JP2004095345A - Fuel cell electric vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent structural units composing a fuel cell system and having inferior heat resistance from being exposed to structural units generating heat, without providing additional components such as a heat shielding plate and the like. <P>SOLUTION: When arranging structural units composing the fuel cell system including a secondary battery 12, such as a fuel cell 8, a reforming device 9, an air system auxiliary machine 10, a fuel tank 11, the secondary battery 12, and a driving module 13 under the floor of a vehicle, they are divided to a structural unit group 21 composed of the fuel cell 8, the reforming device 9, and the air system auxiliary machine 10 which generate high temperatures, and a structural unit group 22 composed of the secondary battery 12 and the driving module 13 which have inferior heat resistance, and the unit group 21 generating high temperatures and the unit group 22 having inferior heat resistance are mounted under the floor of the vehicle by separating them right and left in the horizontal direction (vehicle width direction) of the vehicle. At this point, they are separately arranged so that the unit group 21 generating high temperatures is positioned at the right side where a driving motor 6 generating a large amount of heat is positioned in the horizontal direction of the vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle, and more particularly to a measure against heat of a unit having poor heat resistance among units constituting a fuel cell system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A fuel cell system, which is a main component of a fuel cell vehicle, is composed of a number of units, some of which are relatively heavy, such as a fuel cell or a secondary battery, and some of which are relatively light. In addition, there are constituent units that become high in temperature, such as a fuel cell and a reformer, and there are constituent units, such as a secondary battery, that have a thermally low allowable value.
Conventionally, regarding the arrangement of the heavy constituent unit and the light constituent unit, the arrangement of the heavy constituent unit and the light constituent unit is changed so that the left-right balance of the vehicle weight is improved as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-077553. As a technique, a technique for suppressing an adverse effect on steering stability and turning performance of a vehicle has already been proposed.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the conventional arrangement of the constituent units is not an arrangement in consideration of heat resistance, it is necessary to install a heat shield plate for heat resistance of the constituent units having inferior heat resistance, and the heat of the constituent units that emits high temperature is generated in the vicinity. It is necessary to install a partition plate for blocking so as not to affect the constituent units. As a result, there is a problem that the weight and cost increase, and the cabin and trunk space are reduced due to an increase in the space for mounting components.
[0004]
The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned problems of weight increase, cost increase, and space by enabling the heat resistance of a component unit having inferior heat resistance to be secured without requiring additional components for heat insulation as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel cell vehicle.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
To this end, a fuel cell vehicle according to the invention is provided,
Units constituting a fuel cell system for driving wheels are separated into a unit group that emits high temperature and a unit group that is inferior in heat resistance and are mounted on the vehicle body in the lateral direction of the vehicle body.
[0006]
【The invention's effect】
According to such a fuel cell vehicle of the present invention, the constituent units of the fuel cell system are divided into a unit group that generates high temperature and a unit group that is inferior in heat resistance, and these unit groups are separated in the left-right direction of the vehicle. Because it was installed under the vehicle floor,
The component units that generate high temperature and the component units that are inferior in heat resistance do not line up in the front-rear direction of the vehicle.For example, the heat of the high-temperature generation unit disposed Influencing inferior component units can be avoided.
[0007]
Moreover, this effect was achieved by the grouping of the constituent units and the left and right separated arrangement of these two unit groups.
The above operation and effect can be achieved without requiring additional parts for heat shielding and heat insulation, and there is no increase in weight, cost and space due to the addition of parts.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a drive system of a fuel cell vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the fuel cell vehicle, and FIG.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, left and right rear wheels 3L, 3R suspended from a vehicle body (not shown) by suspension devices 1, 2 including suspension bushes 1a, 2a are driven wheels, and left and right front wheels 4L, 4L, 4R is configured as a front wheel drive vehicle driven by the drive unit 5.
[0009]
Here, the drive unit 5 includes a drive motor 6 and a speed reducer 7 arranged coaxially side by side, and the drive motor 6 and the speed reducer 7 arranged coaxially side by side are arranged such that the drive motor 6 is positioned on the right side of the vehicle and decelerated. The vehicle 7 is arranged on the left side of the vehicle, and is placed laterally at the front of the vehicle along the rotation axis of the left and right front wheels 4L, 4R.
The rotation from the drive motor 6 is decelerated by the speed reducer 7 and transmitted to the left and right front wheels 4L and 4R with increasing torque to drive these front wheels. At this time, the drive motor 6 generates heat.
