BACKGROUND ART

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to an industrial vehicle, and more particularly to a fuel cell-type industrial vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, fuel cells for vehicles, and in particular industrial vehicles, have come to attention due to the cleanliness and high energy efficiency thereof. Industrial vehicles (referred to hereafter as “fuel cell-type industrial vehicles”) that move using power generated by a fuel cell have a charging plug for charging a fuel tank with hydrogen serving as fuel gas. The charging plug is provided in a fuel cell unit that includes the fuel cell. Hydrogen is supplied to the fuel cell-type industrial vehicle at a hydrogen station. A hydrogen supply dispenser is installed in the hydrogen station. A hydrogen supply hose is connected to the dispenser. A charging socket is provided on a tip end portion of the hose. To charge the fuel tank of the fuel cell-type industrial vehicle with hydrogen, the charging socket provided on the tip end portion of the hose is plugged onto and thereby connected to the charging plug of the fuel cell unit.

The fuel cell unit is further provided with an openable and closeable charging lid. The charging lid is provided on a side face of the fuel cell unit so as to cover the charging plug. The charging plug is blocked from the outside when the charging lid is closed and exposed to the outside when the charging lid is open. Therefore, when the fuel tank of the fuel cell-type industrial vehicle is charged with hydrogen, the charging lid must be opened before connecting the charging socket to the charging plug. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2013-237393 describes a technique of providing a limit switch having an output signal that switches in response to an opening or closing operation of the charging lid so that the open/closed state of the charging lid is detected by the limit switch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is generally necessary to stop the fuel cell-type industrial vehicle while charging the fuel tank with hydrogen. Therefore, when an operator opens the charging lid and this is detected from the output signal of the limit switch, for example, it is desirable to execute control to stop the fuel cell-type industrial vehicle until the charging lid is closed.

Meanwhile, in a fuel cell-type industrial vehicle, a cover may be attached to a side face of a vehicle main body to improve the design. The cover is attached so as to cover the side face of the fuel cell unit. As noted above, however, the charging lid is provided on the side face of the fuel cell unit, and therefore, when a cover is attached to the side face of the vehicle main body, the charging lid is hidden behind the cover. It is therefore necessary to provide an opening/closing door in the cover in alignment with the position of the charging lid.

However, when a cover with a door, such as that described above, is attached to the vehicle main body, a so-called double door, in which the charging lid exists on the rear side of the cover door, is formed. Hence, to charge the fuel tank with hydrogen, first the cover door is opened, and then the charging lid is opened. As a result, the charging operation performed by the operator becomes complicated. Further, to simplify the charging operation, a configuration in which the charging lid is omitted so that the output signal of the limit switch switches in response to opening and closing of the cover door may be employed. In this case, however, the relative positions of the cover attached to the vehicle main body and the limit switch provided in the fuel cell unit may deviate from each other. It is therefore necessary to finely adjust the position of the limit switch in alignment with the positions of the fuel cell unit and the cover door.

The present disclosure has been designed to solve the problems described above, and an object thereof is to provide a fuel cell-type industrial vehicle in which control can be executed to ensure that the industrial vehicle does not move while being charged with fuel gas without providing a charging lid on a fuel cell unit and without using a cover door.

A fuel cell-type industrial vehicle according to the present disclosure includes a fuel cell unit having a fuel cell unit including a fuel cell; a fuel tank provided in the fuel cell unit and configured to store fuel gas that is supplied to the fuel cell; a vehicle main body in which the fuel cell unit is installed; and controller configured to control operations of the vehicle main body, the fuel cell unit including a charging plug configured to charge the fuel tank with the fuel gas, the charging plug being connectable to a charging socket for supplying the fuel gas; and a detection mechanism configured to detect a connection state between the charging plug and the charging socket, wherein the detection mechanism includes a sensor having an output signal that shifts in accordance with the connection state of the charging socket relative to the charging plug, and wherein the controller executes control to prohibit the operations of the vehicle main body after determining, on the basis of the output signal of the sensor, that the charging socket is connected to the charging plug.

