JP3863090B2 - Fuel cell vehicle remaining travel information notification device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, for example, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is configured by stacking a plurality of cells on a cell formed by sandwiching a polymer electrolyte membrane between a fuel electrode (anode) and an oxygen electrode (cathode) from both sides. The fuel electrode is supplied with hydrogen as a fuel, the oxygen electrode is supplied with air as an oxidant, and hydrogen ions generated by a catalytic reaction at the fuel electrode pass through the solid polymer electrolyte membrane. It moves to the oxygen electrode and generates electricity by causing an electrochemical reaction with oxygen at the oxygen electrode.
By the way, as a fuel cell vehicle in which such a fuel cell is mounted as a driving power source, conventionally, for example, a vehicle (for example, see Patent Document 1) that displays an output possible amount of the fuel cell, or an electric motor that uses the fuel cell as a power source, for example As for the driving state of a vehicle using a heat engine as a driving force source, a vehicle (for example, see Patent Document 2) that notifies various information such as a distance that can be traveled by an electric motor according to the amount of fuel for a fuel cell is known.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-229944 A [Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-231109
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the vehicle displaying the output possible amount of the fuel cell according to the above-described prior art, the output possible amount is only calculated based on, for example, the temperature of the fuel cell or the pressure of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell. In addition, there is a problem in that it is not possible to directly display information on the fuel consumption rate and the travelable distance required when driving the vehicle so that the vehicle occupant can easily recognize it.
Further, in the vehicle that reports the travelable distance according to the above-described prior art, the travelable distance is simply calculated according to the fuel amount for the fuel cell, that is, the remaining amount of fuel remaining in the fuel tank. For example, in a fuel cell system including a fuel circulation system that recirculates unused fuel discharged from the fuel cell to the fuel cell, the calculation error of the travelable distance and the fuel consumption rate increases excessively. There is a fear. For example, when calculating the distance that can be traveled by the fuel consumption and the remaining amount of fuel, the fuel consumption calculated based only on the amount of change in the remaining amount of fuel without considering the amount of fuel flowing through the fuel circulation system, The fuel consumption calculated based on the actual consumption in the fuel cell system is not equivalent, and there may be an error in the calculation result of the fuel consumption, that is, the fuel consumption rate, and the calculation accuracy of the travelable distance may be reduced. .
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle that can improve the calculation accuracy of the fuel consumption rate or the remaining travel distance.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1 of the present invention is a remaining travel information for a fuel cell vehicle equipped with a fuel cell as a driving power source. A notification device, consumption amount calculating means for calculating the amount of fuel consumed in the fuel cell (for example, step S01 in the embodiment), and a fuel supply system for supplying the fuel cell with the fuel An emission amount calculating means (for example, step S03 in the embodiment) for calculating an emission amount of the fuel discharged to the outside, the consumption amount calculated by the consumption amount calculating means, and the emission amount calculating means The total consumption amount calculating means (for example, step S04 in the embodiment) for calculating the total consumption amount of the fuel by adding the emission amount calculated by the above and the consumption amount calculated by the total consumption amount calculating means. Based on the total amount, it is calculated by the remaining travel information calculating means (for example, step S05 to step S07 in the embodiment) for calculating the remaining travel distance that is the fuel consumption rate or the travelable distance, and the remaining travel information calculating means. The fuel consumption rate or the remaining travel distance is notified to an occupant of the fuel cell vehicle (for example, step S05 or step S07 in the embodiment also serves), and the fuel is discharged outside the fuel supply system. And the discharge amount calculating means calculates the discharge amount based on at least an accumulated time during which the purge valve is kept open .
[0006]
According to the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle configured as described above, in addition to the amount of fuel consumed by the power generation of the fuel cell, the fuel discharged to the outside without contributing to the power generation of the fuel cell. By calculating the fuel consumption rate, for example, the fuel consumption based on the emission amount, the calculation accuracy of the fuel efficiency can be improved as compared with the case where the fuel consumption is calculated based on the generated current, for example. Further, the calculation accuracy of the remaining travel distance that can be calculated based on the remaining amount of fuel and the fuel consumption can be improved, and a more accurate fuel consumption rate or remaining travel distance can be notified to the vehicle occupant.
[0007]
Furthermore, the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to a second aspect of the present invention is a pressure detection means for detecting the pressure of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell (for example, a supply pressure sensor in the embodiment). 25), wherein the discharge amount calculating means calculates the discharge amount according to the pressure of the fuel detected by the pressure detecting means.