[0010]
Electric power to the drive motor 6 is basically a fuel cell composed of a fuel cell 8, a reformer 9, an air system accessory 10, a fuel tank 11, a secondary battery 12, and a drive module 13. This is covered by the system as follows:
The reformer 9 is supplied with fuel from the fuel tank 11, reforms the fuel as described in detail later, separates hydrogen gas therefrom and supplies it to the fuel cell 8.
On the other hand, the air accessory 10 supplies the fuel cell 8 with clean air obtained by processing the air sucked from the air duct 14 as described later in detail.
The fuel cell 8 generates electric power based on the hydrogen gas from the reformer 9 and the clean air from the air auxiliary device 10, and uses the electric power to drive the drive motor 6 to drive the vehicle.
[0011]
By the way, when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal (not shown) greatly, for example, during rapid acceleration or the like, the power from the fuel cell 8 alone cannot cover all the necessary power, resulting in insufficient power.
At this time, the power of the secondary battery 12 is supplied to the driving motor 6 under the control of the driving module 13 to assist the driving force.
The secondary battery 12 and the drive module 13 also serve to store electric power from a regenerative brake that converts reverse driving force into electric energy when the vehicle is decelerated.
[0012]
The fuel cell 8, the reforming device 9 and the air system auxiliary device 10, particularly the fuel cell 8 and the reforming device 9, generate high heat and need to be cooled. For this purpose, a radiator 15 is provided, The pipe 16a is led to the fuel cell 8 and the reforming device 9, and the refrigerant flowing through the fuel cell 8 and the reforming device 9 is returned to the radiator 15 via the refrigerant return pipe 16b.
Since the drive motor 6 and the speed reducer 7 also generate high heat, they need to be cooled. A radiator 17 is provided for cooling the drive module 13 and the drive module 13, and a refrigerant supply pipe 18a is connected to the drive motor 6, the speed reducer 7 and After reaching the drive module 13, the refrigerant flowing through the drive motor 6, the speed reducer 7, and the drive module 13 is returned to the radiator 17 through the refrigerant return pipe 18 b.
[0013]
The reformer 9 and the pneumatic auxiliary 10 are shown in detail in FIG.
First, the reformer 9 will be described. The evaporator 201, the steam reforming reactor 202, the separator 203 incorporating the hydrogen separation membrane 203a, the cooler 204, the humidifier 205, and the compressor 206 , A circulation pump 207, a compressor 208, and a combustor 209.
Liquid fuel containing ethanol and water as components is stored in the fuel tank 11, and the evaporator 201 produces a vapor composed of water and ethanol from the liquid fuel.
The steam reforming reactor 202 converts this steam into a reformed gas composed of hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide gas.
The reformed gas is separated into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide gas by the hydrogen separation membrane 203a of the separation device 203, and the hydrogen gas is directed to the cooler 204 and the carbon monoxide gas is directed to the combustor 209.
After being cooled by the cooler 204, the hydrogen gas is humidified by the humidifier 205 and then supplied to the fuel cell 8.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 4, the pneumatic auxiliary device 10 includes a compressor 210, a cooler 211, and a humidifier 212.
The compressor 210 squeezes the air taken in from the air duct 14 (see FIG. 1) and sends it to the cooler 211. The air cooled by the cooler 211 is humidified by the humidifier 212, and the clean air is supplied to the fuel cell 8. To supply.
The fuel cell 8 generates electric power based on the hydrogen gas from the humidifier 205 and the air from the humidifier 212 and supplies the generated electric power to the drive motor 6.
At this time, of the exhaust hydrogen and the exhaust air discharged from the fuel cell 8, the exhaust hydrogen is condensed by the compressor 206 and then returned to the separation device 203 by the circulation pump 207 for circulating use. It is condensed, returned to the combustor 209 and recycled.
[0015]
The evaporator 201 in the reformer 9 generates exhaust gas during the above operation, and discharges the exhaust gas to the outside via the exhaust device 19 disposed in the lower part of the floor behind the vehicle body as shown in FIG.
Since the evaporator 201 in the reformer 9 generates heat during the above operation, it is cooled by the radiator 15 described above.
[0016]
In the fuel cell vehicle configured as described above, the constituent units of the fuel cell system including the secondary battery 12, that is, the fuel cell 8, the reformer 9, the air system auxiliary 10, the fuel tank 11, the secondary battery 12, and the drive The module 13 is disposed below the vehicle body floor 20 as clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In this arrangement, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9 and a component unit group 21 of the air system auxiliary equipment 10 and a component unit group 22 of the secondary battery 12 and the drive module 13 having poor heat resistance.
