Method and apparatus for operating a fuel cell system, fuel cell system, vehicle, computer program product and storage medium

Abstract

The technology disclosed herein relates to a method for operating a fuel cell system (10), wherein the fuel cell system (10) comprises a fuel cell (11) with an anode (12) and a cathode (13) and an anode system (30) with a fuel path (14), an anode inlet path (15), an anode exhaust path (16), a recirculation path (17), an ejector (18), an injector (28) and a mixing section (29) in the ejector (18), wherein in the mixing section (29) primary fluid from the fuel path (14) can be mixed with secondary fluid from the recirculation path (17) and directed as mixed fluid into the anode inlet path (15), wherein the method comprises the following steps: controlling the injector (28) for a defined control time to increase a fuel proportion in the mixed fluid and in the secondary fluid,Determining a pressure difference between a fluid pressure in the anode inlet path (15) and a fluid pressure in the recirculation path (17) during a defined pressure determination time after the activation time, determining a fuel fraction in the secondary fluid based on the determined pressure difference, and operating the fuel cell system (10) based on the determined fuel fraction. The technology further relates to a device, a fuel cell system (10), a vehicle (100), and a computer program product (50) for carrying out the method, as well as a computer-readable storage medium (60) on which the computer program product (50) is stored.

Claims

Method for operating a fuel cell system (10), wherein the fuel cell system (10) comprises a fuel cell (11) with an anode (12) and a cathode (13) and an anode system (30) with a fuel path (14), an anode inlet path (15), an anode exhaust path (16), a recirculation path (17), an ejector (18), an injector (28) and a mixing section (29) in the ejector (18), wherein in the mixing section (29) primary fluid from the fuel path (14) can be mixed with secondary fluid from the recirculation path (17) and directed as mixed fluid into the anode inlet path (15), comprising: - actuating the injector (28) for a defined actuation time to increase a fuel fraction in the mixed fluid and in the secondary fluid, - determining a pressure difference between a fluid pressure in the anode inlet path (15) and a fluid pressure in the recirculation path (17) during a defined pressure determination time after the control time,- Determining a fuel fraction in the secondary fluid based on the determined pressure difference and - Operating the fuel cell system (10) based on the determined fuel fraction. Method according to claim 1, wherein the pressure difference is determined in a time of less than 10 seconds after actuating the injector (28). Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the anode pressure is increased by a value in a range between 10kPa and 100kPa by controlling the injector (28). Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the control time is in a range between 0.01s and 1s. Method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising: - determining an initial fuel fraction in the secondary fluid, - operating the fuel cell system (10) to change the initial fuel fraction based on the determined initial fuel fraction and - controlling the injector (28) for the defined control time after changing the initial fuel fraction. Device comprising a control unit (20) configured to perform a method according to one of the preceding claims. Fuel cell system (10) for a vehicle (100) with a device according to claim 6. Vehicle (100) with a fuel cell system (10) according to claim 7, wherein the fuel cell system (10) is configured to generate electrical current in the vehicle (100). Computer program product (50), comprising instructions which, when the computer program product (50) is executed by a computer, cause it to execute the method according to one of claims 1 to 5 in a fuel cell system (10) according to claim 7 and / or in a vehicle (100) according to claim 8. Computer-readable storage medium (60) with a computer program product (50) stored thereon according to claim 9.

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