Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd.

Taiho Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Kawada Industries, Inc.

Hitoshi Hamada

Masayoshi Iwase

Hiroaki Takeuchi

Seiji Mizuno

Yoshiki Nakamura

Joji Yoshimura

Shigeyuki Kawatsu

Tadanobu Ota

Tatsuhiko Shimizu

Masayuki Ito

Yasushi Araki

Naohiro Takeshita

Haruyuki Aono

Tatsuya Tokumasu

Hideyuki Kanazawa

Toshiyuki Suzuki

Yutaka Hotta

Shigeki Hasegawa

Tomohiro Ogawa

Manabu Kato

Shigeaki Murata

Yoshinori Yamamoto

Junji Nakanishi

Michitaro Itoga

Norishige Konno

Kenji Tsubosaka

Takumi Taniguchi

Nobuyuki Orihashi

Yasuyuki Sato

Tsunemasa Nishida

Hironori Noto

Takashi Kajiwara

Hiroya Nakaji

Tsutomu Ochi

Atsushi Ida

Shinji Jomori

Hideki Kubo

Koichiro Ikeda

Ryouichi Nanba

Tomoyuki Takamura

Shinji Matsuo

Kenichi Tokuda

Takahiro Nitta

Terufumi Kobayashi

A fuel cell case includes: a casing portion provided with a through hole that communicates between an internal space for accommodating a fuel cell stack and outside of the casing portion; a lid portion attached to an outer surface of the casing portion by a first connection portion so as to close the through hole; and a cover portion arranged on the lid portion and attached to the outer surface of the casing portion. It is configured that at least one of the lid portion and the first connection portion is fractured when an internal pressure of the casing portion is increased to be equal to or higher than a predetermined pressure and that the cover portion remains to be attached to the casing portion even after at least one of the lid portion and the first connection portion is fractured.

Fuel cell case

A fuel cell device that can prevent exposure of a cell stack to the outside of a stack case, and a vehicle with the same mounted thereon. The fuel cell device includes a cell stack, end plates disposed at opposite ends of the cell stack in a stacking direction of fuel cells, and a stack case housing the cell stack and end plates. The stack case has a bottom surface portion, end plate facing portions facing the respective end plates, side surface portions extending in the stacking direction, and mount portions disposed near corner portions between the respective side surface portions and end plate facing portions and on outer walls of the respective side surface portions such that the mount portions are positioned in a pair across the bottom surface portion. The bottom surface portion has rib portions disposed thereon that each extends between a pair of the mount portions.

Fuel cell device and vehicle with the same mounted thereon

A fuel cell stackincludes a fuel cell stack, and an end plateplaced at an end of the fuel cell stack. The end plateincludes a metallic plate-like body, and a resin layerformed on a surfaceof the plate-like body. The plate-like bodyincludes flow holesfor a reactant gas and a cooling medium, and a stripe-shaped protrusionprotruding from the surfaceand which divides the surfaceinto an inner area containing the flow holesand an outer area outside the inner area. The protrusionincludes a vertical portionprotruding from the surface, and a jutted portionjutted from a distal end of the vertical portiontoward the inner area. The resin layeris formed in the inner area to cover a surfaceof the vertical portionfacing the inner area as well as at least part of the jutted portion

Fuel cell end plate with resin layer and protrusion

A fuel cell stack includes a stack; a case that accommodates the stack; and end plates arranged in the outside of a stacking direction and formed with fluid flow path holes penetrating in the stacking direction an accommodating groove for accommodating a seal member for sealing a part between the accommodating groove and the case. The end plates have a metal member formed with the fluid flow path holes, a first recess and a second recess that continues to the first recess, and a resin layer that continuously covers an inner peripheral wall surface of the fluid flow path holes, a surface that faces the stack, a part that includes at least an outer peripheral side end in the first recess, and the second recess, in the metal member. The resin layer is formed with the accommodating groove in a surface corresponding to the end surface of the case in a part covering the part that includes at least the outer peripheral side end in the first recess. The second recess accommodates a part of the resin layer to restrict the resin layer.

Fuel cell stack

A fuel cell stack comprises a stacked body, an end plate and a case configured such that the stacked body is placed therein. The end plate is arranged to cover an end face of the stacked body in a stacking direction and an end face of the case in the stacking direction and is fastened to the end face of the case. A placement groove is formed in at least one surface out of two surfaces of the end plate and the case opposed to each other, such that a seal member is placed in the placement groove. The end plate includes a resin layer formed to continuously cover an inner circumferential wall surface of the fluid flow path hole, a surface of the end plate opposed to the stacked body, and an outer circumferential side end of the placement groove.

A fuel cell systemincludes a fuel cell, a cathode gas supply system, a supply valve, an exhaust valveand a controller. The fuel cellhas a supply manifold M, an exhaust manifold M, and a power generation area GA connected with these manifolds Mand M. The cathode gas supply systemcauses a gas to be flowed into the supply manifold M. The supply valveis operable to seal the supply manifold M, whereas the exhaust valveis operable to seal the exhaust manifold M. The controllercloses the supply valveand the exhaust valveafter operation stop of the fuel cellto seal the fuel cellunder a specified pressure and then waits for a predefined time. The controllersubsequently opens the supply valveto move water remaining in the power generation area GA on the flow of the gas toward outside of the power generation area GA.

