Fuel cell operation management device and fuel cell operation management system

Abstract

To suppress the water adsorption of a desulfurization agent that desulfurizes raw material gas supplied to a fuel cell.SOLUTION: A fuel cell operation management device 20 includes: a water immixture information collection unit 24A that collects water immixture information indicating that water is immixed in a gas conduit 40 and position information on a water immixture gas conduit 40W; a fuel cell identification unit 24B that identifies a fuel cell 10 to which gas from the water immixture gas conduit 40W is supplied; and an operation stop instruction transmission unit 24C that transmits an operation stop instruction to the fuel cell identified by the fuel cell identification unit 24B.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a fuel cell operation management device and a fuel cell operation management system for managing the operation of a fuel cell. [Background technology]

[0002] The gas pathway of a fuel cell system that receives a supply of raw gas containing sulfur is equipped with a desulfurizing agent that adsorbs sulfur from the gas. By removing sulfur from the raw gas, sulfur poisoning of the reforming catalyst is avoided, and normal operation of the fuel cell system is maintained.

[0003] In Patent Document 1, maintenance (replacement) of the desulfurizers is encouraged by providing information regarding maintenance of the first desulfurizer and the second desulfurizer based on the dew point of the raw material gas and the cumulative flow rate of the raw material gas flowing through the gas passage from a reference time. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-169044 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Incidentally, this desulfurizing agent has a characteristic that, when gas containing a relatively large amount of water is supplied, it adsorbs more water than sulfur, and desorbs the adsorbed sulfur.

[0006] Therefore, if water flows into the gas pipeline upstream of the gas supply area due to some force majeure, such as gas construction work, gas containing water will be supplied to the fuel cell, and the sulfur adsorbed to the desulfurization agent will be released due to adsorption of water, causing sulfur poisoning of the reforming catalyst, fuel cell stack, etc., and affecting the normal operation of the fuel cell system.

[0007] Patent Document 1 does not consider the case where the sulfur content adsorbed on the desulfurizing agent is released, and therefore cannot deal with such a case.

[0008] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its object to suppress water adsorption by a desulfurizing agent that desulfurizes raw material gas supplied to a fuel cell. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The fuel cell operation management device of claim 1 comprises a water contamination information collection unit that collects water contamination information about water being mixed into a gas conduit that carries gas containing hydrocarbon components with added sulfur components, and location information of the water-mixed gas conduit; a fuel cell identification unit that uses the location information to identify a fuel cell to which the gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit and which has a desulfurizer that removes sulfur components from the supplied gas; and an operation stop instruction transmission unit that transmits an operation stop instruction to the fuel cell identified by the fuel cell identification unit.

[0010] In the fuel cell operation management device according to claim 1, the water contamination information collecting unit collects water contamination information and location information of the water-containing gas conduit, and the fuel cell identifying unit identifies the fuel cell to which gas from the water-containing gas conduit is supplied.Then, the operation stop instruction transmitting unit transmits an operation stop instruction to the identified fuel cell.As a result, the operation of the fuel cell to which gas from the water-containing gas conduit is supplied is stopped, the inflow of water-containing gas into the fuel cell's desulfurizer is prevented, and desorption of sulfur content due to water adsorption by the desulfurizing agent can be suppressed.

[0011] In the fuel cell operation management device of claim 2, the water contamination information includes an inquiry from a user of the gas, and if the water contamination information is an inquiry from the user, the location information of the user is used as the location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0012] In this way, an inquiry from a user can be used as one piece of water contamination information, and the user's location information can be used as the location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0013] In the fuel cell operation management device of claim 3, the water contamination information includes a contact from a contractor, and if the water contamination information is a contact from the contractor, location information corresponding to the content of the contact is used as the location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0014] In this way, the contact from the supplier can be used as one piece of water contamination information, and location information according to the content of the contact can be used as location information for the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0015] In the fuel cell operation management device of claim 4, the fuel cell identification unit identifies the fuel cell to which gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit based on area-corresponding fuel cell information regarding the fuel cells installed in the low-pressure area corresponding to each gas conduit.

