Fuel cell and manufacturing method of the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021159533-A1
Application number	US-202017012164-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 4, 2020
Priority date	Nov 27, 2019
Publication date	May 27, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly having electrodes disposed on both surfaces of an electrolyte membrane, a gas diffusion layer stacked on one surface of the membrane electrode assembly, a resin frame assembled onto the one surface of the membrane electrode assembly so as to surround the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer apart from the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer, and a resin sheet disposed between the gas diffusion layer and the resin frame, and the membrane electrode assembly so as to fill a space between the inner periphery of the resin frame and the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A fuel cell comprising:
a membrane electrode assembly having electrodes disposed on both surfaces of an electrolyte membrane; a gas diffusion layer stacked on a first surface of the membrane electrode assembly; a resin frame assembled onto the first surface of the membrane electrode assembly so as to surround an outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer apart from the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer; and a resin sheet disposed between the gas diffusion layer and the resin frame, and the membrane electrode assembly so as to fill a space between an inner periphery of the resin frame and the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer.

2 . The fuel cell according to claim 1 , further comprising an adhesive layer made of an adhesive between the resin frame, the resin sheet, and the gas diffusion layer, and the membrane electrode assembly, wherein:
a region in the membrane electrode assembly that overlaps an outer peripheral part of the gas diffusion layer includes a membrane exposure region in which the electrode is not disposed on the first surface of the membrane electrode assembly; and the resin sheet includes a part that overlaps the membrane exposure region in the membrane electrode assembly, the adhesive layer, and the gas diffusion layer in a stacking direction of the gas diffusion layer; and the part includes a void that penetrates the resin sheet in the stacking direction and allows disposition of the adhesive in the void.

3 . The fuel cell according to claim 2 , wherein:
the membrane exposure region of the membrane electrode assembly is covered with at least one of the adhesive layer and the resin sheet; and in the membrane exposure region of the membrane electrode assembly, a part that is covered with the resin sheet includes a region in which the adhesive layer is not disposed.

4 . The fuel cell according to claim 1 , further comprising a pair of gas separators that sandwiches a structure including the membrane electrode assembly, the gas diffusion layer, the resin frame, and the resin sheet, wherein:
the resin frame includes adhesive resin layers for adhesion of the gas separators on both surfaces of the resin frame, the adhesive resin layer being a layer containing a thermoplastic resin having adhesiveness; and the resin sheet is made of a thermoplastic resin.

5 . A manufacturing method of the fuel cell according to claim 4 , the method comprising:
sandwiching a region in which an inner peripheral part of the resin frame and an outer peripheral part of the resin sheet overlap each other with an ultrasonic horn and a clamping jig while a sticking suppression portion configured to suppress sticking of a molten thermoplastic resin is interposed between the ultrasonic horn and the clamping jig; and transmitting an ultrasonic vibration from the ultrasonic horn to the resin frame and the resin sheet to ultrasonically weld the resin frame and the resin sheet.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Adachi Makoto
• Kinoshita Katsuhiko
• Ashitaka Yu
• Mitani Naohiro
• Watanabe Yusuke
• Sato Kenji

Classifications

• H01M8/0297

  Arrangements for joining electrodes, reservoir layers, heat exchange units or bipolar separators to each other (H01M8/0271 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/1004 Primary

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

• H01M8/0273 Primary

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

• H01M8/0284

  Organic resins; Organic polymers · CPC title

• H01M8/0286

  Processes for forming seals · CPC title