Assembly comprising a stack of soec/sofc solid oxide cells and outer guiding elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025070212-A1
Application number	US-202318729057-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 12, 2023
Priority date	Jan 17, 2022
Publication date	Feb 27, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An assembly includes a stack of SOEC/SOFC solid oxide cells, the stack having a plurality of plates stacked one on top of the other, each plate having an outer lateral surface, the plurality of plates including at least a plurality of electrochemical cells, a plurality of interconnectors, and upper and lower end plates. At least two guiding elements are configured to guide the vertical stacking of at least some of the plates of the stack. The at least two guiding elements extend vertically in a vertical direction and bear against the outer lateral surface of each of the at least some of the plates.

First claim

1 - 15 . (canceled)

16 . An assembly including:
a stack of SOEC/SOFC-type solid-oxide cells operating at high temperature, consisting of a plurality of plates stacked on top of one another according to a vertical direction substantially perpendicular to each horizontal plane of extent of each plate, each plate including an upper surface, a lower surface and an outer lateral surface, the plurality of plates comprising:
a plurality of electrochemical cells each formed by a cathode, an anode and an electrolyte interposed between the cathode and the anode, and a plurality of interconnectors each arranged between two adjacent ones of the plurality of electrochemical cells,
an upper end plate and a lower end plate, between which the plurality of electrochemical cells and the plurality of interconnectors are sandwiched, and
at least two guiding elements configured to provide guidance into a vertical stack of at least part of the plates of the stack,
wherein the at least two guiding elements extend vertically according to the vertical direction bearing against the outer lateral surface of each plate) of the at least part of the plates, and wherein the at least two guiding elements are fastened using a fastening device to a lower support plate on which the stack is placed and/or to an upper support plate under which the stack is placed, and the fastening device includes a fastening base secured to the lower support plate and/or to the upper support plate, a compressive elastic return member, one end of which is in contact with one of the at least two guiding elements and another end is in contact with the fastening base, and a fastening screw mounted on the base.

17 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the compressive elastic return member is made of a metal alloy or made of ceramic.

18 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein each of the at least two guiding elements includes a support device cooperating with the fastening device, including at least one support plane of the compressive elastic return member and a support base in contact with the lower support plate and/or the upper support plate.

19 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the at least two guiding elements have at least partially a substantially cylindrical shape and having, in cross-section with respect to the vertical direction, a substantially circular, triangular, triangular and semi-circular, square and/or rectangular shape.

20 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein each plate of the at least part of the plates includes at least two notches formed over the outer lateral surface of the plate in which the at least two guiding elements bear.

21 . The assembly according to claim 20 , wherein each notch of at least part of the notches has a “V”-like shape obtained by forming two planes tangent on the outer lateral surface of the plate.

22 . The assembly according to claim 21 , wherein the “V”-like shape defines an angle comprised between 15° and 60°.

23 . The assembly according to claim 21 , wherein a depth of the “V”-like shape, defined as a height of the “V”, between the outer lateral surface and an intersection of the two tangent planes, is comprised between 2 mm and 15 mm.

24 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein a number of said at least two guiding elements is comprised between 2 and 12.

25 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the at least two guide elements are held secured together using at least one elastic element extending substantially transversally with respect to the vertical direction.

26 . The assembly according to claim 25 , wherein each elastic element includes a sliding element provided with one end fastened to one of the at least two guiding elements configured to slide inside a fixed element, and provided with another end fastened to another one of the at least two guiding elements, the sliding and fixed elements being connected together using at least one tensile elastic return member.

27 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the at least two guiding elements are made of at least one electrically-insulating material.

28 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the compressive elastic return member is made of a metal superalloy.

29 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the compressive elastic return member is made of a nickel-based alloy.

30 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein the compressive elastic return member is made by additive manufacturing.

31 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein each plate of the at least part of the plates includes at least circular, oval or “V”-like shaped two notches formed over the outer lateral surface of the plate in which the at least two guiding elements bear.

32 . The assembly according to claim 23 , wherein a depth of the “V”-like shape is in a range of 10 mm.

33 . The assembly according to claim 16 , wherein a number of said at least two guiding elements is equal to 4.

34 . A method for conditioning a stack of SOEC/SOFT-type solid-oxide cells operating at high temperature of an assembly according to claim 16 , comprising:
guiding into the stack at least part of the plate making up the stack using the at least two guiding elements.

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Di Iorio Stéphane
• Monnet Thibault
• Gervasoni Bastien
• Gillia Olivier
• Vulliez Karl

Classifications

• C25B9/75

  having bipolar electrodes · CPC title

• C25B9/77

  having diaphragms · CPC title

• H01M2008/1293

  Fuel cells with solid oxide electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/0256

  Vias, i.e. connectors passing through the separator material · CPC title

• C25B13/02

  characterised by shape or form · CPC title