Patents by Inventor Tomohiko Kaneko

Tomohiko Kaneko has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20200203739
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell; a supply device; and a control unit configured to lower output voltage of the fuel cell to a target value so as to execute recovery processing to recover power generation performance of the fuel cell. In a case of having an execution request of the recovery processing, the control unit restarts power generation of the fuel cell when open circuit voltage of the fuel cell is lowered to or smaller than a threshold value higher than the target value by controlling a flow rate of a cathode gas while the power generation of the fuel cell is paused, and the control unit executes the recovery processing while controlling an output current value of the fuel cell to be smaller than an idle current value that is an output current value of the fuel cell in an idle operation state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiko KANEKO, Masayuki ITO
  • Publication number: 20200185744
    Abstract: A fuel cell system is equipped with a fuel cell unit that is composed of a plurality of fuel cells including a first fuel cell and a second fuel cell, a first supply device and a second supply device that supply reactive gas to the first fuel cell and the second fuel cell respectively, and a control device that controls running of the first fuel cell and the second fuel cell and operation of the first supply device and the second supply device. The control device suspends electric power generation by the first fuel cell and drives the first supply device to hold an opening circuit voltage of the first fuel cell within a target range, and suspends electric power generation by the second fuel cell and stops driving the second supply device when an output P required of the fuel cell unit is equal to 0.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Yasushi ARAKI, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20200185739
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a first fuel cell stack having a discharge manifold, a second fuel cell stack having a discharge manifold, a first auxiliary machine used for power generation of the first fuel cell stack, a second auxiliary machine used for power generation of the second fuel cell stack, and a controller configured to control operation of the first auxiliary machine and the second auxiliary machine. The controller is configured to control operation of the first auxiliary machine and the second auxiliary machine, such that one of the first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack, of which a discharge direction of reaction gas discharged from the discharge manifold forms a smaller angle with a vertical downward direction, starts generating power earlier than the other fuel cell stack, after power generation of the first fuel cell stack and the second fuel cell stack is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Hideyuki KUMEI, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20200185736
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell unit; a temperature acquiring unit acquiring an ambient temperature of a first fuel cell stack of the fuel cell unit; and a power generation control unit. The power generation control unit is configured to, when required power for the fuel cell unit is less than a predetermined threshold value, temporarily stop power generation of the first fuel cell stack and to switch the first fuel cell stack from stopped power generation to power generation when a continuous power generation stopped time of the first fuel cell stack is greater than a predetermined time such that the continuous power generation stopped time is shorter when the ambient temperature is equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature based on a temperature at which liquid water in the first fuel cell stack freezes than when the ambient temperature is higher than the predetermined temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2019
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Hideyuki KUMEI, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20200144640
    Abstract: A fuel cell system is equipped with a first fuel cell, a second fuel cell, a scavenging device that can scavenge the first fuel cell and the second fuel cell independently of each other, and a control device configured to control the scavenging device. An electric power generation volume of the second fuel cell is smaller than an electric power generation volume of the first fuel cell. The control device is configured to scavenge the second fuel cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Publication date: May 7, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiko KANEKO, Masayuki ITO, Hideyuki KUMEI
  • Publication number: 20200136157
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a first fuel cell stack and a second fuel cell stack; a supply passage connected to an inlet of oxidant gas in the first fuel cell stack; an discharge passage connected to an outlet of the oxidant gas in the second fuel cell stack; introduction unit that introduces water in the oxidant gas flowing through the discharge passage into the supply passage; and a controller configured to perform refresh control of the first fuel cell stack by lowering voltage of the first fuel cell stack, and operates, during the refresh control, the introduction unit while keeping the second fuel cell stack in an electric power generation state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20200127307
