Cell frame and redox flow battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10790530-B2
Application number	US-201916250682-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2019
Priority date	Nov 6, 2014
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

The battery cell for a flow battery includes a cell frame including a frame including a through-window and a manifold serving as an electrolyte flow path, and a bipolar plate blocking the through-window; a positive electrode disposed on one surface side of the bipolar plate; and a negative electrode disposed on another surface side of the bipolar plate. In this battery cell, in the frame, a thickness of a portion in which the manifold is formed is defined as Ft; in the bipolar plate, a thickness of a portion blocking the through-window is defined as Bt; in the positive electrode, a thickness of a portion facing the bipolar plate is defined as Pt; in the negative electrode, a thickness of a portion facing the bipolar plate is defined as Nt; and these thicknesses satisfy Ft≥4 mm, Bt≥Ft−3.0 mm, Pt≤1.5 mm, and Nt≤1.5 mm.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A cell frame for a flow battery comprising:
a frame including a through-window and a manifold configured to flow electrolyte through the flow battery, a portion of the frame in which the manifold is formed having a first side and a second side opposite to the first side, and
a bipolar plate blocking the through-window, the bipolar plate having a first side corresponding to the first side of the frame, and a second side opposite the first side of the bipolar plate and corresponding to the second side of the frame,
wherein a flow channel serving as an electrolyte channel is formed on each of the first side and the second side of the bipolar plate;
wherein a thickness of the portion of the frame in which the manifold is formed is greater than or equal to 4 mm;
wherein a thickness of a portion of the bipolar plate blocking the through-window is greater than or equal to the thickness of the portion of the frame through which the manifold is formed minus 3.0 mm;
wherein a distance from the first side of the portion of the frame to the first side of the bipolar plate is less than or equal to 1.5 mm; and
wherein a distance from the second side of the portion of the frame to the second side of the bipolar plate is less than or equal to 1.5 mm.

2. The cell frame according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the portion of the frame in which the manifold is formed is equal to or less than 8 mm.

3. The cell frame according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the portion of the bipolar plate blocking the through-window is equal to or less than the thickness of the portion of the frame through which the manifold is formed minus 0.5 mm.

4. The cell frame according to claim 1 , wherein the frame includes, as an inner peripheral recess portion, a peripheral portion surrounding a whole periphery around the through-window and having a smaller thickness than another portion of the frame, and
the bipolar plate includes an outer peripheral engagement portion extending along a whole outer periphery of the bipolar plate, having a predetermined width, and engaging with the inner peripheral recess portion.

5. The cell frame according to claim 4 , wherein the inner peripheral recess portion is formed only on one surface side of the frame.

6. The cell frame according to claim 5 , wherein an outer size of the inner peripheral recess portion is slightly larger than an outer size of the bipolar plate to form a leakage channel between the frame and the bipolar plate.

7. The cell frame according to claim 6 , further comprising a dividing structure configured to divide the leakage channel.

8. The cell frame according to claim 7 , wherein the dividing structure has a configuration in which a dividing member is stuffed into the leakage channel.

9. The cell frame according to claim 7 , wherein the dividing structure has a configuration in which the bipolar plate has a portion protruding toward the frame.

10. The cell frame according to claim 7 , wherein the dividing structure has a configuration in which the frame has a portion protruding toward the bipolar plate.

11. The cell frame according to claim 4 , wherein the outer peripheral engagement portion is formed so as to have a smaller thickness than another portion of the bipolar plate.

12. The cell frame according to claim 11 , wherein the frame further includes a plurality of first protrusions which protrude toward the inner peripheral recess portion and a plurality of second protrusions which protrude from the inner peripheral recess portion toward the through-window;
the bipolar plate further includes a plurality of first recesses formed by cutting away portions of the bipolar plate that correspond to the first protrusions of the frame; and
the outer peripheral engagement portion includes a plurality of second recesses that correspond to the plurality of the second protrusions of the frame and which are formed so as to extend toward a center line of the bipolar plate.

13. The cell frame according to claim 1 , wherein the frame is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of vinyl chloride, chlorinated polyethylene, and chlorinated paraffin.

14. The cell frame according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar plate is formed of a conductive plastic composed of graphite and a chlorinated organic compound selected from the group consisting of vinyl chloride, chlorinated polyethylene, and chlorinated paraffin.

15. A redox flow battery comprising:
a cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells including a positive electrode, a negative electrode and a plurality of the cell frame according to claim 1 are stacked;
a positive circulation line configured to circulate a positive electrolyte through the cell stack; and
a negative circulation line configured to circulate a negative electrolyte through the cell stack.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Electric Industries

Inventors

• Kanno Takashi
• Yamanishi Katsuya
• Ito Takefumi
• Kuwabara Masahiro
• Moriuchi Kiyoaki
• Yamaguchi Hideyuki
• Fujita Hayato
• Shiraki Kousuke
• Hayashi Kiyoaki

Classifications

• H01M8/188 Primary

  by recharging of redox couples containing fluids; Redox flow type batteries · CPC title

• H01M8/02

  Details (electrodes H01M4/86 - H01M4/98) · CPC title

• H01M8/0284

  Organic resins; Organic polymers · CPC title

• H01M8/0271

  Sealing or supporting means around electrodes, matrices or membranes · CPC title

• H01M8/0273

  with sealing or supporting means in the form of a frame · CPC title