[0016] According to the fuel cell operation management device of claim 4, it is possible to identify the fuel cell to which gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit based on area-corresponding fuel cell information regarding the fuel cells installed in the low-pressure area corresponding to each gas conduit.

[0017] In the fuel cell operation management device of claim 5, the water contamination information includes dew point data from a dew point meter installed in at least one of a gas conduit, a heat source machine, and a fuel cell, and when the water contamination information is dew point data from the dew point meter, the position information of the dew point meter is used as the position information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0018] In this way, dew point data from a dew point meter installed in at least one of the gas conduit, heat source unit, and fuel cell can be used as one piece of water contamination information, and the position information of the dew point meter can be used as position information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

[0019] The fuel cell operation management system of claim 6 comprises a fuel cell operation management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and a water contamination information acquisition device connected to the fuel cell operation management device via a network and transmitting water contamination information and location information of a water-contaminated gas conduit to the fuel cell operation management device.

[0020] According to the fuel cell operation management system of claim 6, the water contamination information and the position information of the water-contaminated gas conduit can be transmitted from the water contamination information acquisition device to the fuel cell operation management device via a network.

[0021] In the fuel cell operation management system of claim 7, the water contamination information acquisition device acquires the water contamination information based on dew point data measured by a dew point meter installed in at least one of the gas conduit, the heat source machine, and the fuel cell.

[0022] In this way, water contamination information can be obtained based on dew point data from a dew point meter installed in at least one of the gas conduit, the heat source unit, and the fuel cell. [Effects of the Invention]

[0023] The fuel cell operation management system according to the present invention can suppress water adsorption in the desulfurizing agent that desulfurizes the raw material gas supplied to the fuel cell. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0024] [Figure 1] 1 is an overall view of a fuel cell operation management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 10 is an example of area information corresponding to each gas pipe. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a fuel cell. [Figure 4A] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a dew point meter installed in a gas pipeline. [Figure 4B] FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of the heat source machine. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a fuel cell operation management device. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart of an operation management process when water is mixed in. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0026] (Overall configuration of fuel cell operation management system S) Fig. 1 is an overall view of a fuel cell operation management system S according to this embodiment. The fuel cell operation management system S shown in Fig. 1 is an operation management system for fuel cells 10 installed at various locations, and includes a fuel cell operation management device 20 and a water contamination information acquisition device 30.

[0027] The fuel cell 10 is, for example, an ENE-FARM (registered trademark). The fuel cell 10 is installed in a user's home, an apartment building, a factory, etc. As shown in FIG. 2, each fuel cell 10 has area information J (location information) registered for each gas conduit ID, such as gas conduits 40A, 40B, 40C, etc., that supply gas to a low-pressure area. For example, "area information JA" is registered for a fuel cell 10 installed in an area that receives gas supply from gas conduit 40A, and "area information JB" is registered for a fuel cell 10 installed in an area that receives gas supply from gas pipe 40B. The fuel cell 10 is connected to a network N. Details of the fuel cell 10 will be described later.

[0028] City gas to which sulfur components have been added flows through the gas pipe 40. Although the present embodiment will be described using city gas as an example, the present invention can also be applied to other gas pipes through which gas containing hydrocarbon components flows.

[0029] The water contamination information acquisition device 30 includes a dew point meter 42, a heat source device 44, and a fuel cell 10, which are provided in a gas conduit 40. The heat source device 44 and the fuel cell 10 are provided with a dew point meter 46 and a dew point meter 11, respectively. The dew point meter 42, the heat source device 44, and the fuel cell 10 are connected to a network N.

[0030] The fuel cell operation management device 20 is a device that collects water contamination information and location information of water-contaminated gas conduits from the water contamination information acquisition device 30 and the like, and sends a shutdown instruction to the fuel cell 10 that is affected by the water contamination. The fuel cell operation management device 20 is connected to a network N.

[0031] The network N is, for example, the Internet, and the fuel cell 10, the fuel cell operation management device 20, and the water contamination information acquisition device 30 (dew point meter 42, heat source machine 44) are connected via the network N.

[0032] (Configuration of fuel cell 10) 3, the fuel cell 10 includes a dew point meter 11, a desulfurizer 12, a power generation main body 13, an FC control unit 14, an operation panel 18, and a communication unit 19. City gas, the pressure of which has been reduced via a pressure regulator (not shown), is supplied to the fuel cell 10 from a gas conduit 40 through a pipe 41.

