Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Panasonic Corporation

Nissin Shokuhin Kabushiki Kaisha

Mitsuo Yoshimura

Takashi Morimoto

Toshihiro Matsumoto

Hiroki Kusakabe

Norihiko Kawabata

Yoko Yamamoto

Kenji Arai

Yoshiki Nagao

Kiyoshi Sawada

Hirofumi Kawai

Yoichiro Tsuji

Masaki Yamauchi

Takashi Nakagawa

Shinsuke Takeguchi

Takashi Takagi

Yasushi Sugawara

Masahiro Mori

Tomohiro Kuroha

Tsutomu Kawashima

Tsutomu Fujii

Shigeyuki Unoki

Yoshifumi Taguchi

Mitsuhiro Iseri

Kozue Kuniyoshi

Satoshi Otani

Atusi Murata

Norihisa Yoshimoto

Atushi Murata

Hirokazu Honkawa

Yoko Yamaguchi

Yuko Zenpuku

Kyutaro Ikeda

Takashi Miromoto

An assembly, including: an electrolyte membrane; and a frame that holds the electrolyte membrane, wherein the frame includes a first frame that holds one surface of the electrolyte membrane, and a second frame that holds the other surface of the electrolyte membrane, the frame further has a joint part that joins the first frame and the second frame, and the joint part has a projection.

Assembly, fuel cell using same, and method of disassembling same

A fuel cell module includes an electrode membrane assembly and a pair of separators. The electrode membrane assembly includes an electrode portion and a pair of gas diffusion layers. The electrode portion includes a polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode electrode formed on a first surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane, and a cathode electrode formed on a second surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane. One of the pair of gas diffusion layers is in contact with an anode surface of the electrode portion at which the anode electrode is disposed, and the other is in contact with a cathode surface of the electrode portion at which the cathode electrode is disposed. The separators sandwich the electrode membrane assembly from respective the anode surface and the cathode surface. The electrode membrane assembly and each separator are adhered to each other by a plurality of resin portions.

Fuel cell module, fuel cell stack, and method for producing fuel cell module

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell according to the present invention includes: a unit cell including a membrane-electrode assembly and a pair of separators; a manifold; a gas introducing member; and a first member. A recess is formed at a gas lead-out port side of the gas introducing member so as to be connected to the gas lead-out port. The first member is provided such that a communication portion thereof communicates with the manifold. The gas introducing member is provided such that: the recess communicates with the communication portion; and when viewed from a thickness direction of the polymer electrolyte membrane, the gas lead-out port and a main surface of the first member overlap each other.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell with a recess is formed downstream of a gas lead-out port

A fuel cell stack includes: a cell stack structure formed by stacking a plurality of cells; a pair of current collectors; a pair of end members; and a fastener band wrapped around a cell stack formed by stacking the cell stack structure, the pair of current collectors, and the pair of end members. Each of the pair of end members includes a plurality of plate members. The plate members have a same arched shape in which a height from a surface to contacting a corresponding one of the pair of current collectors gradually increases toward a center portion from both ends, and are disposed in parallel while being apart from each other in a width direction of the fastener band. Adjacent plate members are coupled to each other through a bendable coupling member at part of facing surfaces.

Fuel cell stack

Disclosed is a membrane electrode assembly provided with a polymer electrolyte membrane; a catalyst layer (A) which is laminated onto one surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane; a gas diffusion layer (A) which is laminated onto the catalyst layer (A); a catalyst layer (B); and a gas diffusion layer (B). The outer circumferential section of the catalyst layer (A) is the membrane electrode assembly with an integrated frame which comprises a membrane electrode assembly that protrudes from the gas diffusion layer (A) and a frame adhered to the outer circumferential section of the catalyst layer (A), whereby said frame surrounds the edge of the membrane electrode assembly. The surface that is adhered to the frame in the outer circumferential section of the catalyst layer (A) comprises a plurality of cracks.

Membrane electrode assembly with integrated frame and fuel cell

Provided is a solid polymer electrolyte type fuel cell having high durability. The fuel cell comprises a stack of single cell modules, each including an electrolyte membrane-electrode-frame assembly and a pair of separators. The electrolyte membrane-electrode-frame assembly includes a catalyst layer-attached electrolyte membrane having a polymer electrolyte membrane, an anode catalyst, and a cathode catalyst, a frame that is disposed at a peripheral portion of the catalyst layer-attached electrolyte membrane and has a rectangular inner periphery, and a pair of gas diffusion layers that are disposed on both surfaces of the catalyst layer-attached electrolyte membrane. The gas diffusion layers were disposed to cover an inner peripheral portion of the frame, respectively. A thickness of at least a part of a corner portion of the inner peripheral portion is smaller than a thickness of a linear side portion of the inner peripheral portion of the frame.

