Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

Hirofumi Kan

Akira Yajima

Daisuke Watanabe

Asako Satoh

Nobuyasu Negishi

Hideyuki Oozu

Hidenori Suzuki

Yumiko Takizawa

Yukinori Akamoto

Yuuichi Sato

Yuichi Yoshida

Hiroyuki Shiroki

Genta Oomichi

Kenichi Takahashi

Hiroyuki Hasebe

Koichi Kawamura

Asako Sato

Takashi Shimoyamada

Shunsuke Kimura

Naoki Iwamura

A fuel cell has a fuel cell main body, a fuel supply unit, a voltage sensor, a supply speed determining unit, a fuel supply control unit, and a connecting unit. The voltage sensor measures the open-circuit voltage of the fuel cell main body. The supply speed determining unit determines the fuel supply speed of the fuel supply unit, on the basis of the results obtained from the measurement performed by the voltage sensor, in the case where the voltage measured by the voltage sensor is smaller than a predetermined value. The fuel supply control unit controls, on the basis of the supply speed thus determined, the fuel supply from the fuel supply unit. The connecting unit connects a load to the fuel cell main body, in the case where the voltage measured by the voltage sensor is larger than the predetermined value.

Fuel cell

A fuel cell () includes an electromotive unit () having a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) (), a fuel storage unit () storing a liquid fuel, and a fuel supply mechanism () supplying the fuel from the fuel storage unit () to a fuel electrode () of the membrane electrode assembly (). The membrane electrode assembly () has a gas vent hole () provided in a manner to penetrate through at least an electrolyte membrane () to let a gas component generated on a side of the fuel electrode () escape to a side of an air electrode ().

The present invention relates to a fuel cell including: a membrane electrode assembly () having a fuel electrode (), an air electrode (), and an electrolyte membrane () sandwiched therebetween; and a fuel storage unit () storing a liquid fuel. The fuel cell is capable of continuously generating electricity for long hours only by being replenished with a fuel, and therefore, attempts have been made to miniaturize the fuel cell to use it as a power source of portable electronic devices. When the membrane electrode assembly and the fuel storage unit in the fuel cell are connected via a flow path, a fuel supply state becomes uneven depending on the shape and the like of the flow path even though a supply amount of the fuel can be adjusted, which causes a problem such as a decrease in an output of the fuel cell. The present invention solves the aforethe problem by providing, in the fuel cell, a fuel distributing mechanism () which supplies the fuel to a plurality of places of the fuel electrode, and connecting the fuel distributing mechanism and the fuel storage unit via the flow path ().

A fuel cell comprising a cathode catalyst layer, an anode catalyst layer including a conductive perfluoro-binder having a micellar structure formed by outwardly orienting hydrophilic groups and inwardly orienting hydrophobic (lipophilic) groups, and a proton conductive membrane provided between the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer.

Fuel Cell

A fuel cell comprising a cathode catalyst layer, an anode catalyst layer including a conductive perfluoro-binder having a micellar structure formed by outwardly orienting hydrophobic (lipophilic) groups and inwardly orienting hydrophilic groups, and a proton conductive membrane provided between the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hirofumi Kan