Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Yutaka Ebato

Satoru Terada

Takashi Kato

Kentaro Ishida

Hiroyuki Tanaka

Matthew J Beutel

Suguru Ohmori

Satoshi Oyama

Kenji Sasaki

Takaaki Shikano

Takaaki Mitsuoka

Hisashi Masuda

Mitsutaka Igaue

Masahiko Nakayama

Masami Kurimoto

Tokuji Okumura

Kazushiro Wakabayashi

Kohei Yoshida

Sho Nakajima

A leak inspection method and a leak inspection apparatus for a fuel cell stack, in which a plurality of fuel cells are stacked, each having an electrode member and a pair of separators sandwiching the electrode member therebetween, and seal members provided on an outer peripheral portion of each of the separators, wherein a first leak inspection is performed by applying a fastening load which is a load applied to the fuel cell stack at a time of product shipment, and a second leak inspection is performed by applying to the fuel cell stack a second load which is lower than the fastening load.

Leak inspection method and leak inspection apparatus

A method of producing the fuel cell stack, including: a stacking step of stacking a plurality of power generation cells each including a membrane electrode assembly, a pair of separator plates sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly, and a seal member; and a compressing step of applying a compression load to the plurality of power generation cells stacked. In the compressing step, the compression load is applied in a manner that the membrane electrode assembly is plastically deformed, without exceeding an elastic limit of the seal member.

Method of producing fuel cell stack

A power generation cell of a fuel cell stack includes a resin frame equipped MEA and a first metal separator and a second metal separator. In the power generation cell, the relationship of P&#x3e;P&#x3e;Pis satisfied, where Pindicates a first surface pressure applied from a first seal part and a second seal part to a resin frame member, Pindicates a second surface pressure applied from a first support part and a second support part to the overlap part, and Pindicates a third surface pressure applied from first flow field forming protrusions and second flow field forming protrusions to the power generation area.

Power generation cell and fuel cell stack

In a fuel cell stack, a stack body includes a plurality of power generation cells stacked in a stacking direction, and a first dummy cell is provided at one end of the stack body in the stacking direction. The first dummy cell includes a dummy assembly, a dummy resin frame member, and a dummy joint separator. The dummy resin member includes a first resin sheet and a second resin sheet. An inner exposed portion is provided in an inner periphery of the first resin sheet. The inner exposed portion extends inward beyond an inner end of the second resin sheet. A first heat welding portion is provided discontinuously in a stack part where the inner exposed portion and the first electrically conductive porous sheet of the dummy assembly are stacked together. The dummy resin frame member and the dummy assembly are joined together by the first heat welding portion.

Fuel cell stack, dummy cell for fuel cell stack, and method of producing dummy cell

A frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane electrode assembly and a frame member having a first frame shaped sheet provided on an outer peripheral portion of the membrane electrode assembly over the entire periphery. An outer peripheral portion of an electrolyte membrane is provided between a cathode and the first frame shaped sheet, stacked on an outer peripheral portion of the cathode, and joined to an inner peripheral portion of the first frame shaped sheet through an adhesive layer. The adhesive layer is filled in an area surrounded by an inner peripheral end of the first frame shaped sheet, an anode, and the electrolyte membrane.

Frame equipped membrane electrode assembly, method of producing the frame equipped membrane electrode assembly, and fuel cell

A resin frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane electrode assembly and a resin frame member around an outer peripheral portion of the membrane electrode assembly. An inner end of the resin frame member is joined to an electrolyte membrane. In the state before the inner end is joined to the electrolyte membrane, the inner end is narrowed inward in a manner that a surface of the inner end adjacent to the electrolyte membrane gets closer to a surface of the inner end opposite to the electrolyte membrane.

Resin frame equipped membrane electrode assembly and method of producing the same

A frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane electrode assembly and a frame member having a first frame shaped sheet provided on an outer peripheral portion of the membrane electrode assembly. An outer peripheral portion of an electrolyte membrane is provided between a cathode and the first frame shaped sheet, stacked on an outer peripheral portion of the cathode, and joined to an inner peripheral portion of the first frame shaped sheet through an adhesive layer. The elastic modulus of the first frame shaped sheet is larger than the elastic modulus of the electrolyte membrane. The elastic modulus of the adhesive layer is smaller than the elastic modulus of the first frame shaped sheet and the elastic modulus of the electrolyte membrane.

Frame equipped membrane electrode assembly and fuel cell

A resin film equipped MEA of a power generation cell includes a membrane electrode assembly and a resin film. An inner peripheral end of a first frame shaped sheet of the resin film is positioned outside an outer peripheral end of a cathode, and faces the outer peripheral end of the cathode so as to be separated by a gap. An inner peripheral portion of a second frame shaped sheet is held between the anode and the cathode. A first metal separator facing the first frame shaped sheet is provided with protruding support structure configured to support an inner peripheral portion of the first frame shaped sheet and an outer peripheral portion of the cathode.

Power generation cell

A frame equipped membrane electrode assembly or a frame equipped MEA of a fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly or an MEA and a frame member provided on an outer peripheral portion of the MEA. A method of producing the frame equipped MEA includes a first joining step of joining a first resin frame film and a second resin frame film together in a thickness direction to form a film joint body, a welding step of spot welding a first resin sheet to a portion of the first resin frame film facing a second inlet buffer when the fuel cell is formed, to form the frame member, and a second joining step of joining the frame member to the outer peripheral portion of the MEA.

Method of producing frame equipped membrane electrode assembly, the frame equipped membrane electrode and fuel cell

A power generation cell includes a frame member. The frame member includes a first frame shaped sheet and a second frame shaped sheet that are joined together. The second frame shaped sheet is provided outside a cathode through a gap. A method of operating a fuel cell includes supplying a first reactant gas to a channel formed between the frame member and a first separator, a pressure of the first reactant gas being higher than a pressure of a second reactant gas, and supplying the second reactant gas to a channel formed between the frame member and a second separator.

Method of operating fuel cell

A frame equipped membrane electrode assembly includes a membrane electrode assembly and a frame member. The frame member includes a first frame shaped sheet and a second frame shaped sheet. An inner peripheral portion of the first frame shaped sheet is joined to an outer peripheral portion of the membrane electrode assembly. The inner peripheral portion of the first frame shaped sheet is positioned between an outer peripheral portion of an anode and an outer peripheral portion of a cathode. An inner end of the second frame shaped sheet is positioned outside an outer end of the anode over the entire periphery. The outer end of the cathode is positioned outside the inner end of the second frame shaped sheet over the entire periphery.

A front face distance is obtained by measuring the position of a front face of an instrument panel held by an end effecter of a robot. An error on an optical axis, at the position of the front face is obtained based on the front face distance. Based on the error, the position of the instrument panel is adjusted so that a focal point of a laser meets the position at a predetermined depth defined with the front face as the standard. A back face of the instrument panel is irradiated with a laser to form a fine hole of a fragile section.

Growing community of inventors

Wako, Japan

Yutaka Ebato