Determination of a spatial distribution of an electrical production parameter of an electrochemical cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017098837-A1
Application number	US-201615271669-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 21, 2016
Priority date	Sep 21, 2015
Publication date	Apr 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for determining a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of a parameter of interest (R) representative of the electrical power production of an electrochemical cell, comprising steps in which a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the parameter of interest (R) is determined depending on the spatial distribution (Q x,y e ) of a second thermal quantity (Q e ) estimated beforehand from the spatial distribution (T x,y c ) of a set-point temperature (Tc) and from the spatial distribution (D x,y r ) of a first thermal quantity (Dr).

First claim

1 . Method for determining a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of a parameter of interest (R) representative of the electrical power production of an electrochemical cell, said cell including two electrodes separated from one another by an electrolyte and placed between two bipolar plates suitable for bringing reactive species to the electrodes and for removing the heat produced by the cell in operation, comprising:
i) providing an electrochemical cell, within which the parameter of interest (R) is distributed with an initial spatial distribution (R x,y i ) and for which the spatial distribution of a temperature within the electrochemical cell in operation has at least one local value higher than or equal to a preset maximum local value; ii) defining a spatial distribution (T x,y c ) of a set-point temperature (T c ) within the electrochemical cell in operation, said distribution being such that the local temperature values are lower than preset maximum local values; iii) measuring a spatial distribution (D x,y r ) of a first thermal quantity representative of the local removal of heat (D r ) within said electrochemical cell in operation; iv) estimating a spatial distribution (Q x,y e ) of a second thermal quantity (Q e ) representative of the local production of heat (Q e ) within said electrochemical cell in operation, depending on said spatial distribution (T x,y c ) of the set-point temperature (T c ) and on said measured spatial distribution (D x,y r ) of the first thermal quantity (D r ), so that the spatial distribution of the temperature of said electrochemical cell in operation, the first thermal quantity (D r ) of which cell having said measured spatial distribution (D x,y r ) and the second thermal quantity (Q e ) of which cell having said estimated spatial distribution (Q x,y e ), is substantially equal to that (T x,y c ) of the set-point temperature (T c ); and v) determining a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the parameter of interest (R) depending on the estimated spatial distribution (Q x,y e ) of the second thermal quantity (Q e ).

2 . Determining method according to claim 1 , wherein the parameter of interest is chosen from a parameter representative of the electrical resistance (R) of the electrochemical cell; a parameter representative of a contact resistance (Rc BP/GDL ) between at least one of the electrodes and the adjacent bipolar plate; a load of a catalyst (C Pt ) present at least in one of the electrodes; and a parameter representative of a permeability (k) of at least one electrode.

3 . Determining method according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar plates are formed from two sheets that are bonded to each other, each sheet including embossments forming, in what is called an external face, a circuit for distributing a reactive species, the embossments of the sheets together forming, in what are called internal faces that are opposite the external faces, a cooling circuit including cooling channels that communicate fluidically with one another between an inlet and an outlet of the cooling circuit.

4 . Determining method according to claim 1 , wherein determining the spatial distribution of the parameter of interest is furthermore carried out depending on a preset value of a parameter representative of an overall electrical power of the electrochemical cell.

5 . Determining method according to claim 1 , wherein estimating a spatial distribution of the second thermal quantity includes:
producing a mesh of a cooling circuit of at least one bipolar plate of the electrochemical cell, through which circuit a heat-transfer fluid is intended to flow; and simulating numerically by computer the second thermal quantity on said mesh, by solving a discrete numerical model expressing the second thermal quantity as a function of the local temperature and of the first thermal quantity.

6 . Determining method according to claim 1 , wherein the first thermal quantity is the measured effective local flow rate (D r ) of a heat-transfer fluid flowing in a cooling circuit of a bipolar plate of the cell, and the second thermal quantity is the local heat flux (Q e ) produced by the cell in operation.

7 . Determining method according to claim 6 , wherein v) includes:
a) estimating the spatial distribution of the density of an electrical signal (I e ) produced by the cell in operation, from the estimated spatial distribution of the produced heat flux (Q e ); and b) determining the spatial distribution of the parameter of interest (R), from the local density of the electrical signal (I e ).

8 . Method for producing an electrochemical-cell bipolar plate, comprising:
i) considering a reference electrochemical cell, said cell including two electrodes separated from each other by an electrolyte and placed between two bipolar plates suitable for bringing reactive species to the electrodes and for removing the heat produced by the cell in operation, the cell having an electrical resistance (R) that is spatially distributed with an initial distribution (R x,y i ); ii) determining a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the electrical resistance (R), using the method ( 100 ; 200 ) according claim 1 ; and iii) producing said bipolar plate ( 160 ; 260 ), in such a way that the electrical resistance (R) has the determined spatial distribution (R x,y f ).

9 . Method for producing a bipolar plate according to claim 8 , said bipolar plate being formed from two embossed sheets that are joined to each other by a plurality of spot welds distributed with an initial spatial distribution, the producing the bipolar plate including modifying the spatial distribution of a parameter representative of a contact resistance (Rc PB ) between the two sheets depending on the determined spatial distribution (R x,y f ).

10 . Method for producing a bipolar plate according to claim 9 , wherein the modification of the spatial distribution of the parameter representative of the contact resistance (Rc PB ) includes a modification of the distribution of the spot welds joining the sheets to each other depending on said determined spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the electrical resistance (R).

11 . Method for producing a bipolar plate according to claim 9 , wherein the modification of the spatial distribution of the parameter representative of the contact resistance (Rc PB ) includes placing a coating having an electrical conductivity different from those of the sheets in zones identified beforehand from said determined spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the electrical resistance (R).

12 . Method for producing an electrochemical cell including two electrodes separated from each other by an electrolyte and placed between two bipolar plates suitable for bringing reactive species to the electrodes and for removing the heat produced by the cell in operation, the method comprising:
considering a reference electrochemical cell having a parameter of interest (R) representative of the electrical power production of the cell and distributed with an initial spatial distribution (R x,y i ); determining a spatial distribution (R x,y f ) of the parameter of interest (R), using the determining method according to claim 1 ; and producing the electrochemical cell, on the basis of the reference electrochemical cell in which the parameter of interest (R) has the determined spatial distribution (R x,y f ).

13 . Data storage medium containing instructions for implementing the determining method according to claim 1 , these instructions being executable by a processor.

14 . Method for producing a bipolar plate according to claim 10 , wherei

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Nandjou Dongmeza Fredy-Intelligent
• Poirot-Crouvezier Jean-Philippe
• Micoud Fabrice
• Gerard Mathias
• Robin Christophe
• Jabbour Lara
• Vincent Remi

Classifications

• C25B15/021

  of heating or cooling · CPC title

• C25B9/75

  having bipolar electrodes · 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

• C25B9/063

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• H01M8/0202

  Collectors; Separators, e.g. bipolar separators; Interconnectors · CPC title