Toto Ltd.

Yuya Takahashi

Akira Kawakami

Shigeru Ando

Yasuo Kakinuma

Megumi Shimazu

Akira Ishiguro

Naoki Watanabe

Yutaka Momiyama

Shuichiro Saigan

Nobuo Isaka

Hiroshi Shirahama

Chihiro Kobayashi

Hiroshi Niimi

Masayuki Yamada

Riku Takeshita

Masato Ota

A fuel cell array comprises a plurality of serially connected fuel cell units. A respective fuel cell unit comprises a fuel cell and a cap capped on each end of the fuel cell. The fuel cell unit further comprises an electrically conductive terminal layer forming an outermost laminate of the fuel cell at one end of the fuel cell. The terminal layer is directly laminated on a fuel electrode layer and directly laminated on a solid electrolyte layer. The fuel cell unit further comprises a glass material forming a sealing layer circumferentially around the fuel cell to fill between the inner surface of the cap and the outer surface of the fuel cell. The plurality of fuel cell units are electrically connected in series through the electrically conductive terminal layer, not through the cap.

Fuel cell unit and fuel cell array

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

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

Growing community of inventors

Kitakyushu, Japan

Yuya Takahashi