Solid polymer electrolyte type fuel cell, and electrolyte membrane-electrode-frame assembly

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprises a plurality of stacked cells each having an ionic conductive electrolyte membrane, an anode placed on one side of the electrolyte membrane, a cathode placed on the other side of the electrolyte membrane, and a conductive separator on which a first refrigerant channel for flow of a refrigerant is formed in center part thereof. The separator comprises penetration holes constituting a manifold which extend in a direction of stacking of the plurality of cells and through which the refrigerant flows and second refrigerant channels for communication between the penetration holes and the first refrigerant channel. A plurality of protrusions that protrude into the penetration holes from parts of wall surfaces of the penetration holes that are located peripherally in connection parts between the penetration holes and the second refrigerant channels.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A fuel cell separator pair has first and second separators having front and back surfaces, a corrugated plate portion shaped in a wave form at the central portion, and a flat plate portion formed in the peripheral portion and surrounding the corrugated plate portion, wherein the corrugated plate portion of the front surface constitutes a reaction gas channel and the corrugated plate portion of the back surface constitutes a coolant channel. The back surfaces of the first and second separators are facing each other. The flat plate portions of the first and second separators are arranged on top of each other so as to be in contact with each other. The flat plate portion of the second separator protrudes toward the outside beyond the flat plate portion of the first separator. The fuel cell separator pair has a seal member (A) disposed on the flat plate portion of the front surface of the first separator, a seal member (B) disposed on the flat plate portion of the front surface of the second separator, and a seal member (C) disposed on the region protruding beyond the flat plate portion of the first separator in the flat plate portion of the back surface of the second separator.

Polymer fuel cell stack and polymer fuel cell separator pair

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell-use gasket, included in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell including a fuel cell stack is provided. In the fuel cell stack, a plurality of unit cell modules is stacked, and each of the unit cell modules includes sealing members disposed at circumference portions of respective front and back surfaces of a membrane electrode assembly, and paired separators sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly and the sealing members. The sealing members are integrally molded with the circumference portions of the respective front and back surfaces of the membrane electrode assembly. In each sealing member of the gasket, two rows of sealing lips are continuously provided in parallel to each other in an in-plane manner, and at least an outer one of the two rows of sealing lips is integrally formed, having a top side bell-shaped portion overlaid on a bottom side bell-shaped portion.

Unit cell module and gasket for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell is provided with a fuel cell stack assembled by sandwiching a plurality of stacked single cell modules with a plurality of fastening members through a pair of end plates. The fuel cell includes a first elastic member arranged between the fastening member and the end plate and a plurality of second elastic members arranged between the end plate and the end of the fuel cell stack. Each of the second elastic members is arranged on the surface of the end plate corresponding to the electrode portion of a membrane electrode assembly in each of the single cell module, and each of the first elastic members is arranged on the surface of the end plate corresponding to a seal member arrangement region in which the seal member is arranged between the periphery of the membrane electrode assembly and a pair of separator plates in each single cell module.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell having a fastening structure including elastic members

In a solid polyelectrolyte fuel cell, with a frame including a frame body main part placed along a peripheral edge portion of a membrane, a plurality of first retaining portions which are arrayed so as to protrude from an inner edge of the frame body main part and which retain the front surface side of the membrane, and a plurality of second retaining portions which are arrayed so as to protrude from the inner edge of the frame body main part and which retain the back surface side of the membrane, the first retaining portions and the second retaining portions are so arrayed that retaining positions of the membrane by the first retaining portions and retaining positions of the membrane by the second retaining portions are alternately placed. A plurality of front-surface side elastic members are placed on the front surface of the membrane between neighboring ones of the first retaining portions while a plurality of back-surface side elastic members are placed on the back surface of the membrane between neighboring ones of the second retaining portions.

Electrode-membrane-frame assembly for polyelectrolyte fuel cell, manufacturing method therefor, and polyelectrolyte fuel cell

In an MEA member constituted by a polymer electrolyte membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and a frame and in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell including this MEA member, the MEA and the frame can be easily separated from each other without using any special tool. An MEA memberincludes an MEAand a plate-shaped resin frame, and a separating portion for separating the MEAfrom the frameis formed in the MEA member. The MEAincludes a polymer electrolyte membraneand a pair of electrodesandrespectively disposed on both main surfaces of the polymer electrolyte membrane. The framesandwiches and holds a peripheral portion of main surfaces of the MEAsuch that the MEAis located inside the frame. The separating portion is a broken-line cutoff lineformed on the frameto divide the frameinto two or more parts or a partial sandwiching portionlocated at an inner peripheral portion of the frameto partially sandwich the peripheral portion of the MEA

MEA member and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

In a manufacturing method for an electrode-membrane-frame assembly in a fuel cell, a first frame member and an electrolyte membrane member are arranged in a first mold for injection molding such that the edge of the electrolyte membrane member is arranged on the first frame member, a second mold is arranged to form a resin flow passage for forming a second frame member which is in contact with the first frame member by interposing the electrolyte membrane member, and a part of the edge of the electrolyte membrane member is pressed and fixed to the first frame member by a presser member mounted on the second mold and a molding resin material is injected into the resin flow passage to form a second frame member.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell and manufacturing method for electrode-membrane-frame assembly

A fuel cell stack comprising: a cell stack body having stacked single cells and a manifold for supplying or discharging a fluid to the stacked single cells, the single cell including a membrane electrode assembly and a separator sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly; an end plate stacked onto the cell stack body and having a through-hole along the stacking direction of the cell stack body; and a fluid tube body inserted detachably into the through-hole so as to pass through the end plate, the fluid tube body being connected to the manifold, wherein a part of the outer surface of the fluid tube body opposite to the inner surface of the through-hole is separated from the inner surface of the through-hole.

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Mitsuo Yoshimura