Bipolar plate having half plates of varying thickness and fuel cell stack having same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10122024-B2
Application number	US-201615130048-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2016
Priority date	Apr 23, 2015
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A bipolar plate (10) for a fuel cell, including a first half plate (20) having a first thickness (21) and a second half plate (30) having a second thickness (31), the first half plate (20) and the second half plate (30) each being situated with one of their flat sides facing one another, and the first half plate (20) forming a first flow field (22) on its outer side for a first operating medium and the second half plate (30) forming a second flow field (32) on its outer side for a second operating medium is provided. It is provided that the first thickness (21) of the first half plate (20) is on average smaller, at least in sections, than the second thickness (31) of the second half plate (30).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bipolar plate for a fuel cell, the bipolar plate comprising:
a first half plate having a first thickness; and
a second half plate having a second thickness, the first half plate and the second half plate each being situated with a first half plate side facing a second half plate side, the first half plate forming a first flow field on a first half plate outer side opposite the first half plate side for a first operating medium and the second half plate forming a second flow field on a second half plate outer side opposite the second half plate side for a second operating medium,
the first thickness of the first half plate being on average smaller, at least in sections, than the second thickness of the second half plate;
wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is no more than 80% of the second thickness of the second half plate and wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is at least 0.06 mm and no more than 0.15 mm.

2. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is no more than 70% of the second thickness of the second half plate.

3. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 2 wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is no more than 60% of the second thickness of the second half plate.

4. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is smaller over an entire expanse of the first half plate than the second thickness of the second half plate.

5. The bipolar plate as recited claim 1 wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is at least at least 0.07 mm and no more than 0.12 mm.

6. The bipolar plate as recited claim 5 wherein the first thickness of the first half plate is at least 0.075 mm and no more than 0.10 mm.

7. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first half plate is an anode plate and the first flow field is an anode flow field for an anode operating gas of a fuel cell stack, and the second half plate is a cathode plate and the second flow field is a cathode flow field for a cathode operating gas.

8. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first half plate is a cathode plate and the first flow field is a cathode flow field for a cathode operating gas of a fuel cell stack, and the second half plate is an anode plate and the second flow field is an anode flow field for an anode operating gas.

9. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first and the second half plate have a profiled design and the profile structures are at least partially nested.

10. A fuel cell stack comprising: a plurality of bipolar plates, each bipolar plate being the bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 , and a plurality of membrane electrode units, stacked alternatingly.

11. A vehicle comprising the fuel cell stack as recited in claim 10 .

12. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 1 wherein the first half plate has first half plate flat sections and the second half plate has second half plate flat sections, the first thickness of the first half plate in the first half plate flat section being on average smaller than the second thickness of second half plate in the second half plate flat section.

13. The bipolar plate as recited in claim 12 wherein the first half plate flat section and the second half plate flat section contact each other.

Assignees

• Volkswagen Ag

Inventors

• Stewart Ian
• Zillich Christian Martin
• Schwarz Torsten

Classifications

• H01M8/0258

  characterised by the configuration of channels, e.g. by the flow field of the reactant or coolant · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01M8/0247 Primary

  characterised by the form (characterised by a channel configuration H01M8/0258) · CPC title

• Y02T90/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title