[0033] A dew point meter 11, a desulfurizer 12, and a power generation main body 13 are connected to the piping 41 from the upstream side. The dew point meter 11 measures the dew point of the raw material gas. The desulfurizer 12 is filled with a desulfurizing agent, which adsorbs and removes sulfur components added to the raw material gas. This makes it possible to suppress sulfur poisoning in the power generation main body 13.

[0034] The power generation main body 13 is provided with a reforming section that reforms the raw material gas, a cell stack that generates power using fuel gas containing hydrogen reformed in the reforming section, etc. Electric power is extracted from the power generation main body 13 and supplied to the power demand section.

[0035] The FC control unit 14 is a computer that controls each part of the fuel cell 10, and is connected to the dew point meter 11 and each part of the power generation main body unit 13.

[0036] The FC control unit 14 includes, as hardware, a processor 15 and a memory 16. The processor 15 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), etc. The memory 16 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and storage, etc.

[0037] The ROM stores various programs and various data. The RAM temporarily stores programs or data as a working area. The storage is composed of an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), etc., and stores various programs including an operating system and various data. The ROM or storage stores a program 17 for controlling the fuel cell 10. The processor 15 reads the program 17 and executes the program 17 using the RAM as a working area.

[0038] The memory 16 is provided with a storage area 16A. The storage area 16A stores area information J of the fuel cell 10, as well as operating data output from each section within the fuel cell 10, dew point data output from the dew point meter 11, and the like.

[0039] The operation panel 18 has a display, lamps, switches, etc. The operation panel 18 has switches that can change the operation and settings of the fuel cell 10. The communicator 19 is, for example, a modem. The communicator 19 has a function of connecting the fuel cell operation management device 20 (described later) and the FC control unit 14 via the network N so that they can communicate with each other.

[0040] The dew point meter 11 outputs the measured dew point value as dew point data to the FC control unit 14. When the dew point value exceeds a threshold value TH at which abnormal water contamination is suspected, the FC control unit 14 transmits this as water contamination information together with area information J for the fuel cell 10 via the network N to the fuel cell operation management device 20. Here, the threshold value TH at which abnormal water contamination is suspected is set to a value at which the dew point of the gas flowing through the piping 41 becomes high and abnormal water contamination is suspected. Because the fuel cell 10 has the function of transmitting dew point data, it also functions as one of the water contamination information acquisition devices 30 described below.

[0041] (Configuration of water contamination information acquisition device 30) As shown in FIG. 4A, a dew point meter 42, which is one of the water contamination information acquisition devices 30, is installed in a gas conduit 40 and measures the dew point value of the gas flowing through the gas conduit 40. The dew point meter 42 is equipped with a microcomputer (not shown), and when the water vapor concentration in the gas increases and the dew point value exceeds a threshold value TH indicating suspected abnormal water contamination, the dew point meter 42 transmits this information as water contamination information together with ID information of the gas conduit 40 via the network N to the fuel cell operation management device 20. The ID information of the gas conduit 40 is information for identifying which gas conduit 40 it is, such as 40A, 40B, 40C, etc., as shown in FIG. 2.

[0042] 4B, a heat source machine 44, which is one of the water contamination information acquisition devices 30, includes a dew point meter 46, a heat source machine control unit 47, and a heat source machine main body 48. The heat source machine 44 is a device that uses combustion heat from a burner as the heat source for heat exchange with water, such as a gas water heater or floor heating equipment. Raw material gas that has been reduced in pressure via a pressure regulator (not shown) is supplied to the heat source machine 44 from a gas conduit 40 via a piping 43.

[0043] A dew point meter 46 and a heat source device main body 48 are connected to the pipe 43 from the upstream side. The dew point meter 46 measures the dew point of the gas flowing through the pipe 43.

[0044] The heat source unit main body 48 is provided with a burner for burning gas, a heat exchange unit, etc. In the heat exchange unit, tap water, etc. is heated, and hot water is supplied to the demand section.

