Patent ID: 11909080
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 4:
5. A control method of a fuel cell system, the fuel cell system comprising:
a fuel cell;
a gas supply unit configured to supply gas to the fuel cell;
an electric power storage device capable of storing at least electric power generated by the fuel cell; and
a remaining capacity monitor configured to detect remaining capacity in the electric power storage device,
the control method comprising the steps of:
upon input of a stop instruction to the fuel cell system, determining whether low temperature conditions are met, wherein the low temperature conditions include a temperature related to a state of the fuel cell being equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold value set;
when determining that the low temperature conditions are met, executing a purging process so as to discharge more of moisture stored in the fuel cell to an outside of the fuel cell, as compared with when determining that the low temperature conditions are not met, the purging process being executed to discharge the moisture stored in the fuel cell to the outside of the fuel cell by driving the gas supply unit;
when determining that the low temperature conditions were met at a time of a previous stop of the fuel cell system, and the purging process was performed at the time of the previous stop of the fuel cell system, not executing the purging process during a subsequent stopped period of the fuel cell system even when freezing conditions are established during the subsequent stopped period; and
executing a charging process with a target remaining capacity of the electric power storage device set to a smaller value, as compared with when determining that the low temperature conditions are not met, the charging process being executed to charge the remaining capacity of the electric power storage device with the power generated by the fuel cell.