Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Symbio

Vincent Braillard

Antonio Delfino

David Olsommer

Gino Paganelli

A fuel cell includes a stack and heating plates sandwiching the stack. The stack is formed of a set of electrochemical generators superimposed along a stacking axis. The heating plates are located axially on each side of the set. Each heating plate includes cavities and orifices for accessing the cavities. The fuel cell may be incorporated in a facility that includes a source of pressurized gas, which is linked to the orifices of the heating plates, and a device for managing a supply process for supplying gas to the cavities from the source of pressurized gas and an evacuation process for evacuating gas from the cavities.

Fuel cell comprising heating plates and facility comprising such a cell

A system for measuring a moisture content of an ion-exchange membrane in a fuel-cell stack is provided. The fuel-cell stack includes N electrochemical cells separated by bipolar plates, with N being a natural integer. The system includes a current generator, a voltage measurement device, and an impedance measurement device. The current generator enables a current to be applied to the fuel-cell stack. The voltage measurement device measures voltages of the cells of the fuel-cell stack. The impedance measurement device determines an impedance of an ion-exchange membrane according to a voltage ripple measured by the voltage measurement device across terminals of a corresponding one of the cells of the fuel-cell stack when the current is applied by the current generator. The impedance measurement device is installed in the voltage measurement device.

System for measuring the hygrometry of an ion exchange membrane in a fuel cell

A fuel-cell stack system includes a stack of electrochemical cells, a fuel gas supply circuit and an oxidant gas supply circuit, a cooling circuit, a micropump, a temperature measurement device, and a controller. The cells are separated by bipolar plates, with each bipolar plate including an anode, a cathode, and an ion-exchange membrane. The cooling circuit, which is structured to enable a coolant fluid to circulate therein, includes a secondary circuit and a primary circuit that is smaller in size than the secondary circuit, with the primary and secondary circuits being isolated from each other by a thermostatic valve. The micropump is installed at an outlet of the stack and enables a volume of water inside the stack to be mixed. The temperature measurement device determines an internal temperature of a core of the stack. The primary circuit is activated when the internal temperature rises above a predetermined threshold.

Fuel cell system

The invention relates to a method for stopping a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel-cell stack and to a system containing a fuel-cell stack implementing such a method. The system comprises a gas circuit and a stack of electrochemical cells forming a fuel-cell stack comprising a polymer ion exchange membrane, said circuit comprising: a fuel-gas supply circuit () connecting a fuel-gas tank to the anode of the fuel-cell stack; and an oxidant-gas supply circuit () connecting an oxidant-gas tank, or atmospheric air, to the cathode of the fuel-cell stack; characterized in that the system furthermore comprises means able to completely eliminate hydrogen present at the anode of the fuel-cell stack.

Growing community of inventors

Clermont-Ferrand, France

Vincent Braillard