[0045] The heat source machine control unit 47 is a computer that controls the heat source machine 44, and is connected to the dew point meter 46 and each unit in the heat source machine main body 48. Similar to the fuel cell 10, a memory unit (not shown) of the heat source machine control unit 47 stores area information J (location information) of the heat source machine 44.

[0046] The measured dew point value is output from the dew point meter 46 to the heat source machine control unit 47. When the water vapor concentration in the gas increases and the dew point value becomes equal to or greater than a threshold value TH indicating a suspected abnormal water contamination, the heat source machine control unit 47 transmits this as water contamination information together with area information J of the heat source machine 44 to the fuel cell operation management device 20 via the network N.

[0047] (Configuration of fuel cell operation management device 20) As shown in Fig. 5, the fuel cell operation management device 20 includes an input device 22 and a computer 23. The input device 22 is, for example, a keyboard or a touch panel. The computer 23 includes, as hardware, a processor 24, a memory 25, a database 26, and a communication interface 27. The basic configurations of the processor 24 and the memory 25 are similar to those of the processor 15 and memory 16 of the FC control unit 14 described above (see Fig. 3).

[0048] The memory 25 stores a program 28 for managing the operation of the fuel cells 10 installed within the area to be managed. Predetermined data is stored in a storage area 25A of the memory 25. The database 26 stores in advance information (including area information J) and operating information relating to the fuel cells 10 within the area to be managed.

[0049] The communication interface 27 has a function of connecting the fuel cell 10 and the water contamination information acquisition device 30 to the computer 23 via the network N so that they can communicate with each other.

[0050] The computer 23 has, as functional components, a water contamination information collecting unit 24A, a fuel cell identifying unit 24B, and an operation stop instruction transmitting unit 24C. These functional units are realized by the processor 24 executing the program 28.

[0051] The water contamination information collecting unit 24A has a function of storing water contamination information about water contamination in the gas conduit 40 and location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit 40W in association with each other in the database 26. The water contamination information and location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit 40W include information from inquiries from users and contacts from contractors.

[0052] Here, the inquiries from users are about water getting into the gas pipeline from users who receive gas supply from the gas pipeline 40. The contacts from contractors include gas installation contractors contacting them about water getting into the gas pipeline during installation, gas management contractors contacting them about water getting into the gas pipeline, gas equipment maintenance contractors contacting them about water getting into the gas pipeline, etc.

[0053] When the information source is an inquiry from a user or a contact from a contractor, the operator inputs water contamination information and location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit 40W from the input device 22. In the case of an inquiry from a user, the water-contaminated gas conduit 40W uses area information J in which the user is located as location information. In the case of a contact from a contractor, information corresponding to the content of the contact is used as location information. For example, when water contamination occurs during gas construction work, the ID information of the gas conduit 40 affected by the gas construction work is used as location information.

[0054] The fuel cell identification unit 24B has a function of identifying the fuel cell 10 to which gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit 40W. The operation stop instruction transmission unit 24C has a function of transmitting an operation stop instruction to the fuel cell 10 identified by the fuel cell identification unit 24B.

[0055] Next, the operation of the fuel cell operation management system S of this embodiment will be described.

[0056] When the acquired dew point value becomes equal to or greater than the threshold value TH, the water contamination information acquisition device 30, which consists of the fuel cell 10, dew point meter 42, and heat source unit 44, transmits the water contamination information together with the ID information of the gas conduit 40 (in the case of the dew point meter 42) or the area information J (in the case of the heat source unit 44 and fuel cell 10) to the fuel cell operation management device 20 via the network N.

[0057] When the fuel cell operation management device 20 receives water contamination information together with the ID information of the gas conduit 40 or area information J via input from the input device 22 or data transmission from the water contamination information acquisition device 30, it stores the information together with the input date and time in the database 26. Then, the water contamination operation management process shown in FIG.

[0058] First, in step S10, the latest water contamination information stored in the database 26 is read, and in step S12, it is determined whether ID information of the gas conduit 40 has been entered. If ID information of the gas conduit 40 has been entered, in step S14, area information J corresponding to the ID information of the gas conduit 40 is determined, and the process proceeds to step S18. As an example, if the ID information is gas conduit 40A, corresponding area information JA is determined.