Fuel cell system and control method thereof

There is provided a fuel cell. The fuel cell comprises a stacked body that has a stacked configuration by stacking a plurality of single fuel cells; a fastening support member that is extended along a stacking direction of the plurality of single fuel cells and is configured to fasten the stacked body in the stacking direction; and an impact transmission member that is configured to include a dilatant fluid and is placed between the stacked body and the fastening support member to be arranged in a location corresponding to multiple consecutive single fuel cells along the stacking direction among the plurality of single fuel cells.

Fuel cell

A fuel cell includes: a membrane-electrode assembly in which electrode catalyst layers are formed on two sides of an electrolyte membrane; and a cerium-containing layer that is formed at an outer side of at least one of the two surfaces of the membrane-electrode assembly, and that contains a cerium-containing oxide in an amount that is greater than 5 wt % and less than or equal to 30 wt % where 100 wt % is an amount of solid components except the cerium-containing oxide which form the cerium-containing layer.

A fuel cell system determines whether an operation condition of a fuel cell corresponds to a fuel gas shortage or an oxidation gas shortage. Upon determining that the fuel gas is in shortage, the system sets a lower voltage limit to be higher than that set when the system determines that the oxidation gas is in shortage. The system further controls an output voltage from the fuel cell so as to prevent output voltage from the fuel cell from decreasing below the lower voltage limit.

Fuel cell system

An anode separator of a fuel cell forms: a plurality of gas flow channels arranged in parallel to let a fuel gas flow to an MEA; a supply passage configured to supply the plurality of gas flow channels with the fuel gas; and a recovery passage configured to recover the fuel gas from the plurality of gas flow channels. The plurality of gas flow channels include: a gas flow channel connects the supply passage and the recovery passage; and a gas flow channel having the supply passage side blocked.

A fuel cell is disclosed comprising: a power generation layer including an electrolyte membrane, and an anode and a cathode provided on respective surfaces of the electrolyte membrane; a fuel gas flow path layer located on a side of the anode of the power generation layer to supply a fuel gas to the anode while flowing the fuel gas along a flow direction of the fuel gas approximately orthogonal to a stacking direction in which respective layers of the fuel cell are stacked; and an oxidizing gas flow path layer located on a side of the cathode of the power generation layer to supply an oxidizing gas to the cathode while flowing the oxidizing gas along a flow direction of the oxidizing gas opposed to the flow direction of the fuel gas. A power generation area of the fuel cell, in which electric power is generated, has an upstream region including a most upstream position along the flow direction of the fuel gas and a downstream region including a most downstream position along the flow direction of the fuel gas. A midstream region, which is a remaining region of the power generation area other than the upstream region and the downstream region, has higher water vapor transfer resistance between the anode side and the cathode side than the upstream region and the downstream region.

A separator has a concavo-convex structure formed in mutually reversed shapes on two opposite sides thereof to define flow paths of different fluids on the respective two sides. The concavo-convex structure includes multiple first projections formed and protruded on one side of the two opposite sides and arranged at intervals having a preset regularity. The concavo-convex structure also includes multiple second projections formed and protruded on the other side of the two opposite sides in a specific area corresponding to an area for formation of the multiple first projections on the one side and arranged at intervals having a preset regularity. The concavo-convex structure further includes reinforcing elements protruded on the one side. Each of the reinforcing elements is formed as a convex in a specific shape of connecting multiple positions where the first projections are expected to be formed according to the preset regularity, while avoiding positions corresponding to the second projections formed on the other side. This arrangement effectively prevents a potential trouble caused by deformation of the separator due to a pressure difference between the flow pressures of the respective fluids flowing on the respective sides of the separator.

Separator for fuel cell and fuel cell

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, anode gas pressure adjusting means that adjusts the pressure of an anode gas supplied to the fuel cell, and cathode gas pressure adjusting means that adjusts the pressure of a cathode gas supplied to the fuel cell. The system further includes pressure control means that sets the pressure of the anode gas that is supplied when starting the fuel cell higher than the pressure of the anode gas that is supplied during power generation in the fuel cell, and controls the anode gas pressure adjusting means and the cathode gas pressure adjusting means so that a cathode gas pressure increase is started in accordance with the start of an anode gas pressure increase when the pressure of the anode gas is increased to the set pressure.

An improved fuel cell makes uniform partial gas pressure of a fuel gas flowing through a gas passage formed between an electrode and a separator of a fuel cell, activating an electrode reaction in a whole region of the electrode surface along the gas passage. The inlet and outlet for the fuel gas are disposed on a diagonal line of the separator to define a gas passage such that fuel gas smoothly flows even though portions of the passage away from the diagonal line. This may reduce the separator size and improve the volumetric efficiency of the fuel cell and the diffusibility of fuel gas as well as the drainage of water produced by the electrode reaction.

Fuel cell and separator for the same

Growing community of inventors

Gotenba, Japan

Hitoshi Hamada