Audi Ag

Utc Fuel Cells, LLC

Utc Power Corporation

Doosan Fuel Cell America, Inc.

Jeffrey G Lake

Christopher John Carnevale

Sushant S Bhadange

Lei Yu

Evan Christopher Rege

Dale William Petty

Robin J Guthrie

Matthew P Wilson

Chris Vargas

Jeremy P Meyers

Ying Shi

Leonard A Bach

Nileshkumar Trambaklal Dave

Andrew Joseph Melough

Aaron W Morrow

George S Hirko

Michael D Harrington

Cynthia M Phillips

Stephen P Victor

Pedro Inigo

Mark W Layaw

Yu Guo

Joseph M Sipitkowski

Xiangyang Deng

Vicky Zhang

An exemplary fuel cell component includes a plate having a plurality of channels. At least a first one of the channels is configured differently than others of the channels so that the first channel provides a first cooling capacity to a selected portion of the plate. The others of the channels provide a second, lesser cooling capacity to at least one other portion of the plate.

Fuel cell component having selected cooling capacity distribution

An end plate assembly () includes a current collector (), an electrically non-conductive pressure plate (), and a tapered spring plate (). The tapered spring plate () includes a thick mid-section () and tapered, thin tie rod extensions () that extend from the mid-section () over deflection cavities () in the pressure plate (). Tie rod nut assemblies () apply a load follow-up through the tie-rod extensions () to permit limited expansion and contraction of the fuel cells (). A mid-section of () of the spring plate () overlies a substantial portion of an upper surface () of the pressure plate (). Because the mid-section () is large and thick and because the tie-rod extensions () are tapered and thin, the entire end plate assembly () may be efficiently thin and apply an even load follow-up to the fuel cell stack ().

Fuel cell stack having an end plate assembly with a tapered spring plate

An example energy dissipation device for controlling a fuel cell fluid includes a conduit extending in longitudinal direction between a first opening and a second opening. A flow control insert is configured to be received within the conduit. The flow control insert is configured to cause a fuel cell fluid to flow helically relative to the longitudinal direction.

Energy dissipation device for controlling flow of a fuel cell fluid

Ejectors () are configured to receive fresh fuel gas at the motive inlet () and to receive fuel recycle gas at the suction inlet (). Each ejector is disposed either a) within a fuel inlet/outlet manifold () or adjacent to and integral with the fuel inlet/outlet manifold. The ejector draws fuel recycle gas directly from the fuel outlet manifold and, after mixing with fresh fuel, is expanded () to lower the pressure and is then fed directly into the fuel inlet manifold (). The ejector may be within an external manifold () or an internal manifold (). The ejector () may be formed of perforations clear through a plate (), which is closed on either side by other plates (), or the ejector may be formed by suitable sculpture of fuel cells () having internal fuel inlet () and fuel outlet () manifolds.

Fuel cell fuel recycle ejectors disposed in fuel manifold

A fuel cell stack () includes an integrated end plate assembly having a current collector () secured adjacent and end cell () of the stack, a pressure plate () secured adjacent the current collector (), and a backbone () secured within a backbone-support plane () defined within the plate (). Tie rod ends () of the backbone () extend over a gap () defined between the backbone-support plane () and a deflection plane () defined within the pressure plate () so that the tie rod ends deflect within the gap () upon tightening of tie rods (). Deflection of the backbone enables the backbone () to permit limited expansion of the fuel cell stack () during operation, and the backbone () has adequate flexural strength to prohibit expansion of the stack () beyond operating dynamic limits of the stack ().

Fuel cell stack having an integrated end plate assembly

A pair of reactant cover plates, e.g., fluid manifolds or protective covers (), on opposite sides of a fuel cell stack () are drawn to the fuel cells () and pressure plates () by tensioning lines, e.g., cables () or straps (), which may extend around structures, e.g., pins or extensions () extending outwardly from the ends of the cover plates or guides () on the stack, e.g., on the pressure plates in a closed loop, and are tensioned by a tensioning device, such as a turnbuckle ().

Fuel cell cover plate tie-down

A plurality of cooler plates () are disposed between fuel cells () in a stack () and have protrusions () which include coolant inlet and outlet channels (). The protrusions are surrounded by an elastomeric sealant material () which forms a seal with the manifold structures () to form coolant inlet and outlet manifolds (). The sealant material prevents coolant from entering fuel cells along the edges thereof, thereby preventing the fuel cells from being poisoned by the coolant. The coolant inlet and outlet manifold structures () also define reactant gas manifolds ().

Easily isolated, oversized fuel cell stack cooler plates

A reactant gas manifold ( ), to be used with a fuel cell stack ( ) having a flat seal surface ( ), is provided with a convex seal surface ( ) so that when the manifold ( ) is distorted by being bolted ( ) to the fuel cell stack, the distortion will provide substantially uniform seal pressure along the length of the seal between the surfaces ( ).

Convex fuel manifold providing uniform pressure seal to fuel cell stack

Growing community of inventors

Vernon, CT, United States of America

Jeffrey G Lake