Fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019305326-A1
Application number	US-201916364907-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 26, 2019
Priority date	Mar 28, 2018
Publication date	Oct 3, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fuel cell includes: an electrolyte membrane; first and second catalyst layers respectively formed on first and second surface of the electrolyte membrane; and a separator disposed opposite to the electrolyte membrane with respect to the first catalyst layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fuel cell comprising:
an electrolyte membrane; first and second catalyst layers respectively formed on first and second surface of the electrolyte membrane; and a separator disposed opposite to the electrolyte membrane with respect to the first catalyst layer, wherein the separator includes flow path grooves through which reaction gas flows between the separator and the first catalyst layer, the flow path grooves include:
wavy grooves wavily extending in a first direction and arranged in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; and
first and second end grooves between which the wavy grooves are located in the second direction,
the first catalyst layer includes first and second edges facing each other in the second direction, the first and second end grooves are respectively adjacent to the first and second edges of the first catalyst layer in the second direction, the first and second end grooves respectively extend in the first direction within first and second regions, the first and second regions extend in the first direction, and each width of the first and second regions in the second direction is smaller than each amplitude of the wavy grooves.

2 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second end grooves linearly extends in the first direction.

3 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second end grooves wavily extends in the first direction.

4 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second end grooves includes a linear portion and a curved portion.

5 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , further comprising a communication groove communicating the first end groove with the wavy groove closest to the first end groove among the wavy grooves,
wherein a depth of the communication groove is smaller than each depth of the flow path grooves.

6 . The fuel cell of claim 5 , wherein a width of the communication groove is smaller than each width of the flow path grooves.

7 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein wavelengths of the wavy grooves are identical to each other.

8 . The fuel cell of claim 7 , wherein phases of the wavy grooves are identical to each other.

9 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein amplitude of the wavy grooves are identical to each other.

10 . The fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein amplitude of the wavy groove closest to the first end groove among the wavy grooves is smaller than each amplitude of the wavy grooves other than the wavy groove closest to the second end groove among the wavy grooves.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nonoyama Nobuaki
• Konno Norishige
• Ito Masayuki

Classifications

• H01M8/1006

  Corrugated, curved or wave-shaped MEA · CPC title

• H01M8/0258

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

• 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