JP4585475B2 - Fuel cell unit - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system management technology for an electronic device using a fuel cell that generates power using methanol as a fuel as a battery.

  In recent years, various portable electronic devices that can be driven by a battery such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a digital camera have been developed and widely used.

  Recently, environmental problems have attracted a great deal of attention, and environmentally friendly battery development has been actively conducted. A direct methanol fuel cell (hereinafter referred to as DMFC) is well known as this type of battery.

  This DMFC reacts with methanol and oxygen given as fuel to obtain electric energy by the chemical reaction, and has a structure in which two electrodes made of porous metal or carbon sandwich an electrolyte (for example, non-patent Reference 1). And since this DMFC does not generate harmful waste, it is strongly required to be applied to electronic devices as described above.

Also, in the automobile industry, this DMFC trial is being advanced quickly. For example, when a fuel cell generates an abnormality such as a gas leak, there is a system that issues a warning on a display such as a speedometer (for example, Patent Document 1).
Hironosuke Ikeda, “All about Fuel Cells,” Nippon Jitsugyo Publishing Co., Ltd., August 20, 2001, p216-217 JP 2002-240535 A

  Here, for example, consider a case where an abnormality such as gas leakage occurs in a fuel cell mounted on a notebook personal computer. In this case, if the technique described in Patent Document 1 is applied, it is possible to notify the user by giving a warning on the display of the computer main body that the fuel cell has caused an abnormality.

  However, at this time, the user only knows the occurrence of the abnormality, and the actual state of the fuel cell remains unclear.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a can and the fuel cell unit that clearly informs the status of the actual fuel cell.

According to the embodiment, the fuel cell unit is a fuel cell unit that is detachable from an electronic device, and includes a display device and a first sensor that can detect whether or not a fuel tank is attached to the attachment portion. A second sensor capable of detecting whether or not a liquid leak has occurred, and the first sensor detects that the fuel tank is not attached, and the fuel cell unit is attached to the electronic device. and if a first notifying means for notifying via the front Symbol display device, when the leakage at the second sensor is detected to have occurred, a second notification for notifying via the front Symbol display you and means, the.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to clearly notify the actual state of the fuel cell.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an external appearance of an electronic device system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device system includes an electronic device 1 that is a notebook-type personal computer and a fuel cell unit 2 that is detachably attached to the back surface of the electronic device 1. The fuel cell unit 2 is a power supply device that supplies electric power for operating the electronic device 1 and includes a DMFC that reacts with methanol and oxygen supplied as fuel to obtain electric energy. Methanol, which is the fuel of this DMFC, is supplied from a cartridge-type fuel tank 2211 that is detachably stored in the fuel cell unit 2. In addition, LEDs 26 a and 26 b for notifying the user of the current operation state are installed on the side of the casing of the fuel cell unit 2.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of the electronic device system in a state where the lid portion of the electronic device 1 is opened.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the lid of the electronic device 1 is attached to the main body by a hinge mechanism so as to be freely opened and closed, and an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) 141 is disposed on the inner wall surface thereof. On the other hand, a keyboard 151 for inputting characters, symbols, and the like on the input screen displayed on the LCD 141 and a mouse cursor displayed for pointing to an arbitrary location on the LCD 141 are moved to the main body, and A pointing device 152 for instructing selection is provided.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the electronic apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the electronic device 1, a CPU 11, a RAM 12, an HDD 13, a display controller 14, a keyboard controller 15, and a power controller 16 are connected to a system bus.

  The CPU 11 controls the operation of the entire electronic device 1 and executes various programs such as an operating system, a basic input / output system (BIOS), utility software, and application software stored in the RAM 12. A power management utility described later is one of a plurality of utility software.

  The RAM 12 is a recording medium serving as a main storage of the CPU 11 and stores various programs executed by the CPU 11 and various data used by these programs. On the other hand, the HDD 13 is a recording medium serving as auxiliary storage for the electronic device 1 and stores a large amount of various programs and various data.

