Panasonic Corporation

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yoshiki Nagao

Toshihiro Matsumoto

Hiroki Kusakabe

Norihiko Kawabata

Kazuhito Hatoh

Takashi Morimoto

Shinsuke Takeguchi

Hisaaki Gyoten

Kenji Arai

Mitsuo Yoshimura

Yasuo Takebe

Soichi Shibata

Hiroyuki Nagai

Masaki Nobuoka

Yoko Yamamoto

Shigeyuki Unoki

Naoko Yoshizawa

Yusuke Ikeshima

Yoko Yamaguchi

Takashi Miromoto

A fuel cell of the present invention includes: four fastening bolts which extend in a stack direction of a stack structure so as to penetrate through openings of end plates and nuts which are disposed at both ends of the fastening bolts and can adjust fastening forces applied by the fastening bolts to the stack structure sandwiched between the end plates. Each fastening bolt is disposed in the vicinity of an intermediate point of each side of the end plate. In an electrode facing region of the end plate, one or more springs are disposed on a first straight line passing through two fastening bolts one or more springs are disposed on a second straight line passing through two fastening bolts one or more springs are disposed on a third straight line passing through two fastening bolts and one or more springs are disposed on a fourth straight line passing through two fastening bolts.

Fuel cell having a fastening structure including a specified configuration of elastic members

A cell stack of a fuel cell comprises a cell stack body including a cell stack structure including plural cells stacked together; an elastic member disposed at an end of the cell stack structure in a direction in which the plural cells are stacked, and a pair of end plates sandwiching the cell stack structure and the elastic member, and a fastener band extending to surround the cell stack body and to cover a pair of end surfaces and a pair of opposing side surfaces of the cell stack body, the fastener band including a first band engagement portion and a second band engagement portion at both end portions thereof, respectively, and the cell stack body is fastened by the fastener band by direct or indirect engagement between the first band engagement portion and the second band engagement portion.

Cell stack of fuel cell and method of fastening cell stack of 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

A fuel cell separator and a fuel cell are provided that can improve uniformity in reaction gas flow rate and can prevent flooding due to excessive condensed water in passage grooves appropriately. A reaction gas passage region () of a separator () has a flow splitting region () having a passage groove group where the reaction gas is split, and one or more flow merge regions () having a recessed portion in which the reaction gas is mixed and connecting a plurality of flow splitting regions so that the passage groove group of the adjacent flow splitting regions () are connected to the recessed portion, and protrusions () vertically extend from a bottom face of the recessed portion and arranged in an island form. A pair of passage groove groups connected to the recessed portion of the flow merge region () is formed so as to have a greater number of grooves in the upstream passage groove group than the number of grooves of grooves in the downstream passage groove group. The recessed portion of the flow merge region () is defined, in a turn portion of a serpentine shaped reaction gas passage region (), by oblique boundaries between the recessed portion and a pair of passage groove groups which are connected to the recessed portion and by the outer end of the turn portion.

Serpentine fuel cell separator with protrusions and fuel cell including the same

Disclosed is a fuel cell stack which includes: a cell assembly formed of stacked unit cells, each composed of a membrane electrolyte assembly and separators which sandwich the membrane electrolyte assembly; a pair of collector plates A and B which sandwiches the cell assembly; a pair of end plates A and B which sandwiches the cell assembly and the collector plates; and an elastic member disposed between end plate A and collector plate A, wherein end plate A has a convexed portion and a concaved portion on a surface facing collector plate A, and the concaved portion of end plate A holds therein the elastic member, and a bottom surface of the concaved portion includes a second convexed portion and a second concaved portion.

Fuel cell stack

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.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell stack

In a fuel cell composed of a pair of separators with a membrane electrode assembly sandwiched therebetween, gas passages having a plurality of generally linear passage portions, and bent passage portions each of which makes one end portion of the linear passage portions communicated with the other end portion of the linear passage portions, are formed so as to be communicative from a gas introducing port to a discharge port. In inner wall surfaces of the groove portions of the separators constituting the linear passage portions, water-retaining groove portions capable of retaining inside thereof at least part of water generated in the gas passage are formed in such a grooved configuration as to be substantially continuous along the passage portion. As a water drop generated within the gas passage makes contact with retained water within the water-retaining groove portions, growth of the water drop is suppressed to avoid any blockage of the gas passage, by which the anti-flooding property is improved.

Fuel cell having a separator with water-retaining groove portions

Methods are provided for easily obtaining a high performance electrode without using an organic solvent for making an ink of an electrode catalyst or a surfactant for making an ink of a water repellent carbon material. The methods of manufacturing an electrode for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprise (a) a step of adhering a polymer electrolyte or a water repellent material to fine electrically conductive particles, and granulating the electrically conductive particles to obtain multinary granules, and (b) a step of depositing the multinary granules in layer form to obtain a catalyst layer or a water repellent layer of an electrode. Apparatus for manufacturing the electrodes, as well as polymer electrolyte fuel cells using the electrodes are also provided.

Methods of manufacturing electrodes for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

It is an object of the present invention to provide a means for integrating an MEA and a pair of separators and regulate their positions without using parts that are specifically dedicated for position regulation use. More specifically, the present invention provides a polymer electrolyte fuel cell including a frame-integrated MEA, a separator having a channel for supplying and releasing a fuel gas, and a separator having a channel for supplying and releasing an oxidizer gas, and, in this fuel cell, the frame body of the frame-integrated MEA has a plurality of projections having a hook-shaped tip on both planes of the frame body and each separators has a plurality of stepped parts, and the projections on the frame body and the stepped parts on the pair of separators are integrated by fitting together with each other.

Solid polymer fuel cell

In a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, at least one of the anode side separator plate and cathode side separator plate is formed with a main surface having a convex shape protruding toward a gas diffusion layer, and a peripheral edge portion surrounding the main surface. An average thickness of the main surface is made to be thicker than an average thickness of the peripheral edge portion. And a difference &#x394;t between the thickest part of the main surface and an average thickness of the peripheral edge portion is made to be 5-30 &#x3bc;m.

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Osaka, Japan

Yoshiki Nagao