Nissan Motor Company Limited

Ngk Insulators, Inc.

Other

Kazuhiko Shinohara

Masakazu Kobayashi

Makoto Miyoshi

Keiko Kushibiki

Yuichiro Imanishi

Kenji Furuya

Tetsuo Watanabe

Hiroshi Akama

Junji Ito

Masashi Ito

Fumio Munakata

Mikio Kawai

Ryouichi Shimoi

Keiko Ikoma

A fuel cell assembly () is disclosed. The fuel cell assembly () has a fuel cell stack () formed by laminating a plurality of cells; plus and minus current extraction sections (), the current extraction sections () extracting current generated by the fuel cell stack and sandwiching the fuel cell stack with respect to the direction of lamination; and a passage () allowing flow of a fluid provided in at least one of the current extraction sections. Further a fuel cell system, which has the above fuel cell stack and a heating device () for heating the passage for the fluid, is disclosed.

Fuel cell assembly and fuel cell system

A fuel vapor treatment or recovery system for an automotive internal combustion engine. The system comprises a canister containing a fuel vapor adsorbing material. A membrane separation module is provided to be connected to the canister and including a separation membrane for separating a mixture gas into an air-rich component and a fuel vapor-rich component. The separation membrane has an air-selective permeability so that the air-rich component is be able to pass through the separation membrane, the mixture gas containing air and fuel vapor. Additionally, a gas transporting device is provided to be connected to the canister, for causing purge gas to be introduced into the canister to purge fuel vapor from the fuel vapor adsorbing material and causing fuel vapor purged from the canister to be fed to the membrane separation module. Here, the fuel vapor-rich component is fed to an intake air passageway of an engine so that vacuum generated by the engine acts on the separation membrane so as to serve as a driving force for membrane separation. Further, the air-rich component from the membrane separation module is returned to the fuel tank so that fuel vapor component contained in the fuel vapor-rich component is recovered to the fuel tank upon being subjected to at least one of liquefaction and absorption to liquid fuel in the fuel tank.

Fuel vapor treatment system

A thermoelectric conversion module having a large capacity and a curved surface which can be secured to a corresponding curved surface of a base member is manufactured by inserting N type and P type semiconductor strips into through holes formed in a honeycomb structural body, filling spaces between walls defining the through holes and the semiconductor strips with an electrically insulating filler members made of an easily deformable material such as polyimide resin and silicone resin, cutting the honeycomb structural body into a plurality of thermoelectric conversion module main bodies each having a desired surface configuration, and providing metal electrodes on both surfaces of a thermoelectric conversion module main body such that alternate N type and P type semiconductor elements are connected in cascade.

Thermoelectric conversion module and method of manufacturing the same

A p-type thermoelectric converting substance used as a p-type semiconductor in a thermoelectric converting module consisting essentially of a substance expressed by a chemical formula CoSb,Sn,or CoSb,Ge,(2.7<x<3.4, 0<y<0.4, x&plus;y>3), and containing a small amount of oxygen z defined by 2(x&plus;y&minus;3)&gE;z. The amount of oxygen z is preferably limited such that it is not higher than 0.1 molecules per 1 molecule of Co. An alloy ingot consisting essentially of CoSb,Sn,or CoSb,Ge,(2.7<x<3.4, 0<y<0.4, x&plus;y>3) is ground to obtain a raw material powder. Then, the powder is cast into a mold, and the mold is sintered under a non-oxidizing or reducing atmosphere. The thus obtained substance reveals p-conductivity in a stable manner over a wide temperature range, and has excellent thermoelectric converting properties.

P-type thermoelectric converting substance and method of manufacturing the same

An electric energy supply system for a vehicle includes a power output shaft electric power generation unit and an exhaust gas electric power generation unit for generating electric power by utilizing a power energy and an exhaust gas energy. A storage battery, a driving condition judgment unit for judging a driving condition of the vehicle, an electricity storage condition judgment unit for judging an electricity storage condition of the storage battery, and an electric power control unit for controlling a supply amount of electric energy to be used in the vehicle are provided. Under the control of the electricity power control unit, the amount of electric power generated by each of the power output shaft electric power generation unit and the exhaust gas electric power generation unit is controlled in accordance with information obtained from the driving condition judgement unit and the electricity storage condition judgement unit. This recovers energy released from the engine in dependence on the tuning mode of the vehicle, and thereby reduces fuel consumption.

Electric energy supply system for vehicle

An apparatus for generating a thermoelectric power and method for driving the same. The disclosed apparatus comprises: a plurality of power generation units, each power generator unit including at least one thermocouple and being capable of mutually generating an equal output voltage; a connection form switch for switching an electrical connection form of each one of the power generator units between a serial connection of the corresponding one of the power generator units to another of the remaining power generator units and a parallel connection thereof to another of the remaining power generator units; a parallel voltage detector for measuring a parallel voltage when the plurality of power generator units are connected in parallel to each other; a connection form detector for determining the connection form of all of the power generator units in one of three forms consisting of a serial connection, a parallel connection, and a combination of the serial and parallel connections, so as to generate a thermoelectric power according to a load connected to the thermoelectric power generating apparatus on the basis of a value of the parallel voltage measured by the parallel voltage measuring block; and a broken wire detector for detecting whether a wire breakage in each of the power generator units occurs.