[0059] If the determination in step S12 is negative, then in step S16, area information J has been input instead of the ID input information of the gas conduit 40, so the input area information J is read out and the process proceeds to step S18.

[0060] In step S18, the fuel cell area information stored in database 26 is accessed, and the fuel cell 10 corresponding to the area information J obtained in step S14 or step S16 is identified. This makes it possible to identify the fuel cell 10 that will be affected by water contamination due to the water contamination information. Then, in step S20, an instruction to stop operation is sent to the identified fuel cell 10, and this process ends.

[0061] The operation stop instruction sent from the fuel cell operation management device 20 is delivered to the corresponding fuel cell 10 via the network N, and the fuel cell 10 that receives the operation stop instruction stops operation.

[0062] The operation of the fuel cell 10 can be restarted, for example, by waiting for an instruction from the fuel cell operation management device 20 (an instruction to start operation after water contamination has been removed).

[0063] According to the fuel cell operation management system S of this embodiment, an operation stop command is sent to a fuel cell 10 that is suspected to be contaminated with water, among the fuel cells 10 whose operation is managed by the fuel cell operation management device 20. This prevents the inflow of water-contaminated gas into the desulfurizer 12, making it possible to suppress water adsorption by the desulfurizing agent. This also suppresses the discharge of sulfur components caused by water adsorption by the desulfurizing agent.

[0064] In this embodiment, water contamination information and location information of the water-containing gas conduit 40W (ID information of the gas conduit 40, area information J) are collected from inquiries from users, contacts from contractors, the gas conduit 40, the heat source device 44, and the fuel cell 10, but the information may be collected from one or more of these sources. By obtaining water contamination information from many information sources as in this embodiment, it is possible to respond to various patterns of water contamination.

[0065] The above describes an embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented in various modified forms within the scope of the gist of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 10 fuel cell 12 Desulfurizer 14 FC control section 20 Fuel cell operation management device 24A Water Contamination Information Collection Department 24B Fuel Cell Specification Section 24C Operation stop instruction transmitter 30 Water contamination information acquisition device 40 Gas Pipe 40W Water-mixed gas pipe 42 Dew point meter 44 Heat source machine J Area Information N Network S Fuel cell operation management system

Claims

1. a water contamination information collecting unit that collects water contamination information about water contamination in a gas conduit through which a gas containing a hydrocarbon-based component to which a sulfur component has been added flows, and location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit in which the water has been contaminated; a fuel cell specifying unit that uses the location information to specify an area to which the gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit, and that uses the location information to specify a fuel cell that is associated with the area and has a desulfurizer that removes sulfur components from the supplied gas; an operation stop instruction transmitting unit that transmits an operation stop instruction to the fuel cell identified by the fuel cell identifying unit; A fuel cell operation management device comprising:

2. The water contamination information includes an inquiry from a user of the gas, and when the water contamination information is an inquiry from the user, location information of the user is set as location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit. The fuel cell operation management device according to claim 1 .

3. The water contamination information includes a contact from a supplier, and when the water contamination information is a contact from the supplier, location information corresponding to the content of the contact is set as the location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit.

3. The fuel cell operation management device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. the fuel cell identification unit identifies a fuel cell to which gas is supplied from the water-mixed gas conduit based on area-corresponding fuel cell information relating to a fuel cell installed in a low-pressure area corresponding to each gas conduit. The fuel cell operation management device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. The water contamination information includes dew point data from a dew point meter installed in at least one of a gas conduit, a heat source machine, and a fuel cell, and when the water contamination information is dew point data from the dew point meter, position information of the dew point meter is used as position information of the water-contaminated gas conduit. The fuel cell operation management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. A fuel cell operation management device according to any one of claims 1 to 5; a water contamination information acquisition device that is connected to the fuel cell operation management device via a network and transmits water contamination information and location information of the water-contaminated gas conduit to the fuel cell operation management device; A fuel cell operation management system equipped with the above.

7. the water contamination information acquisition device acquires the water contamination information based on dew point data measured by a dew point meter installed in at least one of a gas conduit, a heat source machine, and a fuel cell; The fuel cell operation management system according to claim 6 .

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