold, is 70% of the maximum power output of the second fuel cell or grater, and is 100% of the maximum power output of the second fuel cell or smaller, and cause both the first and second fuel cells to generate electric power when the requested power is the third threshold or greater.

A stack case of a fuel cell system includes a case body, a first end cover, and a second end cover. A recess is formed in an upper surface of the case body. An interruption control unit as an electrical equipment unit is placed in the recess. A plurality of first screw holes are formed in one end surface of the case body, and a plurality of second screw holes are formed in the other end surface of the case body. A first screw hole aligned with a recess in a direction in which a plurality of power generation cells are stacked together penetrates through the case body from one end surface of the case body to a side surface of the recess.

A dual chamber solid oxide fuel cell integrated into the exhaust stream of an internal combustion engine, in which engine exhaust gases are routed to the anode of a tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and heated secondary air is supplied to the cathode of the SOFC. The secondary air supply is heated using the existing engine temperature and exhaust gas temperature through a heat exchanger formed by a modified cylinder head and exhaust manifold. The dual chamber solid oxide fuel provides the necessary hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide scrubbing to achieve mandatory catalytic conversion for vehicle operation. In addition, the dual chamber solid oxide fuel cell is capable of generating sufficient electrical power for the vehicle. Omission of conventional catalytic convertors and alternators allows for improved efficiency and fuel economy of the internal combustion engine.