Thermoelectric power generating apparatus and method for driving same

A thermoelectric conversion module including a honeycomb structural body 3 made of an electrically insulating material, N type and P type semiconductor elements 1 and 2 inserted into through holes formed in the honeycomb structural body 3, electrically insulating filler members 4 filled in spaces between the semiconductor elements and inner walls of the through holes such that the semiconductor elements are fixed in position within respective through holes, and electrodes 7 connecting end surfaces of the semiconductor elements on polished end surfaces of the honeycomb structural body such that N type and P type semiconductor elements are alternately connected in series. According to the invention, the electrically insulating filler members are made of an inorganic adhesive of alkali metal silicate or sol-gel glass. Since undesired heat dissipation and heat transfer through adjacent semiconductor elements can be prevented and undesired oxidation and dissipation of the semiconductor elements during a usage can be effectively removed, a high output power can be attained stably for a long life time when the thermoelectric conversion module according to the invention is used in an electric power generating system using an exhausted heat. The higher and lower temperature side surfaces of the module can be shaped into any desired configuration.

A thermoelectric conversion module having a large capacity and a curved surface is manufactured by immersing a honeycomb structural body having a number of through holes, openings of every other through holes being closed by clogging members, into a semiconductor material melt of one conductivity type to suck the semiconductor material melt into through holes whose openings are not closed, cooling the thus sucked semiconductor material melt to form semiconductor elements of one conductivity type, immersing again the honeycomb structural body after removing said clogging members into a semiconductor material melt of the other conductivity type to suck the semiconductor material melt into the through holes, cooling the thus sucked semiconductor material melt to form semiconductor elements of the other conductivity type, cutting the honeycomb structural body into a plurality of thermoelectric conversion module main bodies, and providing metal electrodes of both surfaces of a thermoelectric conversion module main body such that alternate semiconductor elements of one and the other conductivity types are connected in series.

A thermoelectric conversion material includes a sintered body composed mainly of cobalt and antimony, wherein cobalt and antimony as main components form a compound of cubic CoSb.sub.3, a phase composed mainly of an Sb phase is contained as a secondary phase, and a volumetric rate of the phase closed mainly of the Sb phase is less than 10 vol % with respect to 100 vol % of the thermoelectric conversion material.

Thermoelectric conversion material and a process for producing the same

Thermoelectric conversion module having channels filled with

Thermoelectric material for high temperature use made of a sintered body of a relative density of at least 75% consisting mainly of cobalt antimony compounds having an elemental ratio Sb/(Co+additives)=x of 2.7&lt;x&lt;3 is produced by a method of firing a shaped body of powders consisting mainly of cobalt and antimony in a non-oxidizing atmosphere under an environmental pressure, wherein the shaped body before the firing is constituted from crystal phases composed of a cubic crystal system compound CoSb.sub.3 (A phase), a monoclinic crystal system compound CoSb.sub.2 (B phase) and a hexagonal crystal system compound CoSb (C phase), and constitutional ratio of these crystal phases is (I.sub.B +I.sub.C)/(I.sub.A +I.sub.B +I.sub.C)&lt;0.15 (wherein, I.sub.X (X is A, B or C) is a relative intensity by X-ray diffraction).

High temperature thermoelectric material and its production method

A thermoelectric conversion module having a large capacity and a curved surface is manufactured by immersing a honeycomb structural body having a number of through holes, openings of every other through holes being closed by clogging members, into a semiconductor material melt of one conductivity type to suck the semiconductor material melt into through holes whose openings are not closed, cooling the thus sucked semiconductor material melt to form semiconductor elements of one conductivity type, immersing again the honeycomb structural body after removing the clogging members into a semiconductor material melt of the other conductivity type to suck the semiconductor material melt into the through holes, cooling the thus sucked semiconductor material melt to form semiconductor elements of the other conductivity type, cutting the honeycomb structural body into a plurality of thermoelectric conversion module main bodies, and providing metal electrodes of both surfaces of a thermoelectric conversion module main body such that alternate semiconductor elements of one and the other conductivity types are connected in series.

A thermoelectric conversion module having a large capacity and a curved surface which can be secured to a corresponding curved surface of a base member is manufactured by inserting N type and P type semiconductor strips into through holes formed in a honeycomb structural body, filling spaces between walls defining the through holes and the semiconductor strips with filler members, cutting the honeycomb structural body into a plurality of thermoelectric conversion module main bodies each having a desired surface configuration, providing metal electrodes on both surfaces of a thermoelectric conversion module main body such that alternate N type and P type semiconductor elements are connected in cascade, and removing the filler members or the honeycomb structural body and filler members.

Method of manufacturing thermoelectric conversion module

An n-type thermoelectric material composed mainly of an iron-silicite compound represented by a chemical formula of FeSi.sub.2+z in which -0.1&lt;z&lt;0.1. The thermoelectric material further comprising Co as an n-type dopant and Ge as an additive. The iron-silicon compound is composed substantially of a low temperature phase (.beta.-phase).

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Yokohama, Japan

Kazuhiko Shinohara