Gas flow path forming bodies of fuel cell, and fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10263272-B2
Application number	US-201414421946-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2014
Priority date	Feb 28, 2013
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

A gas passage forming body for a fuel battery includes gas passages and water guide passages. A communication passage is arranged between one of the water guide passages and a gas passage that is adjacent to the water guide passage and is in communication with the adjacent gas passage and water guide passage to permit water to move therethrough. An aid portion is arranged at water drainage ends of two adjacent ones of the water guide passages and aids bonding of water drained from the water drainage ends of the two adjacent ones of the water guide passages. Thus, water drainage from the water guide passages of the gas passage forming body is improved, and water in the gas passages is reduced. As a result, the battery performance of the fuel battery is improved due to an improvement in gas diffusion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A gas passage forming body for a fuel battery, wherein the fuel battery includes a membrane electrode assembly and a separator, the membrane electrode assembly includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane and electrode catalyst layers laminated on an anode surface and a cathode surface of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, the gas passage forming body is arranged between the membrane electrode assembly and the separator, the gas passage forming body including a plurality of gas passages and a plurality of water guide passages, the gas passage forming body including a wave shaped separating wall defining a plurality of first projections and a plurality of second projections, each of the plurality of gas passages being provided between an adjacent pair of the first projections, and each of the plurality of water guide passages being provided between an adjacent pair of the second projections, a communication passage is arranged between at least one of the water guide passages and one of the gas passages that is adjacent to the at least one water guide passage and is in communication with the water guide passage and the gas passage, to permit water to move therethrough, and an aid portion is arranged at water drainage ends of two adjacent ones of the water guide passages, wherein the aid portion defines a space that connects the two adjacent ones of the water guide passages and aids bonding of water drained from the water drainage ends of the two adjacent water guide passages.

2. The gas passage forming body for a fuel battery according to claim 1 , wherein
the gas passages are groove-shaped,
the water guide passages are separated from the gas passages by a partition wall, and
the aid portion extends in a direction in which the water guide passages are adjacent to each other.

3. The gas passage forming body for a fuel battery according to claim 2 , wherein the aid portion is arranged at water drainage ends of all or some of the water guide passages.

4. The gas passage forming body for a fuel battery according to claim 2 , wherein the aid portion is flat.

5. The gas passage forming body for a fuel battery according to claim 2 , wherein the aid portion has a height lower than that of the water guide passages.

6. A fuel battery comprising a plurality of stacked unit cells, wherein
each of the unit cells includes a membrane electrode assembly,
each of the membrane electrode assemblies includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, electrode catalyst layers laminated on an anode surface and a cathode surface of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, and a gas diffusion layer laminated on an outer side of each of the electrode catalyst layers,
each of the unit cells further includes a gas passage forming body, which is stacked on each of the gas diffusion layers of the membrane electrode assembly, and two separators sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly, and
at least one of the gas passage forming bodies is formed by the gas passage forming body according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Hashimoto Keiji
• Kawajiri Kousuke
• Futami Satoshi
• Toyota Auto Body Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hashimoto Keiji
• Kawajiri Kousuke
• Futami Satoshi

Classifications

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/0254 Primary

  corrugated or undulated · CPC title

• H01M8/2445

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01M8/242 Primary

  comprising framed electrodes or intermediary frame-like gaskets (H01M8/2425, H01M8/244 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/2457

  with both reactants being gaseous or vaporised · CPC title