[0008]
According to the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle configured as described above, the amount of fuel discharged outside without contributing to the power generation of the fuel cell is determined according to the pressure of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell. By calculating, it is possible to improve the calculation accuracy of the emission amount, and to notify the occupant of the vehicle of the fuel consumption rate or the remaining travel distance with higher accuracy.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, for example, the remaining travel information notification device 10 for a fuel cell vehicle according to the present embodiment includes a fuel cell 11, an air compressor 12, a hydrogen tank 13, a supply valve 14, a purge valve 15, The fuel cell system includes a current controller 16, a capacitor 17, an output controller 18, a motor 19, and a control device (ECU) 20. For example, the control device 20, a display The apparatus 21 includes a current sensor 22, a tank internal pressure sensor 23, a tank outlet temperature sensor 24, a supply pressure sensor 25, an accelerator opening sensor 26, and a vehicle speed sensor 27.
[0010]
The fuel cell 11 includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane 31 made of a cation exchange membrane, a fuel electrode (anode) 32 made of an anode catalyst and a gas diffusion layer, and an oxygen electrode (cathode) 33 made of a cathode catalyst and a gas diffusion layer. And an electrolyte electrode structure sandwiched between a plurality of fuel cell units sandwiched between a pair of separators.
A concave groove is formed on the surface of each separator facing the electrolyte electrode structure, and an anode channel and a cathode channel are formed by each concave groove and the electrolyte electrode structure.
[0011]
A fuel gas (reactive gas) made of hydrogen is supplied to the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11 from the inlet side pipe connected to the anode flow path by the high-pressure hydrogen tank 13, and ionized by a catalytic reaction on the anode catalyst of the anode 32. The generated hydrogen moves to the cathode 33 through the moderately humidified solid polymer electrolyte membrane 31, and electrons generated along with this movement are taken out to an external circuit (not shown), and are used as DC electric energy. Used. For example, air, which is an oxidant gas (reaction gas) containing oxygen, is supplied to the cathode 33 by an air compressor 12 from an inlet-side pipe connected to the cathode flow path. At the cathode 33, hydrogen ions, electrons, and oxygen are supplied. Reacts to produce water. Then, exhaust gas containing unreacted reaction gas is discharged to the outside of the fuel cell 11 from the outlet side pipe connected to the anode channel and the outlet side pipe connected to the cathode channel.
[0012]
Here, between the hydrogen tank 13 and the inlet side piping of the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11, for example, a supply valve 14 and a supply pressure sensor 25 are sequentially arranged along the flow direction of hydrogen.
A purge valve 15 is disposed on the outlet side piping of the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11.
The valve openings of the supply valve 14 and the purge valve 15 are controlled by the control device 20.
[0013]
The generated current taken out from the fuel cell 11 is input to the current controller 16, and the current controller 16 is connected to a capacitor 17, for example, an electric double layer capacitor, an electrolytic capacitor or the like that forms a power storage device.
The fuel cell 11 and the capacitor 17 are connected in parallel to a traveling motor 19 or the like that is an electrical load via a current controller 16 and an output controller 18.
The current controller 16 is configured to include, for example, a DC-DC chopper and the like, and based on a current command value output from the control device 20, that is, a power generation command for the fuel cell 11, the generated current extracted from the fuel cell 11. Control the current value.
The output controller 18 includes, for example, a PWM inverter using pulse width modulation (PWM), and the fuel cell 11 and the capacitor 12 are connected via the current controller 16 based on a torque command or the like output from the control device 20 to the motor 18. The DC power output from is converted into three-phase AC power and supplied to the motor 19.
The motor 19 is, for example, a permanent magnet type three-phase AC synchronous motor that uses a permanent magnet as a field, and is driven and controlled by three-phase AC power supplied from the output controller 18.
[0014]
For example, the control device 20 is configured to control the vehicle operating state, the concentration of hydrogen contained in the reaction gas supplied to the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11, and the hydrogen contained in the exhaust gas discharged from the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11. From the air compressor 12 and the hydrogen tank 13 to the fuel cell 11 based on the concentration, the power generation state of the fuel cell 11, for example, the cell voltage that is the output voltage of each of the plurality of fuel cells, the power generation current extracted from the fuel cell 11, etc. A command value for the flow rate of each reaction gas to be supplied is output to control the power generation state of the fuel cell 11, and a power generation command for the fuel cell 11 is output to the current controller 16, and the generated current extracted from the fuel cell 11 is Control the current value.
