Fuel cell
AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakuji Nagano, Norihiko Nakamura, Katsumi Sato
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Abstract
A fuel cell has a porous fuel gas passage formed of a porous metal disposed within an anode-side outer frame plate, a porous coolant passage formed of a porous metal within an intermediate outer frame plate, and a porous oxidizer gas passage formed of a porous metal within a cathode-side outer frame plate. The porous fuel gas passage and the porous coolant passage are partitioned by a metal film, and the porous body oxidizer gas passage and the porous body coolant passage are partitioned by a metal film. The outer dimensions of the porous fuel gas passage and the porous oxidizer gas passage are smaller than those of the metal films.
Claims18
A fuel cell comprising a plurality of stacked cells each comprising a membrane electrode assembly having a fuel electrode disposed on one surface of an electrolyte membrane and an air electrode disposed on another surface, and a pair of metal films that sandwich the membrane electrode assembly therebetween, wherein the fuel cell comprises:
- a porous fuel gas passage comprising a porous metal that is provided between the membrane electrode assembly and one of the metal films and allows passage of a fuel gas,
- a porous oxidizing gas passage comprising a porous metal that is provided between the membrane electrode assembly and one of the metal films and allows passage of an oxidizing gas, and
- a porous coolant passage comprising a porous metal that is provided between one cell and another cell, between the metal films, and allows passage of a coolant, and
- the respective outer dimensions of the porous fuel gas passage and the porous oxidizing gas passage are smaller than the outer dimensions of the metal films.
A fuel cell, comprising:
- an anode-side outer frame plate in which is formed a manifold for fluids associated with the fuel cell,
- a porous fuel gas passage comprising a porous metal that is positioned within the anode-side outer frame plate and allows passage of a fuel gas,
- an intermediate outer frame plate in which is formed a manifold for fluids associated with the fuel cell,
- a porous coolant passage comprising a porous metal that is positioned within the intermediate outer frame plate and allows passage of a coolant,
- a cathode-side outer frame plate in which is formed a manifold for fluids associated with the fuel cell,
- a porous oxidizing gas passage comprising a porous metal that is positioned within the cathode-side outer frame plate and allows passage of an oxidizing gas, and
- metal films that partition the porous fuel gas passage from the porous coolant passage and the porous oxidizing gas passage from the porous coolant passage respectively, wherein
- the respective outer dimensions of the porous fuel gas passage and the porous oxidizing gas passage are smaller than the outer dimensions of the metal films, and
- the passages and the metal films are formed as a single integrated assembly in a sequence of porous oxidizing gas passage, metal film, porous coolant passage, metal film and porous fuel gas passage, or a sequence of porous fuel gas passage, metal film, porous coolant passage, metal film and porous oxidizing gas passage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.