The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 23, 2025
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2021
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc, Plano, TX (US);
Danny J. Lohan, Northville, MI (US);
Yuqing Zhou, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Ercan M. Dede, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Feng Zhou, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Hiroshi Ukegawa, South Lyon, MI (US);
TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC., Plano, TX (US);
Abstract
One or more methods of designing an FC bipolar plate that enhance the operational performance of FC. A first image analysis is conducted of image data of a fluid flow field structure having one or more dehomogenized microstructures to identify channels having a fluid flow blockage at a channel wall dead-end. The channel wall dead-end of each identified channel is selectively removed in a manner that fluidically connects each identified channel to an adjacent channel. Then, a second image analysis of the image data is conducted in response to selectively removing the channel wall dead-ends to measure a length of each channel wall. Channels walls having a length greater than a threshold channel wall length value are selectively cut, thereby providing reduced fluid flow resistance throughout the FC.