Fuel cell stack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9559377-B2
Application number	US-201414765905-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2014
Priority date	Feb 7, 2013
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

The present invention provides a fuel cell stack capable of suppressing misalignment between unit cells that causes gas leakage while achieving low cost and a configuration with a small size and small mass.
A fuel cell stack 10 includes: a stack body 2 in which a plurality of unit cells 20 is stacked; and an external restriction member that suppresses misalignment between the plurality of unit cells 20 in a second direction perpendicular to a first direction in which the plurality of unit cells 20 is stacked. The external restriction member includes: corner restriction members 303, 304 , provided so as to extend entirely over at least two corners of the stack body 2 along the first direction; and a rotation suppressing member 305 provided so as to face one side surface of the stack body 2 , the side surface being positioned so as to intersect with a direction in which the stack body 2 may rotate about the corner restriction members 303, 304 as a rotation axis when an impact force along the second direction is applied to the stack body 2 from the outside.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fuel cell stack comprising:
a stack body in which a plurality of unit cells is stacked;
a case for accommodating the stack body; and
an external restriction member that restricts misalignment between the plurality of unit cells in a second direction perpendicular to a first direction in which the plurality of unit cells is stacked,
wherein the external restriction member includes:
corner restriction members provided in the case so as to extend entirely over at least two corners of the stack body along the first direction; and
a rotation suppressing member provided in the case so as to face one side surface of the stack body, the side surface being positioned so as to intersect with a direction in which the stack body may rotate about the corner restriction members as rotation axes when an impact force along the second direction is applied to the stack body from outside, and
wherein the rotation suppressing member is provided in an area that does not contain corners of the stack body.

2. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein a stiffness of the rotation suppressing member is formed so as to be lower than a stiffness of the corner restriction members.

3. The fuel cell stack according to claim 2 , wherein, when the stack body rotates and comes into contact with the rotation suppressing member, the rotation suppressing member is deformed so as to allow misalignment between the plurality of unit cells to an extent that does not cause gas leakage.

4. The fuel cell stack according to claim 1 , wherein:
the corner restriction members are provided along both ends of a first side surface along the first direction of the stack body; and
the rotation suppressing member is provided along a second side surface, which opposes the first side surface, of the stack body.

5. The fuel cell stack according to claim 4 , wherein the rotation suppressing member comprises one rotation suppressing member, or two or more rotation suppressing members, that is/are provided so as to evenly face a center line along the first direction of the second side surface.

6. The fuel cell stack according to claim 5 , wherein only one rotation suppressing member is provided substantially along the center line.

Assignees

• Takeyama Makoto
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takeyama Makoto

Classifications

• H01M8/2475 Primary

  Enclosures, casings or containers of fuel cell stacks · CPC title

• H01M8/2465 Primary

  Details of groupings of fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M2250/20

  Fuel cells in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• Y02T90/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic