Humidifier, in particular for a fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10044051-B2
Application number	US-201514750474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2015
Priority date	Jun 27, 2014
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

A humidifier has a stack unit has a plurality of water-vapor-permeable membranes which are arranged placed above one another and spaced apart from one another. Two directly adjacent membranes are connected at a first edge region in a flow-tight manner, and at a second, angularly offset edge region, they are arranged between sealing strips which are placed one above the other and between which flow openings are formed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A humidifier for a fuel cell comprising:
at least one stack unit including
a plurality of membranes permeable to water vapor, which are arranged one above the other and spaced apart from one another;

wherein two directly adjacent membranes are connected at a first edge region in a flow-tight manner; and
wherein at a second edge region of the two adjacent membranes, which is angularly offset from the first edge region, sealing strips ( 15 ) are arranged which are placed one above the other and between which the membranes are placed;
wherein flow openings are formed between the sealing strips placed one above the other.

2. The humidifier according to claim 1 , wherein
the sealing strips have a tapering cross-sectional profile.

3. The humidifier according to claim 1 , wherein
two membranes are placed spaced apart between two sealing strips placed one above the other, which membranes are connected at the angularly offset edge region in a flow-tight manner.

4. The humidifier according to claim 3 , wherein
spacers are arranged between the membranes between sealing strips placed one above the other.

5. The humidifier according to claim 3 , wherein
the spacers form a spacer grid.

6. The humidifier according to claim 3 , wherein
the spacers are formed on a flow-guiding manner and guide the flow in a flow channel in which the spacers are arranged, from the inflow side to the outflow side.

7. The humidifier according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one membrane of the plurality of membranes is fixedly secured, adhesively bonded or welded, directly to a sealing strip.

8. The humidifier according to claim 7 , wherein
the sealing strip has a contoured side to which the membrane is secured.

9. The humidifier according to claim 8 , wherein
a form-fitting contour configured and adapted for connecting to a humidifier housing in which the stack unit can be inserted, is incorporated in a front end of the sealing strip.

10. The humidifier according to claim 9 , wherein
the form-fitting contour is formed as a vertically extending form-fitting groove or as a form-fitting projection.

11. The humidifier according to claim 3 , further comprising
enclosing parts enclosing, at least in sections, the two membranes connected at the one edge region in a flow-tight manner.

12. The humidifier according to claim 11 , wherein
each enclosing part comprises two foils which enclose the membrane.

13. The humidifier according to claim 11 , wherein
the enclosing parts of adjacent membranes are secured to each other by welding.

14. The humidifier according to claim 12 , wherein
between a foil of the two foils and the membrane, a support grid is welded at least on one side.

15. The humidifier according to claim 14 , wherein
the support grid covers at least 30 percent of the membrane area.

16. A fuel cell, wherein
the fuel cell comprises a humidifier according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Mann & Hummel Gmbh

Inventors

• Fasold Michael

Classifications

• H01M8/04149 Primary

  by diffusion, e.g. making use of membranes · CPC title

• H01M8/04141

  by water containing exhaust gases · CPC title

• B01F3/04007

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F3/04

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01D63/082

  comprising a stack of flat membranes · CPC title