[0015]
Further, the control device 20 controls the power conversion operation of the PWM inverter provided in the output controller 18. For example, for the motor 19, the accelerator opening degree related to the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal by the driver is controlled. A torque command is calculated based on the signal. Then, by inputting this torque command to the output controller 18, a pulse width modulation signal corresponding to the torque command is input to the PWM inverter, and each phase current for generating the required torque is supplied to each phase of the motor 19. Is output.
[0016]
Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the control device 20 includes a converted hydrogen consumption amount S1 calculation unit 41, a hydrogen discharge amount S2 calculation unit 42, a hydrogen consumption total amount S calculation unit 43, a travel distance calculation unit 44, The fuel consumption calculation unit 45, the hydrogen remaining amount calculation unit 46, and the remaining travel distance calculation unit 47 are provided.
The converted hydrogen consumption S1 calculating unit 41 is the amount of hydrogen consumed by power generation by converting the detected value or command value of the generated current into the hydrogen consumption by, for example, a table search of a predetermined conversion table. The converted hydrogen consumption S1 is calculated and output to the total hydrogen consumption S calculation unit 43.
Based on the pressure of hydrogen supplied to the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11 (hydrogen supply pressure) and the accumulated time during which the purge valve 15 is kept open, the hydrogen discharge amount S2 calculating unit 42 A hydrogen discharge amount S2, which is the amount of hydrogen discharged, is calculated and output to the total hydrogen consumption S calculation unit 43.
[0017]
The total hydrogen consumption amount S calculation unit 43 sets a value obtained by adding the converted hydrogen consumption amount S1 and the hydrogen discharge amount S2 to the total hydrogen consumption amount S, and outputs it to the fuel consumption calculation unit 45.
The travel distance calculation unit 44 calculates the travel distance of the vehicle by, for example, time integration of the vehicle speed (vehicle speed) and outputs the calculated travel distance to the fuel consumption calculation unit 45.
The fuel consumption calculation unit 45 sets the value obtained by dividing the travel distance by the total hydrogen consumption S as the fuel consumption, and outputs it to the display device 21, for example, and to the remaining travel distance calculation unit 47.
The remaining hydrogen amount calculation unit 46, for example, based on the tank internal pressure that is the hydrogen pressure inside the hydrogen tank 13 and the tank outlet temperature that is the hydrogen temperature at the outlet position of the hydrogen tank 13, The remaining amount of hydrogen that is the amount is calculated and output to the remaining travel distance calculation unit 47.
The remaining travel distance calculation unit 47 sets a value obtained by multiplying the fuel consumption and the remaining amount of hydrogen as the remaining travel distance that can be traveled, and outputs the remaining travel distance to the display device 21, for example.
[0018]
For this reason, the control device 20 includes, for example, a detection signal output from the current sensor 22 that detects the current value of the generated current supplied from the current controller 19 to the output controller 18, and hydrogen in the hydrogen tank 13. A detection signal output from the tank internal pressure sensor 23 for detecting the pressure of the hydrogen, a detection signal output from the tank outlet temperature sensor 24 for detecting the temperature of hydrogen at the outlet position of the hydrogen tank 13, the supply valve 14 and the fuel cell 11 A detection signal output from the supply pressure sensor 25 disposed between the inlet 32 of the anode 32, a detection signal output from the accelerator opening sensor 26, and a detection signal output from the vehicle speed sensor 27. Have been entered.
[0019]
The remaining travel information notification device 10 for a fuel cell vehicle according to the present embodiment has the above-described configuration. Next, the operation of the remaining travel information notification device 10 for a fuel cell vehicle will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0020]
First, in step S01 shown in FIG. 3, for example, the amount of hydrogen consumed by power generation by converting the detected value or command value of the generated current into the amount of hydrogen consumed by, for example, a table search of a predetermined conversion table. The calculated hydrogen consumption S1 is calculated as follows.
Next, in step S02, it is determined whether or not the purge valve 15 is open.
If this determination is “NO”, the flow proceeds to step S 04 described later.
On the other hand, if the determination is “YES”, the flow proceeds to step S03.
[0021]
In step S03, a hydrogen discharge amount that is the amount of hydrogen discharged from the purge valve 15 based on the hydrogen supply pressure output from the supply pressure sensor 25 and the accumulated time during which the purge valve 15 is kept open. S2 is calculated.
