Fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10355288-B2
Application number	US-201615147157-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 5, 2016
Priority date	Dec 15, 2015
Publication date	Jul 16, 2019
Grant date	Jul 16, 2019

Abstract

A fuel cell includes a reaction layer including: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) each of which is disposed at both side surfaces of the MEA. A porous separation layer has one surface adhered to one surface of the reaction layer and supplied with reaction gas, and a cathode bipolar plate has a panel shape and adhered to another surface of the porous separation layer. A front end part of the cathode bipolar plate having a manifold that is supplied with the reaction gas and having a plurality of diffusion channels through which the reaction gas directs from the manifold toward the porous separation layer. The cathode bipolar plate has a partition wall channel which separates the porous separation layer, which extends in a direction in which the reaction gas flows, and which extends from the manifold in a diagonal direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell, comprising:
a reaction layer including: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) each of which is disposed at both side surfaces of the MEA;
a porous separation layer having one surface adhered to one surface of the reaction layer and supplied with reaction gas; and
a cathode bipolar plate having a panel shape and adhered to another surface of the porous separation layer,
wherein a front end part of the cathode bipolar plate having a manifold that is supplied with the reaction gas and having a plurality of diffusion channels through which the reaction gas directs from the manifold toward the porous separation layer,
wherein the cathode bipolar plate has a partition wall channel having an enclosed pipe shape, which separates the porous separation layer, which extends in a direction in which the reaction gas flows, and which extends downwardly in a diagonal direction from a first portion of the front end part of the cathode bipolar plate to a second portion of a rear end part of the cathode bipolar plate with respect to the fuel cell in a front to rear direction,
wherein the first portion of the front end part is located higher than the second portion of the rear end part from top to bottom in a gravitational direction, and
wherein condensed water or a cooling medium diagonally passes through the partition wall channel from the first portion to the second portion in the front to rear direction.

2. The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein the partition wall channel of the cathode bipolar plate extends in the diagonal direction that is the gravitational direction to direct from a top toward a bottom of the fuel cell in a state in which the partition wall channel is applied to the fuel cell.

3. The fuel cell of claim 1 , further comprising:
an anode bipolar plate adhered to one surface of the cathode bipolar plate and repeatedly bent in one direction and the opposite direction to form a gas channel through which the reaction gas passes to a first opened space formed at one side of the anode bipolar plate and a cooling channel through which the cooling medium passes to a second opened space formed at another side of the anode bipolar plate.

4. The fuel cell of claim 3 , wherein the cooling channel and the gas channel of the anode bipolar plate have front end parts which are connected to the manifold, respectively.

5. The fuel cell of claim 3 , wherein the partition wall channel of the cathode bipolar plate has a recessed portion recessed in a direction from the one side to the other side of the anode bipolar plate to form a third opened space, in which the second opened space overlaps with the third opened space to share the cooling medium of the cooling channel with the partition wall channel.

6. The fuel cell of claim 5 , wherein the cooling channel and the gas channel of the anode bipolar plate extend from the manifold in a straight direction and the partition wall channel of the cathode bipolar plate extends from the manifold in the diagonal direction so that one partition wall channel overlaps with a plurality of different cooling channels.

7. The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein the manifold includes: an inlet side manifold provided at the front end part of the cathode bipolar plate; and an outlet side manifold provided at the rear end part of the cathode bipolar plate.

8. A fuel cell, comprising:
a reaction layer including:
a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) each of which is disposed at both side surfaces of the MEA;
a porous separation layer having one surface adhered to one surface of the reaction layer and supplied with reaction gas; and
a cathode bipolar plate having a panel shape and adhered to another surface of the porous separation layer,
wherein a front end part of the cathode bipolar plate having a manifold that is supplied with the reaction gas and having a plurality of diffusion channels through which the reaction gas directs from the manifold toward the porous separation layer,
wherein the manifold includes an inlet side manifold provided at the front end part of the cathode bipolar plate, and an outlet side manifold provided at a rear end part of the cathode bipolar plate,
wherein the cathode bipolar plate has a partition wall channel having an enclosed pipe shape, which separates the porous separation layer, which extends in a direction in which the reaction gas flows, and which extends in a front to rear direction from the inlet side manifold of the cathode bipolar plate to the outlet side manifold of the cathode bipolar plate downwardly in a diagonal direction with respect to the fuel cell, and
wherein the inlet side manifold of the cathode bipolar plate is located higher than the outlet side of the cathode bipolar plate in a state in which the cathode bipolar plate is applied to the fuel cell.

9. The fuel cell of claim 8 , wherein the partition wall channel of the cathode bipolar plate extends in the diagonal direction that is the gravitational direction to direct from a top toward a bottom of the fuel cell in a state in which the partition wall channel is applied to the fuel cell.

10. A fuel cell, comprising:
a reaction layer including: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) each of which is disposed at both side surfaces of the MEA;
a porous separation layer having one surface adhered to one surface of the reaction layer and supplied with reaction gas;
a cathode bipolar plate having a panel shape and adhered to another surface of the porous separation layer; and
an anode bipolar plate having a cooling channel through which a cooling medium passes and a gas channel through which the reaction gas passes,
wherein a front end part of the cathode bipolar plate having a manifold that is supplied with the reaction gas and having a plurality of diffusion channels through which the reaction gas directs from the manifold toward the porous separation layer,
wherein the cathode bipolar plate has a partition wall channel having an enclosed pipe shape, which separates the porous separation layer, which extends in a direction in which the reaction gas flows, and which extends in a front to rear direction from a first portion of the front end part of the cathode bipolar plate to a second portion of a rear end part of the cathode bipolar plate downwardly in a diagonal direction with respect to the fuel cell, and
wherein the partition wall channel overlaps with a plurality of different cooling channels of the anode bipolar plate.

11. A fuel cell, comprising:
a reaction layer including: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and gas diffusion layers (GDLs) each of which is disposed at both side surfaces of the MEA;
a porous separation layer having one surface adhered to one surface of the reaction layer and supplied with reaction gas; and
a cathode bipolar plate having a panel shape and adhered to another surface of the porous separation layer,
wherein a front end part of the cathode bipolar plate having a manifold that is supplied with the reaction gas and having a plurality of diffusion channels through which the reaction gas directs from the manifold toward the porous separation layer,
wherein the cathode bipolar plate has a partition wall channel having an enclosed pipe shape, which separates the porous separation layer, which extends in a straight direction perpendicular to a stacked direction of the fuel cell to be toward a direction in which the reaction gas flows and then extends downwardly in a diagonal direction, and which extends in the straight direction and then diagonally extends from a first portion of the front end part of the cathode bipol

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Kyung Min
• Yang Yoo Chang
• Jin Sang Mun

Classifications

• H01M8/0258 Primary

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

• H01M8/1006

  Corrugated, curved or wave-shaped MEA · CPC title

• H01M8/04201

  Reactant storage and supply, e.g. means for feeding, pipes · CPC title

• H01M8/04291

  Arrangements for managing water in solid electrolyte fuel cell systems (H01M8/04119 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/04156

  with product water removal · CPC title