Fuel cell system

Abstract

To provide a fuel cell system for supplying power to an external unit and one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system.SOLUTION: A fuel cell system 10 includes a plurality of fuel cell units 22 each generating lower-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system 10 includes a plurality of DC-DC converters 26 each electrically connected to each of the fuel cell units 22 and configured to convert the lower-voltage DC power to higher-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system 10 includes a primary load power conversion unit 30 electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters 26 and configured to output a primary load. The fuel cell system 10 includes an auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters 26 and configured to output an auxiliary load.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments disclosed herein relate to fuel cell systems, and more particularly, to external devices of fuel cell systems and fuel cell systems for supplying power to one or more auxiliary systems.

Background Art

[0002] A fuel cell system can supply power to one or more systems outside the fuel cell system. For example, a fuel cell system can be used to supply power to a vehicle, a building, or a data center.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0003] This section generally summarizes the present disclosure and does not comprehensively describe its entire scope or all of its features.

[0004] In one aspect, a fuel cell system has a plurality of fuel cell units configured to generate low-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system has a plurality of DC-DC converters electrically connected to the fuel cell units and configured to convert the low-voltage DC power into high-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system has a primary load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and configured to output a primary load. The fuel cell system has an auxiliary load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and configured to output an auxiliary load.

[0005] In another embodiment, the fuel cell system has a fuel cell container configured to house a plurality of fuel cell units configured to generate low-voltage DC power. The fuel cell container is also configured to house a plurality of DC-DC converters that are electrically connected to the fuel cell units and convert the low-voltage DC power to high-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system also has a power electronics container configured to house a main load power conversion unit. The main load power conversion unit is electrically connected to a plurality of DC-DC converters and outputs the main load. The power electronics container is also configured to house an auxiliary load power conversion unit. The auxiliary load power conversion unit is electrically connected to a plurality of DC-DC converters and is configured to output the auxiliary load.

[0006] In yet another embodiment, the fuel cell system has a plurality of fuel cell units configured to generate low-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system has a plurality of DC-DC converters electrically connected to the fuel cell units and converting the low-voltage DC power to high-voltage DC power. The fuel cell system has a main load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting the main load. The fuel cell system has an auxiliary load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting the auxiliary load. The fuel cell system also has a programmable logic controller configured to operate the fuel cell system in response to power demands.

[0007] These embodiments and other embodiments will be described in more detail below. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] The accompanying drawings incorporated herein and constituting part thereof illustrate various systems, methods, and other embodiments of the present disclosure. Element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) shown in the drawings will be understood to represent one embodiment of the boundary. In some embodiments, one element may be designed as multiple elements, or multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some embodiments, an element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component, and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to a fixed scale. [Figure 1] An example of a fuel cell system is shown. [Figure 2] An example of a fuel cell unit in a fuel cell system is shown. [Figure 3] An example of a communication interface for a fuel cell system is shown. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] This document describes a fuel cell system for supplying power to external devices and one or more auxiliary systems. The fuel cell system comprises a container for housing the fuel cell system and a communication interface for operating the fuel cell system.

[0010] Referring to Figure 1, an example of a fuel cell system 10 is shown. The fuel cell system 10 can be used to provide power to an external device 12. The external device 12 may be a building, such as a residential or commercial building. However, it should be understood that the external device 12 can be any type of power demand structure, system, etc. The external device 12 may be configured to request power from the fuel cell system 10 (e.g., power request or demand) to receive power from the fuel cell system 10, or the external device 12 may take a load from the fuel cell system 10 and measure power take-off and power generation based on that.

[0011] The fuel cell system 10 may be housed in one or more containers. For example, the fuel cell system 10 may be housed in a single container 14. In another example, the fuel cell system 10 may be housed in two containers, for example, a fuel cell container 16 and a power engineering container 18. The fuel cell container 16 may house one or more components of the fuel cell system 10, and the power engineering container 18 may house one or more power engineering components of the fuel cell system 10, as will be described in more detail below.

[0012] The fuel cell system 10 has a plurality of fuel cell units 22A to 22F. Each of the fuel cell units 22A to 22F may have four individual fuel cells connected in parallel. A single fuel cell unit 22 is shown, which may be similar to any of the fuel cell units 22A to 22F in Figure 1, as best shown in Figure 2. Here, the fuel cell unit 22 has four fuel cells 24A to 24D connected in parallel to one another. Each of the fuel cells 24A to 24D may be an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel and oxidizer into electricity. In one example, the fuel may be hydrogen, but any type of fuel suitable for different types of fuel cells may be used. The fuel cells 24A to 24D can be configured to output direct current (DC) power. For example, each fuel cell unit 22 may output 240 kW of DC power, but this power can vary depending on the size and number of fuel cells included in the fuel cell unit.