Since the occupied space of the fuel tank 11 is large and the installation place is limited, the fuel tank 11 is disposed in the middle of the rear part near the rear wheel suspension devices 1 and 2 in the vehicle width direction as before.
[0017]
The group 21 of component units that generate high temperature and the group 22 of component units that are inferior in heat resistance are separated in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) of the vehicle and mounted under the vehicle body floor. I do.
At this time, the unit group 21 that generates a high temperature is located on the side in the vehicle left-right direction (in the illustrated example, on the right side in the vehicle width direction as shown in FIG. 1) where the driving motor 6 having a large heat value is located, and on the opposite side in the vehicle width direction. The above-described separation arrangement is performed so that the unit group 22 having poor heat resistance is located at the same time.
[0018]
In mounting the unit groups 21 and 22 on the under-floor portion of the vehicle body, as shown in FIG. 3 regarding the pneumatic auxiliary device 10 and the secondary battery 12, they are housed in cases 23 and 24, respectively. , 24 are preferably mounted on side members 25, 26 on both sides of the vehicle body and a center member 27 at a middle position in the vehicle width direction by a bolt / nut device 28 or the like.
[0019]
In the present embodiment, a unit group 21 that generates a high temperature and a unit group 22 that is inferior in heat resistance are divided into groups as described above and arranged separately in the left-right direction (vehicle width direction) of the vehicle. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a wind guide plate 29 is interposed between the unit groups 21 and 22 to prevent the traveling wind during traveling of the vehicle from flowing heat between the unit groups 21 and 22.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the air guide plate 29 extends forward between the unit groups 21 and 22 beyond the drive motor 6 to the front of the vehicle so that the front end is located at the front edge of the drive motor storage chamber. And extend rearward to the rear end position of the fuel cell system.
As shown in FIG. 3, the air guide plate 29 is attached to the vehicle body center member 27 by a bolt / nut device 30 or the like, and its lower end extends below the fuel cell system.
[0020]
In the above-described fuel cell vehicle according to the present embodiment, the constituent units of the fuel cell system are divided into a unit group 21 that generates a high temperature and a unit group 22 that is inferior in heat resistance. Separated in the left and right direction of the vehicle and mounted under the vehicle floor,
The component units 8 to 10 that generate high temperatures and the component units 12 and 13 that are inferior in heat resistance do not line up in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. , Which can be prevented from affecting the structural units having poor heat resistance at the rear of the vehicle.
[0021]
In addition, since this function and effect is achieved by the grouping of the unit group 21 that generates high temperature and the unit group 22 that is inferior in heat resistance, and by the left and right separation arrangement of these two unit groups 21 and 22, heat shielding and heat insulation are achieved. The above-mentioned effects can be obtained without requiring additional parts for the above, and an increase in weight, cost and space due to the addition of parts can be avoided.
[0022]
Further, according to the present embodiment, the unit groups 21 and 22 are separately arranged in the vehicle left-right direction such that the unit group 21 that emits high temperature is located on the side in the vehicle left-right direction where the drive motor 6 is located.
It is also possible to prevent the heat generated by the drive motor 6 from traveling on the vehicle wind and reaching the unit group 22 having poor heat resistance, and the heat resistance of the unit group 22 can be further improved.
In addition, by including the secondary battery 12 and the drive module 13 in the unit group 22 having poor heat resistance, it is possible to prevent the performance of the secondary battery 12 and the drive module 13 that are weak to heat from being deteriorated by the influence of heat. can do.
[0023]
In the present embodiment, the wind guide plate 29 for preventing the hot air flow from flowing between these unit groups is interposed between the unit groups 21 and 22 which are arranged separately in the left and right direction of the vehicle body.
The heat of the high-temperature generating units 8 to 10 can be more reliably prevented from being carried by the traveling wind during traveling and reaching the constituent units 12 and 13 having inferior heat resistance. Can be.
In addition, since the baffle plate 29 extends forward beyond the drive motor 6 to the front edge of the drive motor storage compartment of the vehicle and rearward to the rear end position of the fuel system,
It is possible to more reliably prevent the heat of the drive motor 6 from being carried by the traveling wind during traveling and reaching the constituent units 12 and 13 having inferior heat resistance. Can be something.
[0024]
FIG. 5 shows a fuel cell vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the rear end portion 29a of the baffle plate 29 is further heated from the rear end position of the fuel cell system. The rear end bent portion 29a of the wind guide plate is bent between the unit group 21 and the rear wheel suspension devices 1 and 2 that generate a high temperature. The fuel tank 11 is disposed between the fuel tank 11 and the rear end bent portion 29a.
