Extruded fuel cell stack shunt current prevention arrangement
US5178968A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 18, 1991 |
| Grant date | Jan 12, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 18, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02E60/50
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A fuel cell stack includes a plurality of fuel cells juxtaposed with one another in the stack and each including a pair of porous plate-shaped anode and cathode electrodes that face one another, and a quantity of liquid electrolyte present at least between the electrodes. A separator plate is interposed between each two successive electrodes of adjacent ones of the fuel cells and is unified therewith into an integral separator plate by forcing most of a quantity of an electrolyte-nonwettable material, which is originally introduced into the respective interface as a sheet of such material, into the pores of the respective electrodes. A circumferentially complete barrier that prevents flow of shunt currents onto and on an outer peripheral surface of the separator plate is formed by extruding the remainder of the electrolyte-nonwettable material out of the respective interface. This carrier also prevents cell-to-cell migration of any electrolyte that may be present at the outer periphery of the integral separator plate while the latter is incorporated in the fuel cell stack.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.