US 12,469,860 B2
Systems and methods for providing heat control in a multi-stack fuel cell system
Scott Baird, Loughborough (GB); Philip Thomas Jackson, Loughborough (GB); James Watton, Loughborough (GB); Brendan Devaney, Loughborough (GB); and Ian Stuart Kenyon, Loughborough (GB)
Assigned to INTELLIGENT ENERGY, Loughborough (GB)
Appl. No. 17/767,820
Filed by INTELLIGENT ENERGY LIMITED, Loughborough (GB)
PCT Filed Oct. 8, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/078333
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 8, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/069622, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 15, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 1914759 (GB), filed on Oct. 11, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2025/0260026 A1, Aug. 14, 2025
Int. Cl. H01M 8/04537 (2016.01); H01M 8/04007 (2016.01); H01M 8/04225 (2016.01); H01M 8/04302 (2016.01); H01M 8/0432 (2016.01); H01M 8/0438 (2016.01); H01M 8/04858 (2016.01)
CPC H01M 8/04007 (2013.01) [H01M 8/04225 (2016.02); H01M 8/04302 (2016.02); H01M 8/0432 (2013.01); H01M 8/0438 (2013.01); H01M 8/04567 (2013.01); H01M 8/04597 (2013.01); H01M 8/04619 (2013.01); H01M 8/0494 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fuel cell power system, comprising:
a plurality of fuel cell stacks;
a plurality of power converters each located at an output of a different one of the plurality of fuel cell stacks;
a plurality of current sensors each located at an input of each of the power converters, each of the current sensors being configured to determine a current;
a plurality of voltage sensors each located at the input of the each of the power converters, each of the voltage sensors being configured to determine a voltage; and
a computing device configured to:
set one or more parameter values of one of the power converters located at the output of one of the plurality of fuel cell stacks such that the one fuel cell stack preferentially provides power to a load;
determine a heat power of the one fuel cell stack and another heat power of one or more other fuel cell stacks of the plurality of fuel cell stacks, each of the heat power and the another heat power being determined based on the voltage and the current that are determined at the input of the respective power converter;
determine whether the heat power of the one stack satisfies a threshold amount of heat; and
responsive to a determination that the heat power of the one fuel cell stack satisfies the criterion, set one or more parameter values of each of the power converters located at the output of the one or more other fuel cell stacks such that the determined another heat power of each of the one or more other fuel cell stacks more closely matches the determined heat power of the one fuel cell stack.