  The display controller 14 is a device responsible for the output side of the user interface provided by the electronic device 1, and controls the display of screen data processed by the CPU 11 on the LCD 141. On the other hand, the keyboard controller 15 is a device responsible for the input side of the user interface provided by the electronic apparatus 1, and digitizes operations of the keyboard 151 and the pointing device 152 and transmits them to the CPU 11 via a built-in register.

  The power supply controller 16 distributes power for operation to each part of the electronic device 1, receives power supply from the fuel cell unit 2, and communicates with a microcomputer 21 described later of the fuel cell unit 2. It has a function. The power supply controller 16 has a built-in register 161 for storing status information indicating the state of the fuel cell unit 2, and the power management utility knows the state of the fuel cell unit 2 by referring to the status information. Be able to.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the fuel cell unit 2.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the fuel cell unit 2 includes a microcomputer 21, a DMFC 22, an internal secondary battery 23, a charging circuit 24, an acceleration sensor 25, an E2PROM 26, and LEDs 27a and 27b.

  The microcomputer 21 controls the operation of the entire fuel cell unit 2 and executes communication with the power supply controller 16 of the electronic device 1. The microcomputer 21 has a function of determining whether or not the fuel cell unit 2 is attached to the electronic device 1 based on whether or not a data signal line for performing this communication is connected.

  The microcomputer 21 also operates as a power supply controller in the fuel cell unit 2, and controls to supply the power of the internal secondary battery 23 to the DMFC 22 when the DMFC 22 is activated, so that the DMFC 22 can supply power, and When the internal secondary battery 23 is in a low battery state, control is performed to charge the internal secondary battery 23 with the power of the DMFC 22.

  The DMFC 22 includes a fuel tank slot 221, a fuel pump 222, a mixing tank 223, a liquid feed pump 224, a DMFC cell stack 225, and a blower pump 226.

  The fuel tank slot 221 is a slot for detachably storing a cartridge type fuel tank 2211, and includes an attachment / detachment sensor 2212 for detecting whether or not the fuel tank 2211 is attached. The methanol in the fuel tank 2211 accommodated in the fuel tank slot 221 is sent to the mixing tank 223 by the fuel pump 222 and diluted to a concentration of, for example, 10% by water returned from the DMFC cell stack 225.

  The mixing tank 223 stores the diluted methanol, and includes a liquid level sensor 2231 for detecting whether or not the liquid amount is within an appropriate range. Here, 15% to 90% of the capacity of the mixing tank 223 is assumed to be within the appropriate range, and the microcomputer 21 detects that the liquid level in the mixing tank 223 detected by the liquid level sensor 2231 continues that range for 2 seconds or more. When it comes off, it is determined that some abnormality has occurred. The mixing tank 223 has a function of evaporating unnecessary water out of the water returned from the DMFC cell stack 225 and discharging it out of the DMFC 22.

  The liquid feed pump 224 feeds methanol in the mixing tank 223 into the DMFC cell stack 225. In addition, the air taken in by the blower pump 226 is sent into the DMFC cell stack 225. Then, the methanol sent by the liquid feed pump 224 and the oxygen in the air sent by the blower pump 226 react in the DMFC cell stack 225 to generate electric power supplied to the electronic device 1. At this time, water is also generated, but this water is returned to the mixing tank 223 through the return channel.

  The DMFC cell stack 225 includes a temperature sensor 2251 for detecting whether or not the temperature in the stack is within an appropriate temperature range. Here, it is assumed that the optimum temperature in the DMFC cell stack 225 at the start of the DMFC 22 is 5 ° C. to 40 ° C., and the optimum temperature in the DMFC cell stack 225 during the operation of the DMFC 22 is 50 ° C. to 90 ° C. It is monitored whether the temperature in the stack is within the set temperature range at each time of startup and during operation.

  The internal secondary battery 23 is a lithium ion battery that can be repeatedly charged and discharged, and the fuel pump 222, the liquid feed pump 224, and the blower pump from when the DMFC 22 starts to operate until a predetermined amount of power is generated. It supplies power required by auxiliary mechanisms such as 225. In addition, the internal secondary battery 23 can be charged using the power generated by the DMFC 22 by the charging circuit 24 that has received an instruction from the microcomputer 21.

