Fuel cell stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8980498-B2
Application number	US-201013380264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 1, 2010
Priority date	Sep 8, 2009
Publication date	Mar 17, 2015
Grant date	Mar 17, 2015

Abstract

The present invention provides a fuel cell stack that has a separator arranged between fuel cells, the separator including: a sandwiching section which sandwiches an electrolyte electrode assembly and includes a fuel gas channel and a separately provided oxygen-containing gas channel; a bridge which is connected to the sandwiching section and includes a reactant gas supply channel; a reactant gas supply section which is connected to the bridge and includes a reactant gas supply passage; and a connecting section that connects the sandwiching section to the bridge.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell stack in which electrolyte electrode assemblies are stacked alternately between adjacent separators in a stacking direction to form the fuel cell stack, each electrolyte electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte interposed between the anode and the cathode,
wherein the electrolyte electrode assemblies are sandwiched by sandwiching sections of adjacent separators,
wherein each sandwiching section includes a fuel gas channel that supplies fuel gas to an electrode face of the anode and a separately provided oxygen-containing gas channel that supplies oxygen-containing gas to an electrode face of the cathode, the fuel gas and the oxygen-containing gas being discharged after use from a circumferential edge of the electrolyte electrode assembly, wherein the sandwiching section is formed in a shape of a circular disk;
wherein each of the separators further comprises:
a bridge that is connected to the sandwiching section and includes a reactant gas supply channel that supplies the fuel gas to the fuel gas channel or the oxygen-containing gas to the oxygen-containing gas channel;
a reactant gas supply section that is connected to the bridge and includes a reactant gas supply passage that supplies the fuel gas or the oxygen-containing gas to the reactant gas supply channel, the reactant gas supply passage being formed in a stacking direction of the separator; and
a connecting section that connects the sandwiching section to the bridge such that a tangential direction of a circumferential edge of the sandwiching section at the connecting section is substantially same as a tangential direction of a circumferential edge of the bridge at the connecting section,
wherein
the bridge is a circular arc shaped member having a radius that is larger than the radius of the sandwiching section, and
the connecting section between the sandwiching section and the bridge is formed as a smoothly continuous plane, and does not protrude outside the diameter direction of the sandwiching section.

2. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the bridge and the reactant gas supply section are connected such that a tangential direction of a circumferential edge of the bridge is substantially same as a tangential direction of a circumferential edge of the reactant gas supply section.

3. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein:
the reactant gas supply section is formed in a shape of a circular disk; and
the radius of the bridge circular arc shaped member is larger than a radius of a circular arc of the reactant gas supply section.

4. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the sandwiching section includes:
a fuel gas supply inlet that supplies the fuel gas to the fuel gas channel;
a first circumferential protrusion which is formed on a circumferential edge of the fuel-gas channel and contacts a circumferential edge of the anode;
fuel gas outlets that discharge the fuel gas from the fuel gas channel;
an oxygen-containing gas supply inlet that supplies the oxygen-containing gas to the oxygen-containing gas channel;
a second circumferential protrusion which is formed on a circumferential edge of the oxygen-containing gas channel and contacts a circumferential edge of the cathode; and
oxygen-containing gas outlets that discharge the oxygen-containing gas from the oxygen-containing gas channel,

the fuel gas outlets are arranged in point-symmetrical formation with respect to a central point of the sandwiching section, and
the oxygen-containing gas outlets are arranged in point-symmetrical formation with respect to the central point of the sandwiching section.

5. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the fuel gas outlets and the oxygen-containing gas outlets are arranged in different phases.

6. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the total opening sectional area of the fuel gas outlets is smaller than the total opening sectional area of the oxygen-containing gas outlets.

7. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the number of the fuel gas outlets is smaller than the number of the oxygen-containing gas outlets.

8. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the fuel gas outlets are spaced apart at an equiangular interval and arranged radially from the central point of the sandwiching section.

9. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the oxygen-containing gas outlets are spaced apart at an equiangular interval and arranged radially from the central point of the sandwiching section.

10. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the total opening sectional area of the fuel gas supply inlets is smaller than the total opening sectional area of the oxygen-containing gas supply inlets.

11. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein
the number of the fuel gas supply inlets is smaller than the number of the oxygen-containing gas supply inlets.

12. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the volume of the fuel gas channel is smaller than the volume of the oxygen-containing gas channel.

13. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the sandwiching section includes a plurality of projections that touch the anode.

14. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the sandwiching section includes a plurality of projections that touch the cathode.

15. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the sandwiching section includes a plurality of first projections that touch the anode, and a plurality of second projections that touch the cathode, the first projections and the second projections being arranged such that when viewed from the stacking direction, the number of the first projections and the second projections which overlap each other is greater than the number of them which do not overlap each other.

16. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein
the bridge comprises:
a fuel gas bridge that is connected to the sandwiching section and includes a fuel gas supply channel which supplies the fuel gas to the fuel gas channel; and
an oxygen-containing gas bridge that is connected to the sandwiching section and includes an oxygen-containing gas supply channel which supplies the oxygen-containing gas to the oxygen-containing gas channel,

the reactant gas supply section comprises:
a fuel gas supply section that is connected to the fuel gas bridge and includes a fuel gas supply passage which supplies the fuel gas to the fuel gas supply channel, the fuel gas supply passage being formed in the stacking direction; and
an oxygen-containing gas supply section that is connected to the oxygen-containing gas bridge and includes an oxygen-containing gas supply passage which supplies the oxygen-containing gas to the oxygen-containing gas supply channel, the oxygen-containing gas supply passage being formed in the stacking direction,

the fuel gas bridge and the oxygen-containing gas bridge are arranged in a point-symmetrical formation with respect to a central point of the sandwiching section, and
the fuel gas supply section and the oxygen-containing gas supply section are arranged in a point-symmetrical formation with respect to the central point of the sandwiching section.

17. The fuel cell stack according to claim 16 , wherein
a total opening sectional area of the fuel gas supply channel is smaller than a total opening sectional area of the oxygen-containing gas supply channel.

18. The fuel cell stack according to claim 16 , wherein
a total op

Assignees

• Ogawa Tetsuya
• Fujisawa Kimiko
• Yokokawa Ayatoshi
• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ogawa Tetsuya
• Fujisawa Kimiko
• Yokokawa Ayatoshi

Classifications

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/2425 Primary

  High-temperature cells with solid electrolytes · CPC title

• Y02E60/525

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/0247 Primary

  characterised by the form (characterised by a channel configuration H01M8/0258) · CPC title

• H01M2008/1293

  Fuel cells with solid oxide electrolytes · CPC title