Fuel cell having a flow distributor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10784522-B2
Application number	US-201514721160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 26, 2015
Priority date	Nov 27, 2012
Publication date	Sep 22, 2020
Grant date	Sep 22, 2020

Abstract

A fuel cell having an anode-cathode stack includes at least one active surface layer formed by a first channel structure with a first and at least one second channel for conducting a first fluid over the at least one active surface layer of the anode-cathode stack. A first distributor structure for distributing the first fluid into the first and the at least one second channel of the channel structure is provided. The first distributor structure is configured with a first surface region assigned to the first channel and with a second surface region assigned to the second channel. The two surface regions are configured with a flow resistance of differing magnitude for the first fluid distributed in the first distributor structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell having an anode-cathode stack, comprising:
at least one active surface layer formed by a first channel structure with a first and at least one second channel for conducting a first fluid over the active surface layer of the anode-cathode stack;
a first distributor structure configured to distribute the first fluid into the first and the at least one second channel of the first channel structure, wherein
the first distributor structure is configured with a first surface region upstream of an entrance of the first channel and a second surface region upstream of each entrance of each of the at least one second channel, and
the first and second surface regions are configured to have a different flow resistance for the first fluid distributed in the first distributor structure.

2. The fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein the different flow resistance of the first surface region and the second surface region is achieved by providing different flow channel thicknesses of the first surface region and the second surface region.

3. The fuel cell according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a first inflow line connected to the first distributor structure in order to supply the first fluid to the first distributor structure, wherein
the first channel is arranged in a region of the active surface layer further away from the first inflow line than the second channel, and
the flow resistance of the first surface region is configured to be lower than the flow resistance of the second surface region.

4. The fuel cell according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a first inflow line connected to the first distributor structure in order to supply the first fluid to the first distributor structure, wherein
the first channel is arranged in a region of the active surface layer further away from the first inflow line than the second channel, and
the flow resistance of the first surface region is configured to be lower than the flow resistance of the second surface region.

5. The fuel cell according to claim 3 , wherein
the first inflow line is arranged centrally on one side of the first distributor structure,
the second channel is arranged in an associated central region of the active surface layer, and
the first channel is arranged in an edge region of the active surface layer.

6. The fuel cell according to claim 4 , wherein
the first inflow line is arranged centrally on one side of the first distributor structure,
the second channel is arranged in an associated central region of the active surface layer, and
the first channel is arranged in an edge region of the active surface layer.

7. The fuel cell according to claim 5 , wherein the greater flow resistance in the second surface region is achieved by a reduction in the flow layer thickness in the second surface region for the first fluid flowing in the second surface region.

8. The fuel cell according to claim 7 , wherein the second surface region has a substantially V-shape in a top view.

9. The fuel cell according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a first bipolar plate delimiting the first channel structure in relation to a second channel structure having at least two further channels for conducting a second fluid over the active surface layer; and
wherein the reduction in the flow layer thickness in the second surface region, which is V-shape in top view, is obtained by a protuberance of the first bipolar plate.

10. The fuel cell according to claim 9 , further comprising:
a second bipolar plate delimiting the second channel structure in relation to a third channel structure having at least two further channels for conducting a third fluid over the active surface layer.

11. The fuel cell according to claim 10 , wherein a protuberance, having a V-shape in top view, is provided in the second bipolar plate.

12. The fuel cell according to claim 11 , wherein the protuberance in the second bipolar plate is formed so as to be within the protuberance in the first bipolar plate.

13. A method for operating a fuel cell having an anode-cathode stack, the fuel cell comprising an active surface layer formed by a first channel structure with at least two channels for conducting a first fluid over the active surface layer, the method comprising the act of:
distributing the first fluid into a first and a second of the at least two channels of the first channel structure via a distributor structure upstream of entrances of the at least two channels,
wherein the act distributing the first fluid via the distributor structure includes conveying a first portion of the first fluid within the distributor structure to the first channel at a flow resistance of a different magnitude than a flow resistance of a second portion of the first fluid conveyed within the distributor structure to the second channel.

Assignees

• Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag

Inventors

• Buchner Andreas
• Bauer Michael
• Haase Stefan

Classifications

• H01M8/026 Primary

  characterised by grooves, e.g. their pitch or depth · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/04089

  of gaseous reactants · CPC title

• H01M8/0265

  the reactant or coolant channels having varying cross sections · CPC title

• H01M8/04753

  of fuel cell reactants · CPC title