Heat treatment method for membrane electrode assembly for fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10601056-B2
Application number	US-201715694131-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2016
Publication date	Mar 24, 2020
Grant date	Mar 24, 2020

Abstract

A heat treatment method for a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a fuel cell includes: placing a power supply plate on a surface of the MEA or on a surface of an assembly of the MEA and a gas diffusion layer (GDL); and performing heat treatment on a surface or interior of the power supply plate by applying power to the power supply plate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A heat treatment method for a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a fuel cell, the heat treatment method comprising:
placing a power supply plate on a surface of the MEA or on a surface of an assembly of the MEA and a gas diffusion layer (GDL); and
performing heat treatment on the surface or an interior of the MEA, or on the surface or an interior of the assembly of the MEA and the GDL, by applying electric power to the surface or the interior of the MEA or to the surface or the interior of the assembly of the MEA and the GDL through the power supply plate.

2. The heat treatment method of claim 1 , wherein the power supply plate is disposed on the MEA and heat treatment is performed on an electrode portion of the MEA by applying a direct current (DC) power or a DC pulse power to the MEA.

3. The heat treatment method of claim 1 , wherein the power supply plate is disposed on the MEA and heat treatment is performed on an electrolyte membrane of the MEA by applying an alternating current (AC) power to the MEA.

4. The heat treatment method of claim 1 , wherein the power supply plate is disposed on the assembly of the MEA and the GDL and heat treatment is performed on an interface between the MEA and the GDL by applying an alternating current (AC) pulse power to the assembly of the MEA and the GDL.

5. The heat treatment method of claim 1 , wherein the power supply plate is for a press operation and applies the power to the surface of the MEA or the assembly of the MEA and the GDL while pressing the surface.

6. The heat treatment method of claim 1 , wherein the power supply plate comprises a first conductive portion arranged at a center of the power supply plate, a pair of insulating portions arranged on both sides of the first conductive portion, and a second conductive portion disposed on an outer side of the pair of insulating portions, and
wherein the first conductive portion and the second conductive portion are configured to apply different kinds of power to perform heat treatment at different positions.

7. The heat treatment method of claim 6 , wherein the heat treatment is performed on one of an electrode portion of the MEA, an electrolyte membrane, and an interface between the GDL and the MEA by the power applied through the first conductive portion, and
wherein the heat treatment is performed on one of the electrode portion, the electrolyte membrane, and the interface by the power applied through the second conductive portion, except for the one subjected to the heat treatment by the power applied through the first conductive portion.

8. The heat treatment method of claim 3 , wherein a frequency of the AC power is set to be equal to a resonance frequency of the electrolyte membrane.

9. The heat treatment method of claim 4 , wherein an electric charge supplied from one pulse applied by the AC pulse power is set to be smaller than or equal to a capacitance of the MEA.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Lee Woo Jin
• Kim Yong Min
• Kim Min Kyung
• Lee Ki Sub
• Kim Min Jin

Classifications

• H01M8/1004 Primary

  characterised by membrane-electrode assemblies [MEA] (H01M8/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

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

• H01M8/0297 Primary

  Arrangements for joining electrodes, reservoir layers, heat exchange units or bipolar separators to each other (H01M8/0271 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/1093

  mechanical, e.g. pressing, puncturing · CPC title