Toto Ltd.

Shigeru Ando

Naoki Watanabe

Yutaka Momiyama

Nobuo Isaka

Osamu Okamoto

Masaki Sato

Seiki Furuya

Kiyoshi Hayama

Yasuo Kakinuma

Takuya Hoshiko

Shuhei Tanaka

Akira Kawakami

Yuya Takahashi

Hidetaka Miyahara

Megumi Shimazu

Hironobu Murakami

Akira Ishiguro

Hiroshi Takamatsu

Shuichiro Saigan

Hisato Haraga

Chihiro Kobayashi

Tomohiro Nishi

Hiroshi Niimi

Masato Ota

Junji Tanaka

Kazuyuki Watanabe

To provide SOFC and method for manufacturing same, capable of preventing breakage of fuel cell electrodes, and of securing an electrical connection between fuel cells and a current collector. SOFCcomprising a cell array composed of fuel cells, and current collectorconnected to electrodes formed on fuel cells, wherein current collectoris a metal plate on which attaching holesare formed; elastic piecesare provided on each attaching hole; current collectoris attached to the cell array using elastic pieces, by the insertion of fuel cellinto attaching holes; and elastic piecesare affixed to fuel cellsby electrode protective layerso that the positions of elastic piecesare not displaced relative to the electrodes on fuel cells

Solid oxide fuel cell device and method for manufacturing same

A solid oxide fuel cell stack includes a support, a plurality of power generation elements provided on a surface of the support, the plurality of power generation elements connected in series, each including at least a fuel electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an air electrode stacked in that order, and an interconnector that electrically connects an air electrode in one of adjacent power generation elements to a fuel electrode in the other power generation element. A solid electrolyte in adjacent one power generation element is provided between a fuel electrode in the adjacent one power generation element and the fuel electrode in the adjacent other power generation element, and an insulating member is provided at a position that is on the solid electrolyte in the adjacent one power generation element and between the air electrode in the adjacent one power generation element and the solid electrolyte therein.

Solid oxide fuel cell stack

To provide a method for manufacturing SOFC, capable of preventing breakage of fuel cell electrodes, and of securing an electrical connection between fuel cells and a current collector. Step for forming electrode protective layerson electrodes formed on fuel cells, modularization step for forming a cell array, and attaching step for attaching a current collectorto the cell array, wherein current collectoris a metal plate on which attaching holesare formed for the insertion of fuel cells, elastic piecesare formed at each attaching hole, fuel cellsare inserted into attaching holes, and current collectoris attached to the cell array by the elastic force; and protective layeris constituted to prevent damage to electrodes caused by contact with elastic pieces.

Method for manufacturing a solid oxide fuel cell device

A solid oxide fuel cell stack includes a support, a plurality of power generation elements connected in series, each including a fuel electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an air electrode stacked in that order on the support, and an interconnector electrically connecting an air electrode in one of the two adjacent power generation elements to a fuel electrode in the other power generation element. A solid electrolyte for one of the power generation elements is provided on the downside of the interconnector provided on the downside of the air electrode in the one power generation element so that the solid electrolyte is joined to the interconnector, and a solid electrolyte for the other power generation element is provided on the upper side of the interconnector provided on the upper side of the fuel electrode for the other power generation element so that the solid electrolyte is joined to the interconnector.

Provided is a solid oxide fuel cell unit comprising an insulating support, and a power generation element comprising, at least, a fuel electrode, an electrolyte and an air electrode, which are sequentially laminated one another, the power generation element being provided on the insulating support, wherein an exposed insulating support portion, an exposed fuel electrode portion, and an exposed electrolyte portion are provided in an fuel electrode cell end portion.

Solid oxide fuel cell unit

The present invention provides a novel manufacturing method for a solid oxide fuel cell apparatus in which members of the apparatus are joined together with an adhesive, such as a ceramic adhesive. The method implements first and second types of drying and hardening steps. The first type of step may be called a workable hardening step and gives an assembly of members in the solid oxide fuel cell apparatus structural rigidity to go through assembling of the solid oxide fuel cell apparatus. The second type of step may be called a solvent elimination and hardening step and gives the assembled members property to withstand the operation temperature of the solid fuel oxide cell apparatus. The first type of step is performed at a first temperature lower than a second temperature at which the second type of step is performed. The second type of step is performed only after the first type of step is performed at multiple times.