  The acceleration sensor 25 is a sensor for detecting whether the inclination of the fuel cell unit 2 is within an allowable angle range. Here, the inclination is within 30 degrees, and the microcomputer 21 determines that it is necessary to warn the user when the inclination exceeds this range.

  The E2PROM 26 is a memory device for storing status information indicating the state of the fuel cell unit 2. The microcomputer 21 detects various types of sensors detected by various sensors such as the attachment / detachment sensor 2212, the liquid level sensor 2231, the temperature sensor 2251, and the acceleration sensor 25. Is recorded in the E2PROM 26 as status information. Further, the microcomputer 21 has a function of calculating the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank 2211 in accordance with the operating status of the DMFC 22, and records the calculated remaining amount in the E2PROM 26. Furthermore, the microcomputer 21 monitors whether or not the auxiliary mechanisms of the fuel pump 222, the liquid feed pump 224, and the blower pump 226 are operating normally. Record as.

  When the status information is updated, the microcomputer 21 notifies the power controller 16 of the electronic device 1 to that effect. The area where the status information in the E2PROM 26 is stored has an open interface so that the power controller 16 can also refer to it. And stored in the built-in register 161. At this time, the power supply controller 16 transmits an update of status information to the power management utility by an interrupt notification to the CPU 11. Then, the power management utility that knows that the status information has been updated acquires the latest status information stored in the register 161 of the power controller 16 via the BIOS, and executes message display and error processing on the LCD 141 as necessary. To do. Further, the microcomputer 21 may periodically read the status information of the E2PROM 26. In this case, when the microcomputer 21 reads the status information and the status changes, the CPU 11 is notified of an interrupt, and the power management utility appropriately performs the process.

  On the other hand, in the fuel cell unit 2, the current operation state is displayed using the LEDs 27a and 27b independently of the electronic device 1. That is, the microcomputer 21 visually notifies the user of various states detected by various sensors such as the attachment / detachment sensor 2212, the liquid level sensor 2231, the temperature sensor 2251, and the acceleration sensor 25 using the LEDs 27a and 27b.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an event of visually notifying the user by blinking the LED (orange) 27a, while FIG. 6 visually illustrates the event to the user by blinking the LED (green) 27b. It is a figure which illustrates the event to notify.

  If any of the events shown in FIG. 5 is detected, the microcomputer 21 blinks the LED (orange) 27a. The detection principle is as follows.

(1) Inclined The detection data of the acceleration sensor 25 exceeds 30 degrees.

(2) High temperature outside DMFC start-up temperature range The detection data of the temperature sensor 2251 at the time of start-up of the DMFC 22 exceeds 40 ° C.

(3) High temperature outside the DMFC continuous temperature range The detection data of the temperature sensor 2251 during the operation of the DMFC 22 exceeds 90 ° C.

(4) Air pump or liquid feed pump is not rotating Supply of air or methanol is interrupted.

(5) The amount of liquid in the mixing tank is continuously high for 2 seconds or more. The detection data of the liquid level sensor 2231 continues for 2 seconds or more and exceeds 90% of the amount stored in the mixing tank 223.

  Further, the microcomputer 21 blinks the LED (orange) 27b when detecting any one of the events shown in FIG. The detection principle is as follows.

(1) The fuel cartridge is not attached or the detection data of the attached / detached sensor 2212 is off (the fuel tank 2211 is not attached to the fuel tank slot 221).

(2) The remaining amount of the fuel cartridge is less than the warning remaining amount The detection data of the attachment / detachment sensor 2212 is off (the fuel tank 2211 is not installed in the fuel tank slot 221).

  Assuming that the fuel tank 2211 is installed at the full capacity, the value obtained by subtracting the product of the number of ejections and the amount of one ejection from the full capacity according to the number of times of fuel ejection of the fuel supply is Less than 10% of full capacity.