[0013] Referring again to Figure 1, the fuel cell system 10 also has multiple DC-DC converters 26A to 26F. The DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can be housed in the fuel cell container 16. Each of the DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can be electrically connected to a fuel cell unit 22A to 22F. Each of the DC-DC converters 26A to 26F is configured to adjust the output voltage of the fuel cell units 22A to 22F. For example, each of the DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can adjust the output voltage of the fuel cell units 22A to 22F to 650V. Each of the DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can also convert the output power of the fuel cell units 22A to 22F to a higher voltage. For example, each of the DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can convert the 650V DC power output from the fuel cell units 22A to 22F to 1000V DC power. The DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can also be electrically connected to one or more components of the power engineering container 18. DC-DC converters 26A to 26F can be any suitable DC-DC converter. For example, one or more of DC-DC converters 26A to 26F may be Dynapower DPS-500 bi-directional DC-DC converters manufactured by Dynapower Company LLC in South Burlington, Vermont. However, any equivalent DC-DC converter can be used.

[0014] The fuel cell system 10 also has one or more switchgear components 28. The switchgear components 28 can be housed in the power engineering container 18. The switchgear components 28 can be DC switchgear components and may have one or more switches, circuit breakers, and / or fuses configured to connect components of the fuel cell container 16 to components of the power engineering container 18. For example, the switchgear components 28 can be electrically connected to DC-DC converters 26A~26F, a main load power conversion unit 30, an auxiliary load power conversion unit 32, and a battery unit 34. The switchgear components 28 can also be configured to supply DC power output by the fuel cell unit 22 to an external device 12.

[0015] The main load power conversion unit 30 can be housed in the power engineering container 18. The main load power conversion unit 30 may be configured to supply the main load (e.g., power) to the external device 12. The main load power conversion unit 30 can be electrically connected to the switchgear component 28 and configured to convert the DC power output by the DC-DC converter 26 to AC power. For example, the main load power conversion unit 30 can convert the 1000V DC power output by the DC-DC converter 26 to 480V AC power that can be supplied to the external device 12. The main load power conversion unit 30 can be any suitable power conversion unit, such as an inverter. For example, the main load power conversion unit 30 may be a Dynapower CPS-1500, a 1500kW Utility Scale Energy Storage Inverter manufactured by Dynapower Company LLC in South Burlington, Vermont. The auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can be housed in the power engineering container 18. The auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can be configured to supply an auxiliary load (e.g., power) to one or more auxiliary systems 52 (e.g., parasitic systems) (see Figure 3) of the fuel cell system 10. The auxiliary system 52 may have one or more systems and / or components of the fuel cell system 10 that are necessary to keep the fuel cell system 10 running. For example, the auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 may be configured to supply an auxiliary load to one or more power panels 36A-36E, transformers 38, uninterruptable power supply 40, control systems, lighting systems, valves, sensors, etc. of the fuel cell system 10. Some of these components will be described in more detail below.

[0016] The auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can be electrically connected to the switchgear component 28 and can be configured to convert the DC power output by the DC-DC converter 26 to AC power. For example, the auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can convert the 1000V DC power output by the DC-DC converter 26 to 480V AC power that can be supplied to the auxiliary system 52 of the fuel cell system 10. The auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can be any suitable power conversion unit, such as an inverter. For example, the auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 may be a Dynapower MPS-125 EHV inverter for behind-the-meter energy storage, manufactured by Dynapower Company LLC in South Burlington, Vermont. The battery unit 34 can be housed in the power engineering container 18 and can be configured to supply initial starting power to the fuel cell system 10. Furthermore, the battery unit 34 may also be configured to adjust the input voltage of the DC-DC converters 26A~26F in response to changes in the power requirements of the external device 12. In addition, the battery unit 34 may also be configured to provide additional power to the external device 12 as needed in the event of failure of one or more fuel cell units 22A~22F, thereby compensating for any power discrepancy between the fuel cell power and the load. The battery unit 34 can be any suitable battery unit. For example, the battery unit 34 can be a 1000V lithium titanium oxide (LTO) battery.

