Polymer electrolyte fuel cell
AssigneeNissan Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsKoudai Yoshizawa, Yasukazu Iwasaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly 21 and a bipolar plate 24 disposed outside the membrane electrode assembly 21. The bipolar plate 24 is porous, and has first gas passages 33 formed on the top surface through which gas is passed, second gas passages 35 formed on the undersurface through which gas is passed, communicating passages 34 which allow the first gas passages 33 and second gas passages 35 to communicate, a gas inlet 31 connected to one of the first gas passages 33 and second gas passages 35 for supplying gas, and a gas outlet 37 connected to the other of the first gas passages 33 and second gas passages 35 for discharging gas.
Claims21
A fuel cell, comprising:
- a membrane electrode assembly, and
- a bipolar plate disposed outside the membrane electrode assembly, wherein:
- the bipolar plate is porous, and comprises:
- a first gas passage formed on a surface on one side of the membrane electrode assembly,
- a second gas passage formed on another surface on the opposite side of the membrane electrode assembly,
- a communicating passage which allows the first gas passage and second gas passage to communicate with each other,
- a gas inlet for introducing gas connected to one of the first gas passage and second gas passage, and
- a gas outlet for discharging gas connected to the other of the first gas passage and second gas passage.
A fuel cell, comprising:
- a membrane electrode assembly,
- a bipolar plate disposed outside the membrane electrode assembly 3 and
- a cooling mechanism which cools the bipolar plate, wherein:
- the bipolar plate is solid, and comprises:
- a gas inlet 3 for introducing gas,
- a gas outlet for discharging gas,
- a first gas passage formed on a surface on the side of the membrane electrode assembly, whereof one end is connected to the gas inlet and the other end is connected to a return part, and
- a second gas passage formed parallel to the first gas passage on the surface on the side of the membrane electrode assembly, whereof one end is connected to the first gas passage via the return part and the other end is connected to the gas outlet, and
- the cooling mechanism cools the bipolar plate so that the temperature of the gas flowing through the first gas passage is lower, the nearer the gas inlet is.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.