According to the present embodiment having such a configuration, the heat from the unit group 21 that generates a high temperature is transferred to the elastic bushes 1a and 2a of the rear wheel suspension devices 1 and 2 and the fuel tank 11 by the traveling wind. This can be prevented by the plate rear end bent portion 29a, and the heat resistance can be improved.
[0025]
FIG. 6 shows a fuel cell vehicle according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the lower end portion 29b of the baffle plate 29 is moved below the vehicle body beyond the fuel cell system by H1-H2. , And at least the lower protruding portion 29b of the air guide plate 29 is formed of an elastic body, and this is attached to the main body of the air guide plate 29 by a bolt / nut device 31 or the like.
When the lower end portion 29b of the baffle plate 29 is protruded downward from the vehicle body beyond the fuel cell system, the heat resistance of the structural units 12 and 13 having poor heat resistance, the fuel tank 11, and the elastic bushes 1a and 2a is reduced. The improvement in performance is even more pronounced.
Further, since at least the lower protruding portion 29b of the baffle plate 29 is formed of an elastic body, it is possible to prevent the baffle plate 29 from being damaged when the lower baffle portion 29b interferes with the road surface during traveling. Can be.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a fuel cell vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the fuel cell vehicle.
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view of the fuel cell vehicle.
FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a reformer and an air system auxiliary device in the fuel cell vehicle.
FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view similar to FIG. 1, showing a fuel cell vehicle according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional front view similar to FIG. 3, showing a fuel cell vehicle according to still another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 2 rear wheel suspension devices 1a, 2a elastic bushes 3L, 3R left and right rear wheels 4L, 4R left and right front wheels 5 drive unit 6 drive motor 7 reduction gear 8 fuel cell 9 reforming device 10 air system auxiliary equipment 11 fuel tank 12 secondary Battery 13 Drive module 14 Air duct 15 Radiator 16a Refrigerant supply pipe 16b Refrigerant return pipe 17 Radiator 18a Refrigerant supply pipe 18b Refrigerant return pipe 19 Exhaust device 20 Body floor 21 Unit group generating high temperature 22 Unit group inferior in heat resistance 23 Air system Auxiliary machine case 24 Secondary battery case 25, 26 Body side member 27 Body center member 29 Baffle plate 29a Bend portion of baffle plate rear end bent portion 29b Bending portion of baffle plate

Claims (8)

In a fuel cell vehicle equipped with a fuel cell system for driving wheels including a secondary battery under the floor of the vehicle body,
The constituent units of the fuel cell system are divided into a unit group that emits high temperature and a unit group that is inferior in heat resistance, and these two unit groups are separated in the left-right direction of the vehicle and mounted on the lower part of the vehicle body floor. Characteristic fuel cell vehicle. 2. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1, wherein a drive motor driven by electric power from the fuel cell system and a speed reducer that reduces the rotation of the drive motor and transmits the rotation to the front wheels are arranged side by side coaxially with the front wheels. A fuel cell vehicle, wherein the unit group that emits the high temperature is disposed on the side in the lateral direction of the vehicle where the drive motor is located. 3. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the unit group having poor heat resistance includes the secondary battery and a drive module that controls the supply of electric power of the secondary battery to the drive motor. A fuel cell vehicle characterized by the above-mentioned. The fuel cell vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a wind guide plate is interposed between the unit groups separately arranged in the left-right direction of the vehicle body to prevent a hot air flow from flowing between these unit groups. A fuel cell vehicle, wherein 5. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the baffle plate extends forward beyond the drive motor to a front end of a storage chamber of the drive motor, and extends rearward to a rear end position of the fuel system. A fuel cell vehicle characterized by being located. 6. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 5, wherein a rear end portion of the baffle plate is further bent in a vehicle lateral direction from a rear end position of the fuel cell system to a side where the unit group generating the high temperature exists. A fuel cell vehicle, wherein the rear end bent portion of the baffle plate is located between the unit group generating the high temperature and the rear wheel suspension device. 7. The fuel cell vehicle according to claim 6, wherein a fuel tank of the fuel cell system is disposed behind the bent portion of the rear end of the baffle plate. The fuel cell vehicle according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the baffle plate protrudes downward from the vehicle body beyond the fuel cell system, and at least the lower protruding portion of the baffle plate is made of an elastic body. A fuel cell vehicle, comprising:

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