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:
Apr. 13, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 21, 2001
Ralf Zuber, Grossostheim, DE;
Armin Bayer, Freigericht, DE;
Heike Kühnhold, Bruchköbel, DE;
Udo Stenke, Mainaschaff, DE;
DMC2 Degussa Metals Catalysts Cerdec AG, Hanau, DE;
Abstract
A PEM fuel cell stack including one or more fuel cells ( ) arranged on top of one another, each of which contains a membrane electrode assembly ( ) between two electrically conductive bipolar plates ( ), the surfaces of which are equipped with flow channels ( ) open on one side for the supply of reactive gases, whereby the membrane electrode assemblies each comprise a polymer electrolyte membrane ( ), both sides of which are in contact with a reaction layer ( ), whereby the surface area of the reaction layers is smaller than that of the polymer electrolyte membrane and a compressible, coarse-pore gas distribution layer ( ) made from carbon fiber fabric is inserted between each reaction layer and the adjacent bipolar plates congruent to the reaction lawyers along with seals ( ) in the area outside the surface covered by the gas distribution layers, whereby the gas distribution layers in the no-load condition display a thickness D and the seals a thickness D . The PEM fuel cell stack is featured by the gas distribution layers in the PEM fuel cell stack being compressed to 25 to 60% of the original thickness.