(3) Low temperature outside DMFC start-up temperature range The detection data of the temperature sensor 2251 at the time of start-up of the DMFC 22 is less than 5 ° C.

(4) Low temperature outside DMFC continuous temperature range The detection data of the temperature sensor 2251 during the operation of the DMFC 22 is less than 50 ° C.

(5) The amount of liquid in the mixing tank continues for 2 seconds or more and is at a low level. The detection data of the liquid level sensor 2231 continues for 2 seconds or more and falls below 15% of the amount stored in the mixing tank 223.

  By performing the notification as described above using the LEDs 27a and 27b, for example, a message indicating that some kind of error has occurred is displayed using the LEDs 27a and 27b of the fuel cell unit, and details of the error are displayed using the LCD 141 of the electronic device 1. It is possible to determine what kind of error has occurred by the message. In some cases, it is possible that no message is displayed on the electronic device 1 side. Thereby, the burden on the electronic device 1 side can be reduced. Since the types of errors displayed on the LEDs 27a and 27b are limited, the user can roughly determine the type of error.

  In addition, the microcomputer 21 of the fuel cell unit 2 performs notification using the LEDs 27 a and 27 b independently from the electronic device 1, so that, for example, the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank 2211 remains in the fuel cell unit 2. It is also possible to notify when the amount falls below 10%, while the electronic device 1 makes a notification when it falls below 3%, which is smaller than that. For example, when the value falls below 10%, the microcomputer 21 in the fuel cell unit 2 notifies the power supply controller 16, and the power supply controller 16 notifies the CPU 11 that the power supply management utility has fallen below 10%. Inform. However, the power management utility does not display on the LCD 141 at this stage. On the other hand, when the microcomputer 21 in the fuel cell unit 2 detects that the value is lower than 10%, the LCD (green) 27b blinks. When the electronic device 1 is used as it is and the remaining amount of the fuel tank 2211 falls below 3%, a similar notification process is performed, and the power management utility displays on the LCD 141 that the remaining fuel amount has fallen below 3%. That is, the electronic device 1 and the fuel cell unit 2 can perform stepwise notification of the same event. Thereby, it is possible to improve the usability of the user's electronic device 1.

  Note that the microcomputer 21 of the fuel cell unit 2 executes notification using the LEDs 27a and 27b only when the fuel cell unit 2 is attached to the electronic device 1. Thereby, for example, although it is not attached to the electronic apparatus 1, it is possible to prevent waste that the notification that the remaining amount of fuel in the fuel tank 2211 is below 10% is continued. In this case, each sensor (2212, 2231, 2251) can be controlled to perform the detection operation only when the connection with the electronic device 1 is detected, and the power consumed by the sensor can be reduced. Is possible. Further, when a critical abnormality occurs in the fuel cell unit 2 alone, it may be displayed regardless of whether or not the electronic device 1 is connected. An example of this is a liquid leak in the fuel cell unit 2. For example, a liquid leak sensor may be provided in the fuel cell unit 2 to detect a liquid leak at all times.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of state display control executed by the fuel cell unit 2 of the electronic device system.

  First, the microcomputer 21 checks whether or not the fuel cell unit 2 is attached to the electronic device 1 (step A1). If it is attached (YES in step A1), the microcomputer 21 causes the LED (orange) 27a to blink based on detection data of various sensors such as the liquid level sensor 2231, the temperature sensor 2251, and the acceleration sensor 25. Whether or not has occurred is checked (step A3).

  If an event that should cause the LED (orange) 27a to blink has occurred (NO in step A3), the microcomputer 21 causes the LED (orange) 27a to blink (step A3). Further, the microcomputer 21 checks whether or not an event for causing the LED (orange) 27b to blink has occurred based on detection data of various sensors such as the attachment / detachment sensor 2231, the liquid level sensor 2231, and the temperature sensor 2251 (step A5). ). And if the event which should blink LED (green) 27b has generate | occur | produced (NO of step A6), the microcomputer 21 will blink LED (orange) 27a (step A7).

