PEM fuel cell and method for replacing MEA in PEM fuel cell

Abstract

The invention is to provide a bipolar plate having keys on at least two sides thereof, with such keys have piercing holes thereon; a bipolar plate, a membrane electrode assembly (“MEA”) and a gasket are formed as a unit in the Bipolar Plate Assembly (“BPA”), and provided any of the MEA in a BPA is damaged and needs to be replaced, keys added on other BPAs enable screw rods to fasten sectionally, thus the BPA containing the damaged MEA can be separated, such that the damaged MEA can be dissembled and replaced. The invention further provides a PEM fuel cell, which comprises a plurality of BPAs, with each of such BPA having a number of bipolar plates having keys, MEAs and gaskets. Moreover, the invention further provides a method for replacing MEAs in a PEM fuel cell, whereby damaged MEAs in a PEM fuel cell can be expediently and safely dissembled, repaired or replaced, and the procedure for re-assembling a PEM fuel cell is thus simplified.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.