[0017] As described above, the auxiliary system 52 and / or the components of the fuel cell system 10 may have one or more power panels 36A to 36E. Power panels 36A and 36B can be housed in the power engineering container 18, and the auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 can be configured to connect to the fuel cell container 16 and / or various other components of the power engineering container 18 via power panels 36C to 36E. Power panels 36A to 36E may have one or more circuit breakers and can be configured to protect the components of the fuel cell system 10 from power surges or voltage drops. Power panels 36A to 36E can also be configured to convert the 480V AC power output by the auxiliary load power conversion unit 32 to 120V AC power or 220V AC power in response to the voltage requirements of the external device 12.

[0018] The fuel cell system 10 may also have a continuous power supply (UPS) 40. The UPS 40 can be electrically connected to one or more of the power panels 36 and can be configured to supply emergency power to the fuel cell system 10 and / or any auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system 10 in the event of a battery unit 34 failure. The UPS 40 may also be connected to a utility supply 42. The fuel cell system 10 also has a transformer 38 electrically connected to at least one of the power panels 36A and / or 36B. The transformer 38 can be configured to reduce the input and / or output voltage of the power panels 36A-36B and / or the UPS 40.

[0019] Referring to Figure 3, the fuel cell system 10 may have a communication interface 44. The communication interface 44 has various communication components configured to distribute and / or transmit commands and / or information between the external device 12 and the fuel cell system 10. For example, the fuel cell system 10 can be configured to receive power requests from the external device 12 via the communication interface 44 and to operate the fuel cell system 10 in response to those power requests. Thus, the external device 12 may have an external device interface 46. The external device interface 46 can be configured to transmit power requests to the fuel cell system 10.

[0020] The communication interface 44 may have a programmable logic controller (PLC) 50. The PLC 50 may have a processing unit integrated with memory, power supply, input interface, and output interface, among other components specific to a PLC. The PLC 50 can be configured to operate various components of the fuel cell system 10 in response to power requests from external devices 12. The PLC 50 is also configured to receive and / or output requests to one or more of the auxiliary systems 52 and / or one or more of the power engineering components 54 of the fuel cell system 10.

[0021] The communication interface 44 may also have a plurality of gateway electronic control units (ECUs) 56A and 56B. The gateway ECUs 56A and 56B may be electrically connected to the PLC 50 and the fuel cell units 22A and 22B. It should be understood that only two fuel cell units 22A and 22B are shown for the sake of a simplified explanation. In one example, gateway ECU 56A may control one subset of the fuel cell units, while gateway ECU 56B may control another subset of the fuel cell units.

[0022] The gateway ECUs 56A and 56B can be configured to operate the fuel cell units 22A and 22B respectively based on power requests from the external device 12. The gateway ECUs 56A and 56B may also be configured to communicate with and / or operate one or more fuel cell ECUs 58 of the fuel cells within each fuel cell unit 22. For example, as previously described, the fuel cell unit 22A may have four separate fuel cells connected in series as shown in FIG. 2. Each of these four separate fuel cells has an ECU that can control the operation of the fuel cell. In this example, the fuel cell unit 22A has fuel cell ECUs 58A - 58D for its four fuel cells, while the fuel cell unit 22B has fuel cell ECUs 58E - 58H for its four fuel cells. When the gateway ECUs 56A and 56B receive an "on" command from the external device 12, the gateway ECUs 56A and 56B send this request to the fuel cell units 22A and 22B, turn on each of the fuel cell units 22A and 22B, operate any fuel cells included in the fuel cell units 22A and 22B, and start power generation. The gateway ECUs 56A and 56B can distribute power requests evenly or unevenly across the fuel cell units 22A and 22B.

[0023] It should be understood that any of the systems described herein can be configured in various arrangements using separate integrated circuits and / or chips. The circuits are connected via connection paths and provide communication signals between separate circuits. Of course, separate integrated circuits are described, but in various embodiments, the circuits can be integrated on a common integrated circuit substrate. Further, the integrated circuits may be combined to form fewer integrated circuits or divided to form more integrated circuits.

[0024] In another embodiment, the methods described and / or methods equivalent thereto may be implemented using computer-executable instructions. Thus, in one embodiment, a persistent computer-readable medium is configured with stored computer-executable instructions that cause a machine (e.g., a processing device, a computer, etc.) to perform the above methods when executed by the machine (and / or associated components).

