A fuel cell machine control system and method to provide extended range and operating times of a fuel cell machine (100) with a fuel cell (122) and battery (118) is disclosed. In some cases, the energy capacity of the battery (118) relative to the energy capacity of a fuel tank (126) may be in the range of about 0.2 to about 1.5. The range and/or the operating time of the fuel cell machine (100) is extended by using the fuel cell fuel to power the fuel cell machine (100) and continuing operating the fuel cell machine (100) after the fuel cell fuel is depleted using the battery (118). In some cases, the fuel cell machine (100) may autonomously be moved to a refueling/charging station (202) when the remaining charge in the battery (118) is within a threshold level of being depleted. Additionally, a total energy available to operate the fuel cell machine (100) may be determined and displayed.
EXTENDED RANGE OF FUEL CELL MACHINE
2024-05-16
Patent
Electronic Resource
English