Jig for fixing laminated materials, a system for manufacturing bonded laminated materials, and a method for manufacturing bonded laminated materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9950503-B2
Application number	US-201213981759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2012
Priority date	Jan 27, 2011
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A jig for fixing laminated materials, a system for manufacturing bonded laminated materials, and a method of manufacturing bonded laminated materials are provided at a good yield factor and to efficiently manufacture the bonded laminated materials that are pressed and bonded after being laminated without a misalignment of the membranes or deformation of the laminated materials or any deficiency in bonding at the interface. The bonded laminated materials are manufactured by storing materials made of membranes (W) in a housing space (S) formed by a first sheet-shaped member ( 12 ), a second sheet-shaped member ( 22 ), and a sealing member ( 30 ), exhausting the housing space (S) to sandwich the laminated materials (W) between the first and second sheet-shaped members ( 12, 22 ) to fix them, and pressing and bonding them by hot-pressing rollers ( 51 ) and cold-pressing rollers ( 52 ) of a machine ( 50 ) for manufacturing the bonded laminated materials while they are fixed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A jig for fixing laminated materials that is used for manufacturing bonded laminated materials by pressing and bonding materials made of membranes by means of a pressing device, comprising:
a first fixing member having a pair of first columnar members that are disposed substantially in parallel to a direction the jig is to be transported to the pressing device and a first sheet-shaped member that is stretched between the pair of first columnar members by anchoring ends to respective faces of said first columnar members that extend in a longitudinal direction of the pair of first columnar members;
a second fixing member having a pair of second columnar members that face respective first columnar members and a second sheet-shaped member that is stretched between the pair of second columnar members by anchoring ends to respective faces of said second columnar members that extend in the longitudinal direction of the pair of second columnar members;
a sealing member that is disposed between the first sheet-shaped member and the second sheet-shaped member that are positioned by the pair of first columnar members and the pair of second columnar members, respectively, to face each other, the sealing member defining a housing space between the first sheet-shaped member and the second sheet-shaped member, a housing space being divided into a housing portion to house the laminated materials and an exhaust portion that exhausts the housing portion;
wherein a face of the jig for fixing laminated materials in the direction the jig is to be transported is flat;
wherein an exhaust passage is formed in at least one of the pair of the first columnar members to fluidly communicate with the housing space through an exhaust hole that penetrates the first sheet-shaped member and the exhaust passage is connected to an exhaust device; and
wherein, when the laminated materials are located in the housing space and the housing space is exhausted by the exhaust device, the first sheet-shaped member and the second sheet-shaped member sandwich the laminated materials in the housing space to press the laminated materials that are transported to the pressing device while the laminated materials are fixed.

2. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , further comprising:
a member for forming the housing space that is a frame-shaped plate that is located between the first sheet-shaped member and the second sheet-shaped member that are arranged to face each other by the pair of first columnar members and the pair of second columnar members;
wherein the member for forming the housing space is formed to be thinner than the laminated materials, the member separating the housing space into a second housing space for housing the laminated materials and a flow space around the second housing space, the flow space being fluidly connected to the exhaust hole.

3. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 2 , wherein the member for forming the housing space has a member for adjusting a thickness of a part of the member for forming the housing space that increases the thickness of the part, and wherein the member for adjusting the thickness is configured to have a total thickness of the member for adjusting the thickness plus the member for forming the housing space be greater than a thickness of the laminated materials.

4. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the first sheet-shaped member is made of metal.

5. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the second sheet-shaped member is made of resin material that is flexible.

6. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the second sheet-shaped member is made of fiber-reinforced rubber.

7. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 6 , wherein the fiber-reinforced rubber is a rubberized cloth that is made by laminating and integrating rubber sheets on both faces of a foundation cloth.

8. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 5 , wherein the second sheet-shaped member has a member for adding stiffness, the member for adding stiffness being made of a material that is flexible and harder than the resin material, and the member for adding stiffness being formed as a plate that is the same size as, or larger than, the laminated materials, and smaller than the housing space.

9. The jig for fixing the laminated materials claim 1 , wherein a spacer is provided inside the housing space or a flow space to prevent the exhaust hole from being occluded when the housing space is exhausted, the spacer being configured to allow air to pass therethrough.

10. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the sealing member is formed to be integral with the first sheet-shaped member.

11. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the sealing member is made of heat-resistant rubber.

12. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the sealing member is formed to have a certain thickness so as to have the sealing member avoid any load from the pressing device being applied.

13. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust portion is a passage to connect the housing space to the exhaust hole, wherein a portion for smoothing a deformation is formed at an end of the exhaust portion that is not connected to the housing space, which the portion for smoothing the deformation has a width that is larger than a width of the exhaust portion and has a curved outer face, and which the portion for smoothing the deformation is smoothly connected to the exhaust portion, which has no corner, and wherein the exhaust hole is formed between the housing space and the portion for smoothing the deformation.

14. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust portion is a passage to connect the housing space to the exhaust hole, said exhaust portion in the shape of a loop, and wherein the exhaust hole is formed in the passage in the shape of a loop.

15. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust portion is a passage to connect the housing space to the exhaust hole, and wherein a cover for a flow path that covers at least a portion of the exhaust portion is provided between the second sheet-shaped member and the sealing member, so that the exhausting portion is prevented from being occluded by the second sheet-shaped member, the exhaust portion being a flow path to connect the housing space to the exhaust hole.

16. The jig for fixing the laminated materials of claim 1 , wherein the second columnar member has an inclined portion that outwardly inclines, or a rounded portion that is formed at an outer end, in a contact portion that faces the first columnar member and contacts the second sheet-shaped member.

Assignees

• Nagasaka Masahiko
• Nakajima Shogo
• Nozawa Takayuki
• Sugino Osamu
• Mishima Ikuto
• Sintokogio Ltd

Inventors

• Nagasaka Masahiko
• Nakajima Shogo
• Nozawa Takayuki
• Sugino Osamu
• Mishima Ikuto

Classifications

• B32B37/003

  to avoid air inclusion · CPC title

• B30B3/04

  co-operating with one another, e.g. with co-operating cones · CPC title

• B32B37/0046 Primary

  characterised by constructional aspects of the apparatus · CPC title

• B32B2457/18

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/1004

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