[0025] To simplify the explanation, the illustrated methodologies in the figures are shown and described as a series of blocks, but the methodologies are not limited by the order of the blocks, and it should be understood that some blocks may occur in an order different from that illustrated and described, and / or concurrently with other blocks. Also, fewer blocks than all the illustrated blocks may be used to execute the exemplary methodologies. The blocks may be combined or separated into multiple components. Further, additional and / or alternative methodologies may employ additional blocks not illustrated.

[0026] Detailed embodiments are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended only as examples. Thus, the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein should not be construed as limitations, but rather as a representative basis for teaching one of ordinary skill in the art to variously employ aspects of the present disclosure in substantially all suitable and detailed structures. Further, the terms and expressions used herein are not intended to be limiting, but rather to provide an easy-to-understand description of possible implementations.

[0027] The flowcharts and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the implementable structure, function, and operation of systems, methods, and computer program products in various embodiments. In this regard, each block in a flowchart or block diagram may represent a module, segment, or part of code that has one or more executable instructions for performing a particular logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative execution modes, the functions shown in a block may occur in a different order than shown in the figure. For example, two consecutively shown blocks may be executed substantially simultaneously, and they may sometimes be executed in reverse order depending on the functions involved.

[0028] The systems, components, and / or processes described herein can be implemented in hardware or in combination of hardware and software, and can be implemented centrally in a single processing system or in a distributed manner in which different elements are distributed across several interconnected processing systems. Any type of processing system or other device adapted to perform the methods described herein is suitable. The hardware and software combination may be a processing system having program code that, when loaded and executed, is available on a computer controlling the processing system to perform the methods described herein. The systems, components, and / or processes may also be machine-readable and embedded in computer-readable storage such as a computer program product or other data program recording device that tangibly embodies a program of machine-executable instructions for performing the methods and processes described herein. These elements may also be embedded in an application product having all the features that enable the implementation of the methods described herein, which, when loaded into a processing system, can perform these methods.

[0029] Furthermore, the configurations described herein may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media having computer-readable program code embodied thereon, for example, recorded thereon. Any combination of one or more computer-readable media may be used. The computer-readable media may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable recording medium. The term "computer-readable recording medium" means a continuous recording medium. The computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Examples of non-volatile media include optical discs and magnetic discs. Examples of volatile media include semiconductor memory and dynamic memory. Examples of such computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, flexible disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, other magnetic media, ASICs, graphics processing units (GPUs), CDs, other optical media, RAM, ROM, memory chips or cards, memory sticks, and other media that can be read by computers, processors, or other electronic devices. In the context of this document, a computer-readable recording medium may be any tangible medium that has or can record programs for use by, or connected to, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0030] The following includes definitions of selected terms used herein. The above definitions include various examples and / or forms of parts that fall within the scope of the terms and may be used for various implementations. The above examples are not intended to be limiting. Both singular and plural forms of terms may be included in the definitions.

[0031] References to "one embodiment," "embodiment," "example," etc., indicate that the embodiment or example described in this way may include certain features, structures, characteristics, performance, elements, or limitations, but not all embodiments or examples necessarily have certain features, structures, characteristics, performance, elements, or limitations. Furthermore, repeated use of the phrase "in one embodiment" does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, but may.

[0032] As used herein, “module” includes computer or electrical hardware components, firmware, continuous computer-readable media for recording instructions, and / or combinations of these components configured to perform a function or operation and / or to trigger a function or operation from another logic, method, and / or system. A module may have an algorithm-controlled microprocessor, discrete logic (e.g., ASIC), analog circuitry, digital circuitry, programmed logic devices, memory devices having instructions that, when executed, execute an algorithm, etc. In one or more embodiments, a module may have one or more CMOS gates, combinations of gates, or other circuit components. Where a number of modules are described, one or more embodiments may include incorporating the number of modules into a single physical module component. Similarly, where a single module is described, one or more embodiments may distribute the single module among a number of physical components.

[0033] Furthermore, the modules used herein include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform tasks or execute data types. In further embodiments, memory typically records the modules mentioned. Memory associated with a module may be a processing unit, RAM, ROM, flash memory, or a buffer or cache embedded in another suitable electronic recording medium. In further embodiments, the modules envisioned by this disclosure are executed as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system-on-a-chip (SoC) hardware components, programmable logic arrays (PLAs), graphics processing units (GPUs), or another suitable hardware component embedded with a defined set of configurations (e.g., instructions) for performing the disclosed functions.

