A fuel cell equipped vehicle system in which an external power supply is coupled to an electric power supply line, the electric power supply line being coupled to a fuel cell, an electric power being input/output to/from a vehicular battery through the electric power supply line, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system performing an insulation test of the electric power supply line before charging the vehicular battery, the fuel cell equipped vehicle system including an insulation test unit configured to perform the insulation test of the electric power supply line; a switch that couples and cuts off between the fuel cell and the electric power supply line; and a control unit configured to control a coupling and a cutoff to/from the electric power supply line of the vehicular battery and control the switch, wherein the control unit is configured to cut off the vehicular battery from the electric power supply line and control the switch to cut off the fuel cell from the electric power supply line, and then drive the insulation test unit.

A control method for a fuel cell system including a solid oxide fuel cell, an anode gas and a cathode gas being supplied to the fuel cell, the fuel cell performing electric generation corresponding to a load, the fuel cell system controlling gas supply to the fuel cell and the electric generation. The control method including: an electric generating operation step of controlling flow rates of the anode gas and the cathode gas that flow into the fuel cell depending on a magnitude of the load; and a self-sustained operation step of causing the fuel cell to perform self-sustained operation when the load is equal to or less than a predetermined value. The self-sustained operation step includes a gas supply step of supplying the anode gas with a predetermined flow rate and the cathode gas with a predetermined flow rate to the fuel cell.

A fuel cell device is improved for operating conditions during a partial load operation. The fuel cell device comprises a cell stack formed by electrically connecting fuel cells for generating power by fuel gas and oxygen-containing gas; a fuel gas supply unit for supplying the fuel gas to the fuel cells; and a power adjustment unit for adjusting the amount of current that is supplied to an external load and a controller for controlling the fuel gas supply unit and the power adjustment unit. The controller adjusts, during the partial load operation of the fuel cell device and when the fuel gas supplied to the cell stack is at low flow rate. The a relationship between a fuel utilization rate of the cell stack and the amount of power generated by the cell stack can be nonlinear.

A computer system and a method for controlling a power system of a vehicle is disclosed. The power system includes a fuel cell system and an energy storage system comprising one or more batteries. The method includes predicting an upcoming driving event associated with a start time and a time duration, the driving event being an event during which the vehicle is expected to be operated under a load condition. The method further includes determining a preferred operating condition of the fuel cell system during the predicted upcoming driving event based on the load condition and on the time duration, and controlling the power system by performing a preparation action associated with the power system in dependence of the determined operating condition of the fuel system before the start time of the predicted upcoming driving event.

A method is for operating a commercial vehicle having a fuel cell system and an electromotive drive. The method includes: supplying reactants to a fuel cell of the fuel cell system, wherein the fuel cell is adapted to be operated at a changeable working point, activation of the fuel cell such that, via reaction of the supplied reactants, electrical energy is generated at a generated power, intermediate storage of the generated electrical energy at the corresponding power in a buffer store, and driving of the electromotive drive by withdrawal of electrical energy from the buffer store at a corresponding power. The method can further include: determination of weight information that is representative of the load state of the commercial vehicle, and adaptation of the working point in dependence on the determined weight information.

A method for manufacturing a metal plate including a rolling step for rolling a metal material provided with a penetration space passing through the metal material in a thickness direction to reduce the thickness of the metal material and reduce the area of a surface opening formed in the surface of the metal material by the penetration space, thereby producing a plate-like metal plate.

This method for detecting a hydrogen leak applies to a fuel cell system (10) comprising a fuel cell (12); a hydrogen supply system (30) comprising a reservoir (32) and the supply circuit (34) connecting the reservoir to the anode compartment (16) of the fuel cell and comprising an ejector (36) of Venturi type; a recirculation circuit (60) for recirculating unconsumed hydrogen between the anode compartment of the cell and the Venturi-type ejector (36), the recirculation being driven by the Venturi-effect ejector. The method comprises steps involving calculating the total flow rate of hydrogen consumed; calculating the flow rate of hydrogen admitted to the ejector; determining the leak rate as the difference between the flowrate of hydrogen admitted and the total flow rate of hydrogen consumed; and detecting a potential leak of hydrogen by comparing the leak rate against at least a threshold value, such that the method detects all of the hydrogen leaks that occur in the system downstream of the ejector.

A controller for a power generation system, wherein the power generation system comprises: a power outlet, a fuel cell that is configured to selectively provide power for the power outlet; a battery that is configured to selectively provide power for the power outlet; and an inverter for converting a DC voltage that is provided by the fuel cell into an inverter-AC-voltage for providing to the power outlet. The controller is configured to: receive a system-load-signal that represents the amount of power that is required by an external load that is connected to the power outlet; receive one or more fuel-cell-parameters that represent one or more operating parameters of the fuel cell; and provide a fuel-cell-power-control-signal based on the system-load-signal and the one or more fuel-cell-parameters, wherein the fuel-cell-power-control-signal is for setting a control-parameter of the fuel cell and/or is for setting a control parameter of the inverter.

A fuel cell system including a plurality of fuel cell stacks includes a control unit configured to, when a part of the fuel cell stacks is replaced, set a first output of a replaced fuel cell stack to differ from a second output of another unreplaced fuel cell stack.

A fuel cell system arranged to supply electric power to an actuator via an electric power circuit includes an anode and a cathode. A hydrogen delivery system is arranged to supply pressurized hydrogen to the anode, and has a jet pump including an injector nozzle and an ejector. The jet pump channels pressurized hydrogen from a hydrogen tank to the fuel cell. The ejector includes a venturi tube, a mixing chamber, and a secondary flow element, wherein the secondary flow element includes a first duct and a bypass duct. The venturi tube has a first fluidic inlet that is proximal to the injector nozzle, and a second fluidic inlet that is downstream from the injector nozzle of the venturi tube. The first duct is fluidly coupled to the first fluidic inlet, and the bypass duct is fluidly coupled to the second fluidic inlet of the venturi tube.