Next, in step S04, a value obtained by adding the converted hydrogen consumption amount S1 and the hydrogen discharge amount S2 is set as the total hydrogen consumption amount S.
Next, in step S05, for example, a value obtained by dividing the travel distance of the vehicle calculated by time integration of the vehicle speed (vehicle speed) by the total hydrogen consumption S is set as the fuel consumption, and this fuel consumption is displayed, for example, The information is displayed on the device 21, or the sound is output, for example, on a sound output device (not shown).
[0022]
In step S06, the remaining amount of hydrogen, which is the amount of hydrogen in the hydrogen tank 13, is calculated based on the tank internal pressure and the tank outlet temperature.
In step S07, a value obtained by multiplying the fuel consumption and the remaining amount of hydrogen is set as the remaining travel distance, and this remaining travel distance is displayed on, for example, the display device 21 or, for example, an audio output device (not shown). ) Is output as a voice, and the series of processing ends.
[0023]
As described above, according to the remaining travel information reporting device 10 of the fuel cell vehicle according to the present embodiment, in addition to the converted hydrogen consumption S1 that is the amount of hydrogen consumed by the power generation of the fuel cell 11, the fuel cell 11 By calculating the fuel consumption based on the hydrogen discharge amount S2 that is the amount of hydrogen discharged from the purge valve 15 without contributing to the power generation, for example, compared to the case where the fuel consumption is calculated based on the power generation current, etc. The calculation accuracy of fuel consumption can be improved. Further, the calculation accuracy of the remaining travel distance that can be calculated based on the remaining amount of fuel and the fuel consumption can be improved, and a more accurate fuel consumption or remaining travel distance can be notified to the vehicle occupant.
In addition, by calculating the hydrogen discharge amount S2 based on the pressure of hydrogen supplied to the anode 32 of the fuel cell 11 (hydrogen supply pressure) and the accumulated time during which the purge valve 15 is kept open, The calculation accuracy of the discharge amount S2 can be improved.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to the first aspect of the present invention, in addition to the amount of fuel consumed by the power generation of the fuel cell, By calculating the fuel consumption based on the discharge amount discharged outside without contributing, the calculation accuracy of the fuel consumption can be improved. In addition, the calculation accuracy of the remaining travel distance that can be calculated based on the remaining amount of fuel and the fuel consumption can be improved, and a more accurate fuel consumption rate or remaining travel distance can be notified to the vehicle occupant.
Furthermore, according to the remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to the second aspect of the present invention, the calculation accuracy of the amount of fuel discharged to the outside is improved without contributing to the power generation of the fuel cell. This makes it possible to notify the vehicle occupant of the fuel consumption rate or remaining travel distance with higher accuracy.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram of the control device shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the remaining travel information notification device for the fuel cell vehicle shown in FIG. 1;
[Explanation of symbols]
10 Fuel cell vehicle remaining travel information notification device 25 Supply pressure sensor (pressure detection means)
Step S01 Consumption amount calculating means Step S03 Discharge amount calculating means Step S04 Total consumption amount calculating means Steps S05 to S07 Remaining travel distance calculating means Step S05, Step S07 Notifying means

Claims (2)

A remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle equipped with a fuel cell as a driving power source,
Consumption calculation means for calculating the consumption of fuel consumed in the fuel cell;
A discharge amount calculating means for calculating a discharge amount of the fuel discharged outside a fuel supply system for supplying the fuel to the fuel cell;
A total consumption calculating means for calculating the total consumption of fuel by adding the consumption calculated by the consumption calculating means and the emission calculated by the emission calculating means;
Based on the total consumption calculated by the total consumption calculation means, a remaining travel information calculation means for calculating a remaining travel distance that is a fuel consumption rate or a travelable distance;
An informing means for informing an occupant of the fuel cell vehicle of the fuel consumption rate calculated by the remaining travel information calculating means or the remaining travel distance ;
A purge valve for discharging the fuel to the outside of the fuel supply system ,
The remaining amount information notifying apparatus for a fuel cell vehicle, wherein the discharge amount calculating means calculates the discharge amount based on at least an integrated time during which the purge valve is kept open . Pressure detecting means for detecting the pressure of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell;
2. The remaining travel information notification device for a fuel cell vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the discharge amount calculation means calculates the discharge amount according to the pressure of the fuel detected by the pressure detection means.

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