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a secondary battery; first and second fuel cells; first and second scavenging devices configured to scavenge the first and second fuel cells, respectively; and a control device configured to perform a first scavenging process of scavenging the first fuel cell by driving the first scavenging device using a charged power of the secondary battery when the first and second fuel cells are in a power generation stopped state and to perform a second scavenging process of scavenging the second fuel cell by driving the second scavenging device using a generated power of the first fuel cell when the first fuel cell is in a power generation state and the second fuel cell is in the power generation stopped state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideyuki KUMEI, Masayuki ITO, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20200112039
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell unit; first and second supply systems; a switching device; a switching control unit, when required power of the fuel cell unit is equal to or smaller than a threshold; an open circuit voltage obtaining unit; and a supply system control unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Tomohiko KANEKO, Hideyuki KUMEI
  • Publication number: 20200112041
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell unit; first and second supply systems; a switching device; a switching control unit; an open circuit voltage obtaining unit; and a supply system control unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayuki ITO, Hideyuki KUMEI, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Patent number: 10359754
    Abstract: A fuel cell system in which power generation is performed by a fuel cell, comprising: a power generation controller that performs: first control in which at least one of power control for preventing generated power from exceeding an upper limit value, voltage control for preventing generated voltage from falling below a lower limit value and current control for preventing generated current from exceeding an upper limit value is performed and second control in which the generated voltage is prevented from exceeding an upper limit value; and a priority instructor that instructs the power generation controller to prioritize the first control over the second control when the first control and the second control collide with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yutaka Tano, Mitsuhiro Nada, Tomohiko Kaneko, Yohei Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10224558
    Abstract: The present invention enables the determination of an operating point of a fuel cell so as to prioritize the fulfillment of an amount of required power generation while avoiding various limitations, such as a current limit, in a fuel cell system that warms up the fuel cell by a low efficiency operation. A controller 70 multiplies a voltage command value Vcom obtained in step S3 by a current command value Icom obtained in step S1, then, this is divided by a final voltage command value Vfcom obtained in step S4, thereby obtaining a final current command value Ifcom to determine an operating point (Ifcom, Vfcom) during a warm-up operation (step S5), and then the process ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomohiko Kaneko, Yoshiaki Naganuma, Yutaka Tano, Yohei Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10158136
    Abstract: A fuel cell system comprising: a power generation controller that controls a value subject to control, which is a value exhibiting a power generating state by a fuel cell and is a value that is affected by alternating current applied to the fuel cell, to approach a target value; a dead zone setter that sets a dead zone with the target value as a reference; and, a stopper that stops the control by the power generation controller when the value subject to control is contained in the dead zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yohei Okamoto, Yutaka Tano, Mitsuhiro Nada, Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Patent number: 10135082
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell outputting a current; a supply unit supplying oxidant gas; a flow-amount measurement unit measuring a flow amount of the oxidant gas; and a controller that feed-back controls the supply unit such that a measured flow-amount value converges toward a target flow-amount value, wherein the controller determines an acceptable current value in accordance with the measured flow-amount value, restricts the current to the acceptable current value or less, controls the current in accordance with a requested current value of the fuel cell; and performs a changing-suppression processing, when a condition continues for a predetermined period, the condition including that a changing width of the requested current value is equal to or less than a first value and a difference between the requested current value and the acceptable current value is equal to or less than a second value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiko Kaneko, Yoshiaki Naganuma, Yutaka Tano, Yohei Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10014535
    Abstract: An object is to provide a technique of reducing a potential failure to start a fuel cell system due to a temperature decrease in a vehicle with the fuel cell system mounted thereon. There is provided a vehicle that comprises a fuel cell system, a battery, a motor, and a determiner configured to determine that the fuel cell system has a frozen part when temperature measured by a temperature measurement unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined first temperature and at least one of conditions (1) to (3) is satisfied: (1) no purging process is performed after a change from an on state of the vehicle to an off state of the vehicle; (2) ambient temperature decreases to or below a predetermined second temperature in the off state of the vehicle and no purging process is performed; and (3) an inclination of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination at a time of change from the off state of the vehicle to the on state of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomohiko Kaneko, Yohei Okamoto, Kazuo Yamamoto, Tomohiro Ogawa, Masashi Toida, Mitsuhiro Nada, Tomio Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 9985305
