Method and device for vehicle fuel cell dynamic power control

US5646852A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Daimler-Benz AG · DE

Inventors

• Helmut Lorenz · Burghausen, DE
• Karl-Ernst Noreikat · Eßlingen, DE
• Thomas Klaiber · Waiblingen, DE
• Wolfram Fleck · Coquitlam, CA
• Josef Sonntag · Atzlenbach, DE
• Gerald Hornburg · Langenau, DE
• Andreas Gaulhofer · Überlingen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 3, 1996
• Grant date: Jul 8, 1997
• Expiry date: Sep 3, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02T90/40
• WIPO field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A method and an apparatus are provided for controlling the power of an electric drive unit in a vehicle. The drive unit is supplied with electrical energy by a fuel cell in the vehicle. On the basis of a power request which is determined from the accelerator pedal position, the air flow rate required to provide the set power from the fuel cell is calculated and set by controlling rotational speed of a compressor arranged in the air intake line to the fuel cell. To prevent the fuel cell from producing more electrical power than the drive unit can absorb, the drive unit acts limits the power request by emitting appropriate error messages. The set value for the power is fed to the drive unit and can be corrected such that the drive unit never demands more power than the amount of power instantaneously produced by the fuel cell to prevent fuel cell collapse.