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AssigneeThe Texas A&M University System
InventorsA. John Appleby, Serguey Gamburzev
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An electrochemical fuel cell contains first and second monolithic electrically conducting flow field-bipolar plate assemblies arranged essentially parallel to each other such that an inside surface of the first bipolar separator plate is facing an inside surface of the second bipolar separator plate, wherein the bipolar separator plates are electrically and mechanically connected by intervening layers that are directly bonded to each other. The fuel cells can be stacked between endplates and supplied with hydrogen and oxygen to generate electric power. An air cooled condenser for use with a fuel cell stack is composed of a porous foam condensing element and a porous foam cooling element. The condenser can be placed by a fuel cell stack for cooling purposes.
An electrochemical fuel cell comprising first and second monolithic electrically conducting flow field-bipolar plate assemblies arranged essentially parallel to each other such that an inside surface of the first flow field-bipolar plate assembly is facing an inside surface of the second flow field-bipolar plate assembly, wherein the flow field-bipolar plate assemblies are electrically and mechanically connected by intervening layers, the intervening layers comprising:
An electrochemical fuel cell stack comprising two electrically conducting end-plates and a plurality of electrochemical fuel cells disposed between the endplates, wherein the electrochemical fuel cells comprise first and second monolithic electrically conducting flow field-bipolar plate assemblies arranged essentially parallel to each other such that an inside surface of the first flow field-bipolar plate assembly is facing an inside surface of the second flow field-bipolar plate assembly, wherein the flow field-bipolar plate assemblies are electrically and mechanically connected by intervening layers, the intervening layers comprising:
A method of making a fuel cell stack comprising disposing between two electrically conducting endplates a plurality of electrochemical fuel cells, wherein the electrochemical fuel cells comprise first and second monolithic electrically conducting flow field-bipolar plate assemblies arranged essentially parallel to each other such that an inside surface of the first flow field-bipolar plate assembly is facing an inside surface of the second flow field-bipolar plate assembly, wherein the flow field-bipolar plate assemblies are electrically and mechanically connected by intervening layers, the intervening layers comprising:
A method of generating electrical power comprising supplying hydrogen and oxygen to an electrochemical fuel cell stack,
An air cooled condenser for use with a fuel cell stack, the condenser comprising a three-dimensionally reticulated porous metal condensing element and a three-dimensionally reticulated porous metal cooling element, wherein the three-dimensionally reticulated porous metal condensing element is disposed between two gas impermeable barriers by continuous metallurgical bonds, and wherein the three dimensionally reticulated porous metal cooling element is disposed between and bonded directly to two other gas impermeable barriers.
A condenser according to claim 26, wherein the cooling element comprises copper.
An evaporatively cooled internally humidified fuel cell stack comprising a plurality of fuel cells and an air cooled condenser in fluid communication with the fuel cells,
A method of cooling an electrochemical fuel cell comprising placing the electrochemical fuel cell in fluid communication with an air cooled condenser wherein the air cooled condenser comprises a plurality of three dimensionally reticulated porous metal condensing elements and a plurality of three dimensionally reticulated porous metal cooling elements, wherein the three dimensionally reticulated porous metal condensing elements are disposed between and bonded to two gas impermeable barriers by continuous metallurgical bonds, and wherein the three dimensionally reticulated porous metal cooling elements are disposed between and bonded directly to two other gas impermeable barriers.
A flow field-bipolar plate assembly for an electrochemical cell, comprising a first and second three dimensional reticulated porous metal flow-fields bonded directly to opposite sides of an electrically conducting gas impermeable barrier by continuous metallurgical bonds.
A method of delivering a gas to a fuel cell electrode comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.