Patent ID: 11881603
Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A fuel cell system for power generation for a fuel cell including a cathode electrode and a hydrogen electrode opposed to the cathode electrode with a solid polymer electrolyte membrane in between, the fuel cell system comprising:
a first sensor arranged at an inlet of the fuel cell in an air supply path supplying air to the cathode electrode of the fuel cell, and configured to detect a first mass flow rate of air supplied into the inlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path;
a second sensor arranged at an outlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path, and configured to detect a second mass flow rate of air exhausted, passing through the cathode electrode, from the outlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path;
a third sensor arranged at the inlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path, and configured to detect a first humidity of air supplied into the inlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path at the first mass flow rate; and
a controller coupled with the first sensor, the second sensor, and the third sensor, and configured to calculate a second humidity of air exhausted, passing through the cathode electrode, from the outlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path by:
calculating a first difference that is mass other than moisture, included in air into the inlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path by using a difference between the first mass flow rate after deducting amount of moisture on a basis of the first humidity and oxygen consumption calculated by using current, detected by an ammeter coupled with the controller, generated by the fuel cell,
calculating a second difference that is mass of water vapor included in air exhausted from the outlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path by using a difference between the second mass flow rate and the first difference, and
calculating the second humidity that is a ratio of the second difference to an amount of saturated water vapor corresponding to temperature at the outlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path,

wherein the controller is configured to humidify, by using a humidifier, air supplied into the inlet of the fuel cell in the air supply path in response to the second humidity.