Solid oxide fuel cell and manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus for same

Disclosed is a durable solid oxide fuel cell that is less likely to have a problem of a conventional solid oxide fuel cell that an air electrode containing a peroviskite oxide, when exposed to a reducing atmosphere, is separated at the stop of operation, especially shutdown. The solid oxide fuel cell includes an air electrode that is obtained by firing a compact containing a perovskite oxide and sulfur element. The content of the sulfur element in the air electrode as fresh after firing or before the start of power generation is in the range of 50 ppm to 3,000 ppm. The separation of the air electrode is effectively suppressed at the shutdown operation.

Solid oxide fuel cell

Provided is a solid oxide fuel cell which includes a fuel electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an air electrode, each being sequentially laminated on the surface of a porous support. The porous support comprises forsterite and a nickel element. Ni and/or NiO fine particles are exposed on a surface of a sintered compact of the forsterite constituting the porous support.

Solid oxide fuel cell and method for producing the same

Disclosed is a solid oxide fuel cell which includes an inner electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an outer electrode, each being sequentially laminated on the surface of a porous support. The porous support contains forsterite, and further has a strontium element concentration of 0.02 mass % to 1 mass % both inclusive in terms of SrO based on the mass of the forsterite.

A solid oxide fuel cell scatters MgO over a grain boundary of an LSGM which is a solid electrolyte layer. Ni components that diffuse from a fuel electrode formed on the other side of an LDC from the LSGM are trapped by the scattered MgO particles and are suppressed from diffusing towards an air electrode in the electrolyte layer.

In a fuel cell unitthat constitutes a fuel cell moduleof an SOFC device, a collector capis connected to an inner electrode layervia a seal materialas an Ag seal portion. A glass coating(dense body) is filled up between the inner electrode layerand an electrolyte layerand the collector capto cover an upper end surfaceof the seal material. As such, the fuel cell unitincludes the seal materialconstituting as an Ag seal portion that separates a fuel gas from an oxidant gas, and a glass coatingat least partially formed to over at least either the fuel gas side surface of the seal materialor an the oxidant gas side surface of the seal material

Solid oxide fuel cell device

An object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell preventing formation of a diffusion layer containing Ca and other elements, and having an excellent power generation performance at low temperature by preventing breakdown of a crystal structure of an electrolyte by firing. Disclosed is a solid oxide fuel cell which includes an inner electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an outer electrode, each being sequentially laminated on the surface of a porous support. The porous support contains forsterite, and has a Mg/Si molar ratio of 1.90 to 2.2 both inclusive, and an A-to-B ratio (A/B) of 0.0% to 9.0% both inclusive, where A denotes a maximum peak height which appears at a diffraction angle 2&#x3b8;=26.5&#xb0; to 27.0&#xb0; and B denotes a maximum peak height which appears at 36.5&#xb0; to 37.0&#xb0; in a powder X-ray diffraction pattern obtained by using Cu-K&#x3b1; radiation.

The present invention is a solid oxide fuel cellincluding a reforming section, disposed inside a fuel gas supply flow pathabove a vaporizing sectionto surround the upper portion of a fuel cell stack, for steam reforming raw fuel gas F introduced from a fuel gas introducing portionusing steam S produced in a vaporizing section; and a circulating flow path portiondisposed in a fuel gas supply flow path between the vaporizing section and the reforming section for circulating rising raw fuel gas introduced from a fuel gas introducing section into a fuel gas supply flow path and rising steam produced in the vaporizing section along the circumferential direction of the fuel gas supply flow path so as to form a flow supplying mixed raw fuel gas and steam uniformly over the entire circumference of the reforming section.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell preventing formation of a diffusion layer containing Ca and other elements, and having an excellent power generation performance at low temperature by preventing breakdown of a crystal structure of an electrolyte by firing. Disclosed is a solid oxide fuel cell which includes a fuel electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an air electrode, each being sequentially laminated on the surface of a porous support. The porous support contains forsterite, and further has a calcium element (Ca) content of more than 0.2 mass % but not more than 2 mass % in terms of CaO.

An object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell preventing formation of a diffusion layer containing Ca and other elements, and having an excellent power generation performance at low temperature by preventing breakdown of a crystal structure of an electrolyte by firing. Disclosed is a solid oxide fuel cell which includes an inner electrode, a solid electrolyte, and an outer electrode, each sequentially laminated on the surface of a porous support. The porous support contains forsterite, and has a Ca element content of 0.2 mass % or less in terms of CaO in a surface region at the inner electrode side.

Growing community of inventors

Odawara, Japan

Shigeru Ando