Seal arrangement for fuel cells
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsToshiyuki Inagaki, Tadahiro Ichioka, Mikio Wada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A seal arrangement for a fuel cell structure is provided which includes a seal portion in the form of a gasket between adjacent fuel cells in a stack of fuel cells. In the seal arrangement, a portion of the fuel cell structure that overlaps the gasket as viewed in a direction of lamination of the cells has a constant-thickness structure having a substantially constant thickness. The seal arrangement may further be arranged to seal fuel cell coolant passages and manifolds from fuel cell gas passages.
Claims20
A seal arrangement for a fuel cell, comprising:
- at least one seal portion on an outer face of the fuel cell;
- and
- at least one portion of the fuel cell with a constant-thickness structure having a substantially constant thickness as viewed in a direction of lamination of the fuel cell,
- wherein each seal portion includes a gasket, and each gasket overlaps one of the at least one constant-thickness structure portions of the fuel cell as viewed in the direction of lamination of the cell.
A seal arrangement for a fuel cell, comprising:
- a seal material adapted to seal off a clearance between a plurality of components of the fuel cell that are laminated on each other;
- and
- at least one portion of the fuel cell with a constant-thickness structure having a substantially constant thickness as viewed in a direction of lamination of the fuel cell,
- wherein the constant-thickness structure is provided behind the seal material, along a seal line formed by the seal material after lamination of the plurality of components.
A fuel cell comprising:
- a membrane-electrode assembly;
- a separator adjacent to each surface of the membrane-electrode assembly;
- and
- at least one seal portion including a gasket located on a side of the separators facing away from the membrane-electrode assembly:
- wherein each of the at least one gaskets overlaps a portion of the fuel cell as viewed in a direction of lamination of the cell that has a constant-thickness structure having a substantially constant thickness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.