  Here, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, this state display control processing is shown in time series in step A1 to step A7, but actually, when some event that should cause the LEDs 27a and 27b to blink occurs. In response to the occurrence of the event, event-driven processing for blinking the LEDs 27a and 27b is executed.

  In the present embodiment, two LEDs 27a and 27b are provided. However, it is possible to provide one LED capable of emitting a plurality of colors, or to provide one single-color LED and change the lighting pattern. It is also possible to display a plurality of error occurrences.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, the embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent requirements are deleted from all the constituent requirements shown in the embodiment, the problem described in the column of the problem to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effect described in the column of the effect of the invention Can be obtained as an invention.

The figure which shows the external appearance of the electronic device system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an external appearance of an electronic device system in a state where a lid portion of the electronic device illustrated in FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram showing a schematic configuration of the electronic apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. The figure which shows schematic structure of the fuel cell unit of the embodiment. The figure which illustrates the event which a user notifies visually by blinking LED (orange) by the fuel cell unit of the embodiment. The figure which illustrates the event which a user notifies visually by blinking LED (green) by the fuel cell unit of the embodiment. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the status display control performed with the fuel cell unit of the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic device, 2 ... Fuel cell unit, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... RAM, 13 ... HDD, 14 ... Display controller, 15 ... Keyboard controller, 16 ... Power supply controller, 21 ... Microcomputer, 22 ... DMFC, 23 ... Internal 2 Secondary battery, 24 ... charge circuit, 25 ... acceleration sensor, 26 ... E2PROM, 27a, 27b ... LED, 141 ... LCD, 151 ... keyboard, 152 ... pointing device, 161 ... register, 221 ... fuel tank slot, 222 ... fuel pump 223 ... mixing tank, 224 ... liquid feed pump, 225 ... DMFC cell stack, 226 ... blower pump, 2221 ... fuel tank, 2212 ... detachment sensor, 2231 ... liquid level sensor, 2251 ... temperature sensor.

Claims (4)

A fuel cell unit that is detachable from an electronic device,
A display device;
A first sensor capable of detecting whether or not a fuel tank is attached to the attachment portion ;
A second sensor capable of detecting whether or not a liquid leak has occurred ;
If the said fuel tank with the first sensor is detected that they are not attached, the fuel cell unit has been attached to the electronic device, a first notification means for notifying via the front Symbol display device,
If leakage at the second sensor is detected to have occurred, the second notification means for notifying via the front Symbol display device,
A fuel cell unit comprising: A fuel cell unit that is detachable from an electronic device,
A display device;
A first sensor capable of detecting whether or not the amount of liquid in the mixing tank that generates fuel to be supplied to the fuel cell is within a predetermined range ;
A second sensor capable of detecting whether or not a liquid leak has occurred;
When the first sensor detects that the amount of liquid in the mixing tank is not within a predetermined range and the fuel cell unit is attached to the electronic device, a first notification is made via the display device. Notification means,
A second notifying means for notifying through the display device when the second sensor detects that a liquid leak has occurred;
Fuel cell unit characterized by comprising a. A fuel cell unit that is detachable from an electronic device,
A display device;
A first sensor capable of detecting whether or not the temperature of the fuel cell is within a predetermined range ;
A second sensor capable of detecting whether or not a liquid leak has occurred;
When the first sensor detects that the temperature of the fuel cell is not within a predetermined range and the fuel cell unit is attached to the electronic device, a first notification is sent via the display device. Means,
A second notifying means for notifying through the display device when the second sensor detects that a liquid leak has occurred;
Fuel cell unit characterized by comprising a. A fuel cell unit that is detachable from an electronic device,
A display device;
A first sensor capable of detecting whether or not the inclination of the fuel cell unit is within a predetermined range ;
A second sensor capable of detecting whether or not a liquid leak has occurred;
When the first sensor detects that the inclination of the fuel cell unit is not within a predetermined range and the fuel cell unit is attached to the electronic device, a first notification is made via the display device. Notification means;
A second notifying means for notifying through the display device when the second sensor detects that a liquid leak has occurred;
Fuel cell unit characterized by comprising a.

Images