[0034] In one or more configurations, one or more of the modules described herein may have artificial or computational intelligence elements, such as neural networks, fuzzy logic, or other machine learning algorithms. Furthermore, in one or more configurations, one or more of the modules may be distributed among the multiple modules described herein.

[0035] Program code embodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical fiber, cable, RF, or any suitable combination thereof. Computer program code for performing operations for this configuration may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java®, Smalltalk, C++, ladder logic, and any other PLC text-based programming language, and traditional procedural programming languages ​​such as the C programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may run entirely on the user's computer, partially on the user's computer, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computer and partially on a remote computer, or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), and the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0036] As used herein, the terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more than one. The term “plural” is defined as two or more than two, as used herein. The term “another” is defined as at least a second or more, as used herein. The terms “contain” and / or “have” as used herein are defined as encompassing (i.e., in an unrestricted style). As used herein, the expression “at least one of … and …” refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the related enumerated items, encompassing them. For example, the expression “at least one of A, B, and C” includes A only, B only, C only, or any combination thereof (e.g., AB, AC, BC, or ABC).

[0037] Aspects of this specification can be implemented in other forms without departing from their spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the following claims, rather than the above specification, should be used to illustrate the scope of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A fuel cell system, comprising: a plurality of fuel cell units housed in a fuel cell container, each fuel cell unit generating low-voltage DC power; a plurality of DC-DC converters housed in the fuel cell container, each DC-DC converter being electrically connected to a respective one of the fuel cell units and converting the low-voltage DC power into high-voltage DC power; a primary load power conversion unit housed in a power electronics container, the primary load power conversion unit being electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting a main load to an external device outside the fuel cell system; an auxiliary load power conversion unit housed in the power electronics container, the auxiliary load power conversion unit being electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting an auxiliary load to one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system, which is necessary to keep the fuel cell system operating; a continuous power supply for supplying emergency power to the fuel cell system and the one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system; The fuel cell system having the above components.

2. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein the primary load power conversion unit converts the high-voltage DC power into AC power, and the main load is AC power.

3. The fuel cell system according to claim 2, wherein the main load is supplied to the external device to supply power to the external device.

4. The fuel cell system according to claim 3, wherein the external device is a residential or commercial building.

5. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary load power conversion unit converts the high-voltage DC power into AC power, and the auxiliary load is AC power.

6. The fuel cell system according to claim 5, wherein the auxiliary load is supplied to the one or more auxiliary systems to supply power to the one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system.

7. The fuel cell system according to claim 1, further comprising one or more switchgear components housed in the power electronics container, electrically connecting the plurality of DC-DC converters to the primary load power conversion unit and the auxiliary load power conversion unit, and supplying the low-voltage DC power to an external device. **Claim 8**: The fuel cell system according to claim 7, further comprising a battery unit housed within the power engineering container, electrically connected to the one or more switchgear components, and supplying startup power to the fuel cell system. **Claim 9**: The fuel cell system according to claim 8, further comprising an uninterruptable power supply housed within the power engineering container and supplying power to the fuel cell system when the battery unit fails. **Claim 10** A fuel cell container, each housing a plurality of fuel cell units that generate low-voltage DC power, and each housing a plurality of DC-DC converters that are electrically connected to the respective fuel cell units and convert the low-voltage DC power to high-voltage DC power; A power electronics container that houses a main load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting a main load to an external device outside the fuel cell system, a secondary load power conversion unit electrically connected to the plurality of DC-DC converters and outputting a secondary load to one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system necessary to keep the fuel cell system operating, and a continuous power supply that supplies emergency power to the fuel cell system and one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system; comprising A fuel cell system, wherein the main load power conversion unit and the secondary load power conversion unit convert the high-voltage DC power to AC power, and the main load and the secondary load are AC power. **Claim 11**: The fuel cell system according to claim 10, wherein the main load is supplied to the external device to supply power to the external device. **Claim 12** **Claim 10**: The fuel cell system according to claim 10, wherein the external device is a residential or commercial building. **Claim 13** **Claim 10**: The fuel cell system according to claim 10, wherein the secondary load is supplied to the one or more auxiliary systems to supply power to the one or more auxiliary systems of the fuel cell system located within the fuel cell container. **Claim 14** The fuel cell system according to claim 10, wherein the power engineering container further houses one or more switchgear components that electrically connect the plurality of DC-DC converters to the main load power conversion unit and the auxiliary load power conversion unit and supply the low-voltage DC power to an external device.

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