Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Katsuhiko Kohyama

Hiroshi Shinkai

Ken Takahashi

Shinya Watanabe

Narutoshi Sugita

Shuhei Goto

Hiroyuki Tanaka

Masaharu Suzuki

Hideharu Yamazaki

Takaki Nakagawa

Masaki Tani

Ryugo Suzuki

So Fujiwara

Tadashi Nishiyama

Hideaki Kikuchi

Shigeru Inai

Mitsuru Sayama

Ichiro Tanaka

Kaoru Fukuda

Kimiharu Mizusaki

Chikara Iwasawa

Go Morimoto

Toshiki Kawamura

Ayumu Ishizuka

Yuichiro Hama

Hayato Kaji

Takeshi Matsubara

Junichi Yano

Toshihiro Kameda

Takeshi Muro

Hiroyoshi Hayakawa

Masaaki Hasegawa

Yoshihiro Kuki

Tetsuhiro Okada

An assembling operation of a fuel cell is effectively simplified. With the simple and economical structure, the desired sealing function is achieved. The fuel cell () includes a membrane electrode assembly () and first and second metal separators () sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly (). Connection channels () are provided on the first metal separator (). The connection channels () connect the oxygen-containing gas supply passage () and the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage () to the oxygen-containing gas flow field (). The membrane electrode assembly () has first overlapping portions () overlapped on the connection channels () for sealing the connection channels (). The first overlapping portions () comprise, in effect, a gas diffusion layer.

Fuel cell with protruded gas diffusion layer

A coolant inlet manifold for coolant supply passages is attached to an end plate of a fuel cell stack. Pillars are provided on at least one end of the coolant inlet manifold in a longitudinal direction thereof. The pillars are fitted into through holes formed in the end plate, and are connected to a manifold body and to a connector.

Fuel cell stack

A fuel cell stack includes a stack body formed by stacking a plurality of power generation cells. A terminal, an insulating plate, and an end plate are provided at one end of the stack body, and a terminal, an insulating plate, and an end plate are provided at the other end of the stack body. Each of the terminals includes an electrically conductive plate member, and an electrically conductive rod terminal joined integrally with the electrically conductive plate member. A joint portion joining the electrically conductive plate member and the electrically conductive rod terminal is formed by friction stir welding.

Fuel cell stack with power collecting terminals

An assembling operation of a fuel cell is effectively simplified. With the simple and economical structure, the desired sealing function is achieved. The fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly and first and second metal separators sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly. Connection channels are provided on the first metal separator. The connection channels connect the oxygen-containing gas supply passage and the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage to the oxygen-containing gas flow field. The membrane electrode assembly has first overlapping portions overlapped on the connection channels for sealing the connection channels. The first overlapping portions comprise, in effect, a gas diffusion layer.

There is provided a coolant manifold that is installed to a fuel cell stack so as to distribute coolant through the fuel cell stack, which is constituted by stacking a plurality of unit cells and has more than one communication holes for coolant supply and at least one communication hole for coolant discharge, in which the coolant flows in an order from the communication holes for coolant supply through a plurality of the unit cells to the communication hole for coolant discharge. The coolant manifold includes a manifold body having a manifold chamber that extends along an alignment direction of the communication holes for coolant supply, and an external communication part having an external communication hole for communicating the manifold chamber with external. A center axis of the external communication hole is placed unparallel and non-vertical relative to a center axis of each communication hole for coolant supply.

Coolant manifold and methods for supplying and discharging coolant

A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly, and first and second separators. A first insulating bushing is attached to a first positioning hole of a first separator, and a second insulating bushing is attached to a second positioning hole of the second separator. An inner wall of the first insulating bushing is fitted to an outer wall of the second insulating bushing for positioning the first and second separators such that the first and second separators are insulated from each other.

Fuel cell

A solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell () is formed from an electrode structure () and first and second separators (). The electrode structure () has a solid polymer electrolyte membrane (), first and second electrode layers (), and first and second diffusion layers (). The first separator () forms a first gas passage (P) through which a fuel gas (H) flows, and the second separator () forms a second gas passage (P) through which an oxidizing gas (A) flows. A first jutting-out portion () of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane () and a second jutting-out portion () of the second diffusion layer () are joined together over the entire peripheries thereof via a cured adhesive layer (), and the second jutting-out portion () is in a state in which it is impregnated by cured adhesive. A seal () of the first separator () is in intimate contact with the surface of the first jutting-out portion (), and a seal () of the second separator () is in intimate contact with the surface of the second jutting-out portion (). It is therefore possible to eliminate the problem of leaked fuel gas and oxidizing gas reacting with each other around the electrode structure.

Solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell and electrode structure for the fuel cell

A membrane-electrode structure having an electrode catalyst layer adhered to a diffusion electrode, wherein the structure is manufactured by applying a catalyst paste onto a sheet substrate, and then dried to form a plurality of electrode catalyst layers. The electrode catalyst layers are thermally transferred onto each side of a polymer electrolyte membrane to form a laminated body. A first slurry is applied on a carbon substrate layer, and dried to form a water-repellent layer, and then, a second slurry is applied on the water-repellent layer, and dried to form a hydrophilic layer to form a diffusion electrode. The diffusion electrode is then laminated on the electrode catalyst layer through the hydrophilic layer, and then pressed under heating to integrate the laminated body and the diffusion electrode.

Method for producing membrane-electrode structure and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

An electrode for a solid polymer fuel cell includes a gas diffusion layer, an electrode catalyst layer disposed between a solid polymer membrane of the fuel cell and the gas diffusion layer, and a water-holding layer disposed between the gas diffusion layer and the electrode catalyst layer. Under high-relative humidity conditions of reaction gases, flooding can be prevented because the electrode catalyst layer is made porous, while under low-relative humidity conditions of reaction gases, sufficient water contents can be stably provided thanks to the water-holding layer so that proton conductivity of the solid polymer membrane can be maintained appropriately. Consequently, high-performance and high-durability electrode and membrane electrode assembly for a solid polymer fuel cell can be provided such that the performance and the durability thereof are not affected by change in relative humidity in reactant gases supplied to the solid polymer fuel cell.

Electrode for solid polymer fuel cell

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell has a catalytic layer comprising a material and a polymer electrolyte, and the catalytic layer contains a fibrous material such as carbon whiskers or hydrophilic fibers. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell in the present invention having a catalytic layer comprising a catalytic material, an ion conducting material, an electron conducting material, and a void forming agent, and voids having diameters of from 60 to 1000 nm in the catalytic layer has a void volume of from 0.15 to 0.25 cm/g.

Electrode for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A combustion chamber component for an internal combustion engine has a water and oil repellent coating which has good adhesive power and in which the effect of suppressing the accumulation of deposits is well maintained. The coating is formed from an organosilicon compound represented by the formula Rf&mdash;R,&mdash;Si(NH),wherein Rf denotes a perfluoroalkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and R,denotes a divalent hydrocarbon group having 2 to 10 carbon atoms.

Combustion chamber component for an internal combustion engine having a water and oil repellent coating and process for formation of coating

A pump has a rotor made of synthetic resin in a fixed housing which are adjacently arranged while forming a gap between the housing and the rotor to force-feed a medium containing water moisture, in which the rotor is made of a resol-type synthetic resin so that a dimensional change rate of the rotor is 0.15% or less for a medium having a moisture content rate of 10 wt % or less, whereby a sufficient pump performance can be obtained while relatively increasing the degree of freedom of the moisture content rate of the medium to reduce the corrosiveness of the medium.

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Tsurugashima, Japan

Katsuhiko Kohyama