Fuel cell system and method

Abstract

There is provided a fuel cell system capable of appropriately regenerating catalyst at the cathode side or the anode side. The fuel cell system (1) includes regeneration means (21, 24, 33, 35) for controlling the gas supply amount of a fuel gas and a oxidant gas supplied to a fuel cell (2) so as to recover the lowering of activity of the catalyst of the fuel cell (2). The catalyst regeneration process at the side of the cathode (12) of the fuel cell (2) is performed by regeneration means which reduces the flow rate of the oxidant gas to less than a stationary request in the relationship with the fuel gas, thereby lowering the cell voltage of the fuel cell (2) to a predetermined voltage. The catalyst regeneration process at the side of the anode (13) is also performed by the regeneration means which reduces the flow rate of the fuel gas to less than a stationary request in the relationship with the oxidant gas.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a fuel cell system for regenerating a catalyst on the cathode side or the anode side of a fuel cell and to a method therefor. Background technique [0002] For solid polymer fuel cells, the output voltage will decrease after a period of time under a certain output current. One of the main reasons is that due to the long-term operation of the fuel cell, impurities (such as S content, CO, etc.) are attached to the catalyst (such as Pt) on the cathode side or the anode side of the fuel cell, resulting in a decrease in the activity of these catalysts. . [0003] As a fuel cell system that solves this problem, a fuel cell system in which a load is provided in parallel with a fuel cell is known (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this case, the catalyst on the cathode side is regenerated by excessively supplying both the oxidant gas and the fuel gas to the fuel cell and passing a current larger than the rated oper...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

One of the main reasons is that due to the long-term operation of the fuel cell, impurities (such as S content, CO, etc.) are attached to the catalyst (such as Pt) on the cathode side or the anode side of the fuel cell, resulting in a decrease in the activity of these catalysts.

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