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to balance: the suppression of deterioration of a fuel cell and degradation of its durability and the optimization of the output control of the fuel cell. The present invention provides an output control apparatus for a fuel cell, being capable of switching a control mode between a power control mode in which an output power of a fuel cell connected to a load is controlled so as to be at a target power and a voltage control mode in which an output voltage of the fuel cell is controlled so as to be at a target voltage, wherein a control in the voltage control mode is performed when the output voltage of the fuel cell decreases below a predetermined low voltage threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Patent number: 9889765
    Abstract: A fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell and a secondary battery, each acting as a power supply source. A first converter a second converter is provided between the fuel cell and the secondary battery and first and second loads. A first inverter is provided between the first and second converters and the first load and a second inverter is provided between the first and second converters and the second load. A first controller controls an output of the fuel cell by controlling the first converter, and a second controller is configured separately from the first controller. If one of the first controller and the second controller receives the failure information sent from the other, the first controller or the second controller that has received the failure information stops operation of the control target thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kota Manabe, Yutaka Tano, Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Patent number: 9727066
    Abstract: In a fuel cell system which includes a high-electricity multiple-phase converter, noise generated due to an increase in reactor vibrations and due to a sound pressure increase caused by a plurality of reactors is effectively inhibited, and silence is improved. A fuel cell system includes a multiple-phase converter provided between a fuel cell and a load device. The fuel cell system includes: selecting means (e.g., a controller) for selecting a driving phase of the multiple-phase converter in accordance with the load of the load device; and driving means (e.g., a controller) for driving a plurality of driving phases, when selected by the selecting means, at carrier frequencies so that these driving phases are nearly opposite to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kota Manabe, Hikaru Arai, Tomohiko Kaneko, Hiroyuki Imanishi
  • Patent number: 9692068
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell; a coolant path connected to the fuel cell and allowing a coolant that cools the fuel cell to flow therethrough; a temperature detection unit configured to detect a temperature of the coolant in the coolant path; a temperature correction unit configured to calculate a temperature correction value by correcting the temperature of the coolant detected by the temperature detection unit; and a lower limit voltage control unit configured to control a lower limit voltage of the fuel cell based on the temperature correction value, wherein the temperature correction unit calculates the temperature correction value based on a following equation: T filt = T filt ? _ ? old + T - T filt ? _ ? old ? where Tfilt represents the temperature correction value, Tfilt_old represents a last temperature correction value, T represents the temperature of the coolant, and ? represents a coefficient, and the coefficient when the temperature of the coolant is less than a
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yohei Okamoto, Yutaka Tano, Mitsuhiro Nada, Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Patent number: 9568925
    Abstract: In a fuel cell system which controls an operation of a converter on the basis of a duty command value including a feedforward term, the deterioration of a response of the converter at a time of a rapid increase (a rapid decrease) of a load is suppressed. There is disclosed a fuel cell system comprising a converter disposed between a fuel cell and a load device, and a controller for controlling the operation of the converter on the basis of the duty command value including the feedforward term, wherein the controller calculates the feedforward term by use of a command value of a physical amount concerning the converter in an operation range where a requested power from the load device is in excess of a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Publication number: 20160380287
    Abstract: An object is to provide a technique of reducing a potential failure to start a fuel cell system due to a temperature decrease in a vehicle with the fuel cell system mounted thereon. There is provided a vehicle that comprises a fuel cell system, a battery, a motor, and a determiner configured to determine that the fuel cell system has a frozen part when temperature measured by a temperature measurement unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined first temperature and at least one of conditions (1) to (3) is satisfied: (1) no purging process is performed after a change from an on state of the vehicle to an off state of the vehicle; (2) ambient temperature decreases to or below a predetermined second temperature in the off state of the vehicle and no purging process is performed; and (3) an inclination of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination at a time of change from the off state of the vehicle to the on state of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiko KANEKO, Yohei OKAMOTO, Kazuo YAMAMOTO, Tomohiro OGAWA, Masashi TOIDA, Mitsuhiro NADA, Tomio YAMANAKA