US 6,981,379 B2 | ||
Power supply system | ||
Hitoshi Ikuma, Tokyo (Japan); and Makoto Inoue, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
Assigned to The Japan Research Institute, Limited, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
Filed on Jul. 23, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/898,390. | ||
Claims priority of provisional application 60/489836, filed on Jul. 23, 2003. | ||
Prior Publication US 2005/0019621 A1, Jan. 27, 2005 | ||
Int. Cl. F01B 21/04 (2006.01); H01M 8/04 (2006.01) |
U.S. Cl. 60—706 | 27 Claims |
1. A power supply system that supplies power to loads, comprising:
a plurality of fuel cells for generating electric power and supplying the electric power to the loads;
a performance storage section for storing a maximum power value indicating a maximum value of a power generation ability of
each of said fuel cells;
a test device for sequentially performing maximum power generation testing on at least one of said fuel cells at a predetermined
time interval;
an update section for updating the maximum power value of each of said fuel cells according to a result of the performance
test, wherein the maximum power value is stored on said performance storage section;
a power-generation-amount detection section for detecting a total of amounts of power generated and supplied by said fuel
cells to the loads; and
a surplus-power determination section for determining surplus power, which can be excessively generated by the power supply
system, at the predetermined time interval based on a difference between a total of the maximum power values stored on said
performance storage section and the total of amounts of the generated power.
|