Bonding dies for fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019393530-A1
Application number	US-201916447436-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 20, 2019
Priority date	Jun 21, 2018
Publication date	Dec 26, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

Bonding dies for producing a fuel cell that can suppress floating of a portion of a resin frame bonded to a membrane electrode assembly. The dies include first and second dies that face and contact one separator and the other separator, respectively. The first die includes a central receiving portion that receives a central region of the one separator, and an outer periphery receiving portion that receives a to-be-welded region of the one separator. The second die includes an inner die that pressurizes a central region of the other separator, and an outer die formed to surround the inner die and adapted to thermally compress a to-be-welded region of the other separator to be welded to the resin frame. The inner die extends from a portion corresponding to the central region along an open edge in the resin frame, up to a region closer to the outer periphery side of the electrode assembly than to the portion of the resin frame bonded to the membrane electrode assembly, so as to pressurize the resin frame via the other separator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . Bonding dies for producing a fuel cell, the fuel cell including an electrode assembly that includes a membrane electrode assembly having gas diffusion layers stacked on opposite faces of the membrane electrode assembly, and a resin frame fixed on the membrane electrode assembly via a bonded portion so as to surround an outer periphery of the membrane electrode assembly, the bonding dies being adapted to thermally compress a pair of separators that are arranged on opposite faces of the electrode assembly, thereby bonding the pair of separators to the resin frame,
wherein: the bonding dies include a first die and a second die, the first die being adapted to face and contact one of the separators, and the second die being adapted to face and contact the other separator, the first die includes a central receiving portion and an outer periphery receiving portion, the central receiving portion being adapted to receive a central region of the one separator that faces and contacts the electrode assembly, and the outer periphery receiving portion being adapted to receive a to-be-welded region of the one separator to be welded to the resin frame, the second die includes an inner die and an outer die formed so as to surround the inner die, the inner die being adapted to pressurize a central region of the other separator that faces and contacts the electrode assembly, and the outer die being adapted to thermally compress a to-be-welded region of the other separator to be welded to the resin frame, and the inner die extends from a portion corresponding to the central region of the other separator along an open edge formed in the resin frame, up to a region closer to an outer periphery side of the electrode assembly than to the bonded portion of the resin frame bonded to the membrane electrode assembly, so as to pressurize the resin frame via the other separator.

2 . The bonding dies according to claim 1 ,
wherein: a gasket is arranged on a region on the outer periphery side of the other separator, the outer die is formed so as to thermally compress the to-be-welded region of the other separator that surrounds an outer periphery side of the gasket, and the inner die is formed so as to press the region on the outer periphery side of the other separator via the gasket.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takami Rie
• Adachi Makoto

Classifications

• B29C65/7841

  Holding or clamping means for handling purposes (clamping means for the purpose of applying pressure on the parts to be joined, in the area to be joined B29C66/81; work holders in general B25B; devices for holding or positioning work for welding metal B23K37/04) · CPC title

• H01M8/1004 Primary

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

• H01M8/242

  comprising framed electrodes or intermediary frame-like gaskets (H01M8/2425, H01M8/244 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/0286

  Processes for forming seals · CPC title

• H01M8/2404 Primary

  Processes or apparatus for grouping fuel cells · CPC title